On having another child...(and some pictures, too)

I think every mother finds it hard to imagine what it will be like loving another child when all you know is the relationship you have with your first child. You wonder how on earth you'll ever love another child as much....but people, you do. Trust me. And every mother will tell you that. But what you don't know until you're there is how incredibly wonderful, natural, and instantaneous it is. Honestly, bringing another child into our family has been one of the most joyous things we will ever experience. Our family feels complete. Not that we didn't enjoy being a family of three, but there's something about our children now having a sibling that is SO precious. And for me, as a mother, it has been SO incredibly wonderful and natural to open my heart to another precious child. Before Silas was born, I was a little worried about what having him would do to my relationship with Owen. Honestly, I don't think it has done anything (well, at least relationally. obviously my time devoted solely to Owen has changed). The truth is, I still feel exactly the way I always have about Owen...it's kinda like your heart just expands and suddenly you have the room and capacity to love another child just as much. Kinda hard to explain, but to any mother out there who is wondering what it will be like to have more children....don't worry. It will be awesome. We truly feel so blessed and praise God daily for giving us the privilege and responsibility of raising another child. Anyhow, enough of the mushy stuff that I can't accurately describe anyway...

And on with the rest of our update. Honestly, we are doing REALLY well. I have to say, adjusting to a second child is WAY easier than the first. Aside from being extremely tired, life feels so normal (which I am very thankful for). After we had Owen, I kinda felt like I was living in some foreign cloud for a while. Not this time. And it has been such a treat to watch Owen with his little brother. I'm not kidding, he probably comes up and kisses Silas on the head at least 20 times a day. When he wakes up, he's sure to ask where his brother is. It's adorable. He is going to be one heck of a big brother, that's for sure.

Oh yeah, I just realized that I never really shared any info about the actual labor and delivery. So here goes: we got to the hospital at 6:00 like we were supposed to in order to get started on the pitocin before the nurses' shift change at 7:00. Well, there were apparently lots of other moms who had something else in mind because all the rooms had filled up overnight. So, we waited. Finally at about 8:00 I got hooked up to the pitocin and we were on our way. I really wanted to have the baby by 6:00 in the evening, because being New Year's Eve my doctor had dinner plans. And I didn't want her to have to cancel her plans but I DEFINITELY wanted her to deliver him. I mean, she is the best doctor ever. Anyhow, at about 10:00 she came in and broke my water. Now, considering the fact that with Owen I got pre-eclampsia, I was expecting labor to be absolutely horrid. I mean, it was the first time around so it probably would be the second time, too. What I didn't know is that going through labor without any complications is not that bad at all. Seriously. I didn't realize how HORRIBLE it was to be on all the crappy medications for pre-eclampsia until I had Silas...and it was a gazillion times better this time. It probably helps that he was almost a pound lighter than Owen, but still. Anyway, I got the epidural at about noon and cruised along blissfully until 3:00. I then started having some fairly brutal contractions and by about 4:30 decided I kinda needed to start pushing. So the nurse called the doctor and she said she'd be over at 5:00....to which I thought, "5:00???? I don't think I can wait that long before I start pushing." So, the nurse said I could start gently pushing to relieve the pressure if it felt better, but she didn't really want me to push full out until the doctor got there. About 5:05 the doctor showed up, checked things out, helped me push through a few contractions and said, "OK, you've got some pushing to do. I'm going down the hall to check another patient, I'll be back in about 10 minutes." So, she left for a few minutes. Well, that was all fine and dandy until the nurse and I figured out that I was pushing wrong. And then I figured out the proper way to push out a baby. And suddenly, in about 3 pushes that little baby was on his way out. Problem was, the doctor wasn't back yet. And the nurse didn't want to deliver him without her there. So, she says to me (as his head is like half-way out), "wait, hold it, don't push." Yeah freaking right. Like any woman who has half a head sticking out of their you know what is going to just stop pushing. So, our precious little baby was born....right into the arms of the world's best nurse, Jean. Seriously, she was amazing and was such a blessing to us. And then, about 2 minutes later, my doctor walked into the room and kinda shockingly said "Do we have a baby in here????" Poor girl. She felt really bad. But to her credit, it would have taken a LOT longer if I had continued to push like I was pushing when she checked me. Anyhow, that's how it went down. And guess what....the very best part is, I didn't have to have one single stitch. Not one. It doesn't get any better than that, folks. God took care of us, that's for sure, and we praise Him for it.

Ok, that's enough for now. Owen needs to eat dinner so I should probably call it quits. Just wanted jot some of this down before I forget it. Until later, you can enjoy a few new pics:










In about 40 years, my back will probably look like this, too:






Somebody loves his little brother: