"No More Happiness" and other Happenings

So, Jay Alvin has been an amazingly good baby with one exception: He has the hardest time with tummy aches after he eats. We've started calling gas drops "dessert" because he has them after every meal. Several people told me that I should try giving up dairy. (Um, kill me now.) After several days of screaming baby I decided to give it a try. Well, it's been two days and . . . it seems to be working. (Huge sad face from me.) I'm super grateful, but also wondering why (after I already sacrificed 9 months of my life, my body, and went through a lot of pain to get him here) I have to sacrifice one of my favorite things in the world. Do you realize that no milk means no yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese, milk and, worst of all, no ice cream?!?!? What am I going to do without ice cream? Yeah, I don't know either. It's a good thing I love this little boy. (How could I not? Look at that cute face.)

Leo is turning into quite a good little helper. He loves giving Jay Alvin a bottle, throwing his diapers away (something we could never get him to do with his own diapers), and helping to burp him. I'm pretty sure the burping is his favorite because he's allowed to hit Jay Alvin without getting into trouble.

I decided that living away from family when you have a baby rocks because then your mom comes and stays with you for 2 1/2 weeks. She's been an absolute lifesaver! Especially since we all have colds right now. I'm pretty sure I would be dead by now if she wasn't around to let me get some sleep. She's the best!

We were a little worried that we wouldn't have as many pictures of Jay Alvin as we have of Leo. I don't think it's going to be a problem though. :)

The Juicy Details

Okay, here's the scoop on Jay Alvin's birth day. (I'll try and keep it short. )

Monday morning I had my membranes stripped (again). My hopes were high since the doctor who did it was the one who sent me into labor with Leo. I started having contractions shortly after that, but they were short and very, very far apart. They eventually started getting closer together so when Ty got home I told him to get the spreadsheet ready. (He's a nerd and likes to make spreadsheets. We had one with Leo that would calculate length of contractions and frequency. He was going to make another one like that for Jay Alvin.) So Ty got the spreadsheet ready and told me to tell him when my next contraction began. Of course, I didn't have another one after that. I was (slightly) depressed and decided to go to bed early. I started having contractions again and I thought they were getting closer together, but I was mostly asleep so I wasn't really sure. I got up around 1:30 to move to the couch and told Ty that we might be having a baby that night. Then as soon as I got to the couch the contractions stopped again. (I seriously almost screamed.) I finally lost all hope around 2 and got up to go to the bathroom before I went back to sleep. As soon as I got to the bathroom I started having really strong, long and fast contractions. I entered 2 contractions into the spreadsheet and then woke Ty up and told him it was time. We called Krystal (Ty's sister) to come and stay with Leo and got everything ready while we waited for her to get to our house. In the time it took her to show up my contractions got really painful and I started thinking that I really didn't want to have a baby. I practically dragged Ty out the door and spent the entire drive to the hospital telling him that he was going too slow and accusing him of intentionally taking as long as he could to get there so that I would be in more pain. At one point I even made him run a red light because there was no one coming the other way. By the time we got to the hospital parking lot I told Ty that we were never going to have sex again (just in case) and by the time I was in my room and changing into my gown I informed him that I absolutely was not going to deliver this baby vaginally. (Me: "Get out there right now and tell them that they have to stop this and do a c-section instead!!!" Ty: "Um, she says she's ready.") So the nurse came in and said, "You had a c-section before, right? But you wanted to try for a VBAC?" Me: "Yeah, I did. But I don't any more. Just make it stop." Nurse: "What if we got the anesthesiologist in here and got your epidural started? Do you want to do that before you decide?" Me: "If you can do it fast. Just do it fast." So she got me on the bed and started getting me hooked up to the IV and everything. (Nurse: "We have to do all of this either way so just keep breathing." Me: "I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this. Just do a c-section. Make it stop. Make it stop.") As soon as they were finished with all the preliminary stuff they informed me that the anesthesiologist was waiting just outside the door if I wanted to give it a try. I agreed and he came in and just stood there by my bed smiling at me. Anesthesiologist: "You've done this before, right? (eternal pause) Just so you know the risks. . ." Me: "Yeah, I know. I consent. Just do it!" Then while I was waiting for him to get the dumb thing in. . . "Ty, I am seriously never doing this again. If you want a little girl we're going to have to adopt." And then the drugs kicked in and life was good. Ty asked me a little hesitantly if I wanted to go ahead and try the VBAC and I said, "Oh yeah. Lets do it." And then, "Well, that was kind of fun. I got to be a crazy pregnant lady."

The rest was pretty boring. I dozed in bed and Ty read a book for 3 hours while I finished dilating. Then the doctor came in, I pushed for 8 minutes and out he came. The recovery was really, really easy and life is good.

More Pictures

Sorry it's taken me so long to get these up here. I've been in a bit of a brain-fog from lack of sleep. Here's a bit of what's been going on around here mixed in with random pictures of the newbie.

Leo did so great with Jay Alvin at the hospital. Every time he came in he wanted to hold him and look at him. He thought he was so cool. Once we brought Jay Alvin home Leo wasn't quite so sure about him. He goes back and forth between loving him, hating him and pretending he doesn't exist. It's been a crazy couple of days, but things are starting to normalize.

Leo discovered fudgesicles. He's a big fan. (Usually he only gets the white chocolate ones because he ends up looking like this with the dark.)

Leo has been jumping on anything that is even remotely bouncy lately. Couches, beds, pillows, cushions. . . it's been fun.

The boys.

Day 1 Jay Alvin Pictures

Ok, time for my once a child post. Here are the pictures of Jay Alvin taken just after delivery. He is 7 lbs, 5 oz, 20" long. he was born at 6:39 AM this morning. Kristen seems to be doing well. I'll let her fill you in on the juicy labor details, but I thought it was much less stressful than Leo was.


About 20 min after birth

Nursery after being cleaned up, just before going back to mom

20 min post birth

Nursery after being cleaned

This boy:

is starting to figure out that something is going on around here.

He's been super cuddly (which is so not his natural state of being).

I love it.

But it makes me feel bad because I'm pretty sure he's going to be upset when his little brother gets here.

If you give a boy a cookie. . .

He didn't even eat half of it.

Big Boy Bed!!!

Today we turned Leo's crib into a toddler bed. We were absolutely not planning on doing it this early, but he absolutely refuses to sleep in his crib. Even if he's asleep when we take him in there he wakes up as soon as we lay him down and starts screaming his little head off. We're hoping (especially now that there's going to be another little person in our bed in the middle of the night) that this will help Leo stay in his own room. As soon as we finished he climbed right on it and lay down. Then he spent the next 20 or so minutes jumping all over it.

(There's his picture face.)

I tried to get him to lay down again once I had the camera.

This is the closest I could get.

Wish us luck!