He's Here!

He's here! Most of you (or more likely all of you) already know this and have been wondering how we're doing so here's an update!

1. This is Nikolas Johannes. He was born on 10/11/12 at 11:55 pm. He weighed 7 pounds 13 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. I seem to need to keep learning the hard lesson that not everything goes according to plan. We went to the doctor one week ago today and found that my blood pressure had risen considerably. My doctor recommended induction, so Thursday morning at 6 am we arrived at the hospital to start pitocen. Long story short, it took over 14 hours for me to be ready to push, and after 2 1/2 hours of pushing, it was clear that I was wearing out, so we ended up having a c-section.

2. Coming home from the hospital with a baby was everything I'd hoped it would be and more. He's a really good baby. He only cries when we're changing his diaper and when he's hungry.

3. We have been having feeding issues. At first, Nikolas seemed to be having feeding resistance issues. He'd start eating and latch on well only to push me away seconds later. We've been to see the lactation consultant at the hospital twice in two days. Last night, I realized after purchasing a new electric pump that my milk supply is not enough for him right now, so we're having to supplement with formula. Prayers for all of us would be appreciated. Mom's emotions are pretty raw after little sleep and major surgery. We really want to get this breastfeeding thing down, but it's been super frustrating and there have been many tears (mostly on my part!).

4. M heads back to work tomorrow for a really long day. He's got a teacher work day from 8 to 12 and parent/teacher conferences from 12 to 8. This will not be a good day for any of us. I'm pretty nervous about not having M here to talk me down when I get overly emotional, and I think it's going to be hard for him to be gone so long from both N and me.

5. I've realized that some of my raw emotions are stemming from the fact that Sunday will be the one year anniversary of Faith's birth. Spending time with N has been wonderful, but it's also reminded me how much I miss my baby girl. Sunday will be hard.