New Baby, New Normal, New Year

Hi friends,

Buckle in, this is a long post! I've been a little MIA the past month or two. During that time we welcomed our second son, Killian Joel-- born three weeks early on Thanksgiving morning. What a pleasant surprise.

Thankfully the nursery was finished, my bags were packed and almost everything was checked off my to-do list. I'd like to give a shout-out to some awesome third trimester nesting instincts. Didn't make it to my hair appointment-- but hey, I'd gladly trade in bad hair for a sweet babe!

The day before when I went to see my midwife, I was informed I was 80% effaced and 4 cm (at 37 weeks). So, I knew he would probably make an early appearance, I just didn't anticipate that appearance to be the next morning!

I had been having Braxton Hicks for a couple of months, but the real contractions started around midnight. They hovered around 7-8 minutes apart for a few hours. I called the hospital at 2AM and was told to take a shower and try to relax to see if I could get some sleep and space them out a bit. Well, sleep never came and abruptly, around 4AM, the contractions dropped to 2-3 minutes apart! At this point I started to think we just might have the baby in the car! We called the hospital again and they told us to come on in.

So, by then we knew we probably wouldn't be sitting down for our planned Thanksgiving with friends. They had already, graciously offered to watch Collin, should the baby come, so we placed a 5AM call, woke up Collin and headed to their house. Thankfully they live very close to the hospital. Nick decided it would be a good idea to take the back way so we could pass the hospital first, should we need to run in immediately. I was howling through the contractions and Collin, clad in jammies and his puffer coat, thought it was hysterical and chimed in with his own howls! We successfully passed off our toddler and made it to the hospital.

Within 3 hours of arrival, after 30 minutes of pushing, Killian was born-- a healthy and beautiful 6 lbs, 10 oz, 19 inches long. It was just so fitting for him to come when he did. We are so thankful for him! He's our little slice of pumpkin pie.

So far, he has been a total angel baby. Good eater, good sleeper. Pretty much the opposite of sweet Collin, but then of course not being a newbie mom makes all the difference. I feel so much more relaxed and confident about things now. The things that felt overwhelming with just one baby, feel pretty easy/do-able this time around. There is nothing like experience to ease the burden! Just wish I could have the opportunity to nap when the baby naps this time.... that's not exactly possible with a toddler!

Collin had a rough week or so, adjusting to our new little housemate. In order to get in on some of the attention, wee Killian was receiving, he pulled a number of naughty stunts. Oy vei! I think dealing with a jealous toddler was harder than adjusting to a newborn this time. Having my family come visit and dote on Collin did wonders to help big brother adjust (and wonders for my sanity and sleep accrual). He really does love Killian, but I still need to watch him around the baby. There have been many a close call with finger pokes and "love" taps that were much closer to smacks.  ;)

With Christmas and New Years and ice storms and snow storms and below zero temps, I feel like all I've been doing is trying to contain Collin via too many episodes of Daniel Tiger, nursing the baby, and eating-- nursing has made me ravenous and I'm so very thankful for the delicious meals from our amazing church friends and neighbors. I'm super ready to start feeling normal again, but I am also fully aware "normal" is a new normal now.

I hope to get back on the "blog-wagon" soon, but it might take awhile... I'm just a bit preoccupied with this cutie pie and his brother. ;)

*My friend Haily from college is the owner of Lucy Darling, an adorable line of onesie stickers-- perfect gifts for expectant mamas. Check them out here.

I'll be posting pics of Killian's nursery in the next day or so. Stay tuned!