This post promises to be all sorts of random and disjointed but I'm more interested in actually getting this written than it making a whole lot of sense so here goes:
Getting induced took longer than I hoped it would. It took a while to get things going, though it was cool because I didn't really feel contractions or discomfort until I was at 6 centimeters. From the time I had to concentrate on breathing through a contraction until Abby was born was only 2 1/2 hours. My description of my childbirth experience with Gabe was that "natural childbirth chose me, rather than me really choosing it", because of how fast things went. This time around with Abby, I wanted the opportunity to choose to go natural. I definitely chose it, but I sure didn't fully remember how much childbirth hurts. Wow.
Anyway - Abigail Anne was born at 8:28 pm on August 30. These are some pictures taken by a photographer that's contracted w/the hospital to do newborn photos. Abby is about 16 hours old in these pictures.
Abby was born weighing 7 lbs 10 oz - almost 2 pounds heavier than Gabe's birth weight of 5 lbs 14 oz. I was looking back through Gabe's growth chart and he weighed 7 lbs 10 oz when he was a month old. Crazy.
Abby prefers to be held, and usually me holding her gets the fastest calming results. This makes getting anything else done quite a challenge. I don't remember Gabe needing/wanting to be held as much, but then again both Bret and I were home for the first several months to share parenting duties whereas this time around Bret's back at work sooner and so I'm with a toddler and an infant on my own. For the first few weeks, I thought "holy cow how do people DO this with more than one kid??" at least a hundred times a day. My brother and sister-in-law have 4 kids that are a total of 4 1/2 years apart in age. Yeesh! So if ever I need a reality check, I think of Mandy when her kids were 4 1/2, 2 1/2, 1 1/2, and a newborn, and suddenly my two kids don't seem quite so overwhelming!
It also occurred to me a few days ago that Abby's wanting to be held will be something that in the future just becomes part of her story. We will talk about how I slept sitting up holding her for the first couple of weeks, and how even after that she slept better when she was sleeping next to me than in her playpen. When she sleeps alone she is LOUD...wheezing (the doctor says her lungs are crystal clear but she must have nose congestion because she wheezes and snuffles constantly) and squeaking and loudly sucking on her pacifier...but when she is next to me she doesn't even wheeze most of the time. So, I think she goes into a deeper sleep when she's snuggled. Anyway - it was sort of a cool realization about this being part of her story and it helped me think of it in a new way instead of just being frustrated about all the things I feel like I can't get done because my arms are full of baby. Bret and I have talked about how with Gabe, we didn't know what to expect so his development just came as it happened (if that makes sense). Now we know how much more fun kids get as they grow up, so we feel antsy to get past this infant stage. I feel bad because I really don't want to rush past this time since I know I will be so nostalgic for it later.
Speaking of which, she is asleep on my chest as I write this and she's starting to stir and will want to eat soon, so I will leave you with a few more pictures:
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| Taken just a couple of days ago. |
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| Watching cartoons with Daddy. |
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| Abby has a blonde patch of hair on the left side of her head. I consider it "my" patch of DNA. |
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| Reading "I Love You, Daddy" before bed. |
