Little Man

Holden Michael Breton

07/07/14

8:25 am 

6lb 9oz

19.5 inches

Seeing as though the little baby in these pictures is almost 3 months old I thought it was high time I wrote his birth story and update (and I may have gotten an email from my sister saying "don't you think it's time for an update?? Hmmm?")

Ok Birth story:  Let's just put this out there.  I chose to have a c-section.  Yes I scheduled my sons birth.  Did I want to attempt a VBAC? Hell no.  My childbirth choices have been the topic of recent scrutiny apparently so let me say this.  Bravo to those of you out there who have gone through labor and brought your little bundles of joy into this world the good ol fashioned way, I applaud you.  

I myself went through 16 hours of unmedicated labor with Harper before being whisked off to the OR to have an emergency C-section due to fetal intolerance (her heart rate plummeted with every contraction) so I have had a taste, if only a smidge, of what you've gone through.  It quite honestly was a terrifying experience that I had no interest in repeating.  So knowing this was our last child when they offered me the option to schedule a c-section I said "yes please sign me up".  If that makes me a wimp so be it.

Anywho

The morning of the Monday the 7th we arrived bright and early for our 6am check in.  My dear friend Sarah was good enough to drag herself out of bed at an ungodly hour to come to our house and stay with Harper until it was time for her to go to school.

one last belly pic

The Dr came in and chatted with us briefly, long enough for me to make sure she had in fact worn her lucky pink shoes (I will never look at a pair of sparkly pink TOMS and not think of her)

and then it was time to suit up for surgery

Shaun being Shaun

Surgery was so much different this time around which was good/bad.  Good in the sense that it wasn't an emergency, the atmosphere was calm, the pace was different.  Bad because it wasn't an emergency..which gave me plenty of time to think about what was about to happen (EEK!) 

We had a playlist all set to go, much like when I run I had compiled songs that I knew would keep me calm and 25 short minutes later Holden's first cries were heard over Van Morrisons Into the Mystic.

Shaun and Holden stayed with me for a few minutes before heading back to the room so they could finish with me in the OR. From beginning to end I was done in an hour.

The rest of the day was a flurry of visitors including Holden's godparents

…best of all including Holden's big sister!

It was love at first sight.

I can tell you being in the hospital with the second baby is a totally different experience than the first.  You don't just have this one precious little person to care for, now you have two. Arrangements had to be made.  Who's picking up Harper? Who will bring her home and feed her dinner etc etc.  Shaun and I had both decided before Holden was born that he would stay with me the first night and then after that he would stay at home with Harper so she would have as little disruption to her schedule as possible.  It was the best decision we could have made but that didn't mean she didn't get to take advantage of the birthing tub though ;)

Because Shaun was home with Harper I was alone overnight at the hospital with Holden. It was nice to have that solo time with him but I really wanted to be where my support system was…home. So even though csection patients normally stay in the hospital 3 days I was recovering so well they agreed to let me go home on Wed a day early

So off we went

The last 11 weeks have been filled with the laughter, tears and general mayhem you would expect in a house where a 2.5 year old and 11 week old live but we're slowly figuring it out.  Harper loves her brother, lots of hugs and kisses, will come tell me when he's crying and give him back his pacifier when he spits it out among other big sisterly acts of love (like smothering him with her favorite teddy) After the first week (it was a shit show… I shudder to think…) we have been lucky to not have dealt with any jealousy/behavior issues because of Holden's arrival.

6 weeks old

8 weeks old

10 weeks old 

How am I doing??

Leading up to my csection my biggest fear was how hard it would be to recover from surgery while taking care of a toddler, luckily those fears were never realized.  Not that it was a walk in the park, but I was pleasantly surprised at how easy my recovery was this time around and  I was off my pain meds within a day of leaving the hospital.

  The road back to reclaiming my body has been riddled with lessons in patience and being kind to oneself.  I assumed because breastfeeding was more successful this time around that the baby weight would just melt right off me.  Isn't that what they say is supposed to happen? Apparently I am missing that gene because it has not.  At 11 weeks postpartum I have lost approximately 16 lbs (and 6 of that was BABY!) I started to feel as though I was doing something wrong…wasn't I? I had to be! I was seeing pictures of woman everywhere who mere days after having their babies looked like they'd never been pregnant! What did they know that I didn't? So I ate clean, I exercised….and still the scale never budged.  So I talked to my LC and she confirmed that yes sometimes the weight just melts right off you while others? Your body hangs on to every lb to make sure baby gets what they need…lucky me I seem to fit into the later category.  But as my wise friend V said: I have the rest of my life to be fit, right now it's about Holden.

In the interest of keeping it real:

first week home…still looking pretty prego

5-6 weeks post partum

9 weeks post partum.  Still have 20 lbs to lose but getting there.

A big part of feeling better came with running again (surprise surprise!)  After having Harper it took a good 10 weeks for me to be able to jog without pain so I was pleasantly surprised when at 3.5 weeks post partum I started to feel the itch and went for a short tentative jog on Bad Larry.  The love affair was on!  Since then I have been slowly building up my mileage and am working on my speed (damn I'm slow) but just as with the baby weight…it's a work in progress :)

I had so much more to write but as is life with an infant ….he's awake and crying…gotta go!!