Sunday Walk

We decided that we needed to get out of the house on a beautiful Spring Sunday evening! We have been staying inside a lot these days as I have had no energy to chase Charlie around in the great outdoors. He still is having a hard time understanding the instructions "stay on the deck." Anyway, with Max home, we decided to walk to the playground at the church by our house. It isn't much of a walk but enough to get some fresh air. And now we can say Miles had his first trip to the park. 

Feeling the sun on his skin!

I like the spit-up on Max's shirt...proof that he's an awesome dad!

We then made the "trek" home which included a quick visit with a great neighbor.

It was fun to spend a little bit of time as a family of four. It also makes me really anxious for my body to heal because this little walk seemed somewhat strenuous. OH well, each day I'm feeling more like myself, still tired, but more comfortable. 

I love my growing family. 

A father's love

I'm kind of obsessed with this photo right now. More correct would be to say I love these boys so much. First of all, this picture was not posed at all. He was just playing and checking out Miles and I was there trying to figure out some lighting for pictures we were going to try with our family. I like to think that this captures the love and dedication Max has for his family. 

For weeks, I've been overwhelmed with the dedication and work that Max has put towards his family as I became more sedentary late in my pregnancy. He works hard all day then comes home and does more projects on the property (we just had a new tenant move in days before Miles was born) he would then still have energy to run around with Charlie, rock him to sleep then spend the evening cleaning the house or painting my toenails. He continually encourages me to rest and never makes any suggestion that he is working harder than he should. Here is an example: One Sunday afternoon shortly before Miles was born we were both pretty tired. After church we put Charlie down for a nap then Max had to go to a couple meetings that would take a few hours. I probably should have napped during this time but I felt like I wanted to get some other things done. When I realized I was super exhausted and should sleep Charlie was just waking up. Max got back shortly after and even though he was exhausted, and I'm sure he would have loved a nap, he encouraged me to go nap while he watched Charlie and did some random mending. The mending included Charlie's favorite stuffed animal and one of my cardigans..What a man! He continuously serves his family in everything he does. He has gone above and beyond with helping me figure out how to feed our newborn. With the breast feeding issues that we face, Max has been up with me day and night to make sure that Miles gets fed and helps in anyway he can. I feel so privileged to have this amazing man in my life and that I get to raise my children with him. He truly demonstrates giving his all to his family and is an amazing example to me of service. I am overcome with love for him and amazed that I get to go on this journey alongside him!

Charlie and Miles

When you tell a two year old that they are getting a baby brother or sister it's hard to know how much they understand. You know they see your belly growing and that you point to that belly and say it's a baby...but how much does that really mean to them? I would occasionally catch Charlie waving or blowing kisses at my belly but that was about it. 

I've wondered how much Charlie would be interested in this little brother once he came. I assumed that Charlie wouldn't really care about the brother, especially since he's all about doing his own thing and doesn't even seem that attached to Max or myself. We imagined that Charlie would come to the hospital and be more enthralled with the doctor's tools than his brother...

So this is what really happened. Grandma (my mom) was able to bring Charlie to visit us in the hospital. It took them awhile to get to our room because Charlie needed to stop and play with every little button and lever he saw. 

When he got to our room we hugged him and Max picked him up to show him his baby brother. Charlie seemed so excited. He kept pointing and smiling and saying baby or brother. When we asked if he wanted to hold his brother he looked at us with a big smile and wide eyes and gave us an enthusiastic nod. 

He enjoyed holding him and checking out his little feet and hands.

Yes this is kind of blurry but Charlie really seemed the most fascinated with Miles' feet. 

After holding him for a little bit, Charlie decided that he was done and ready to explore the hospital room just as we predictied and once he got too into his exploring we decided to give him his special gift from Miles. (His Buzz Lightyear) He was excited about that for a little while!

Since being home Charlie has been somewhat indifferent about his new sibling for the most part however he will get excited about helping him drink a bottle or holding his hand. He hasn't acted in anyway that would lead us to believe he is jealous of his brother. We've even caught him blowing unprompted kisses to him and checking on him in his bed.  

And now I'm kind of obsessed with getting pictures of them together. 

Madeleine came over and when we asked if Madeleine wanted to hold baby Miles, Charlie got right in there and showed her how it was done. 

For such a strong kid, Charlie really has been gentle with his brother...so far!

And then there was the time that Charlie had a late nap on the couch so Max thought Miles should nap there too.

And Charlie was pretty excited about helping with Miles' bath.

When Miles was 5 days old I attempted to get some good photos of him. I had tried to do some practice photo shoots with Charlie before Miles was born but Charlie would never be still or cooperate. Once I started taking pictures of Miles, Charlie actually wanted to get in on the action. I hope this happens in the future as I will be trying to take lots of photos of them.

Once again Charlie was excited about Miles' toes.

This was a favorite moment...Charlie counted Miles' toes then did the "This little piggy" rhyme.

When I'm feeling more like myself I hope to get more pictures of my boys together! I love that Charlie seems to be adapting well to having a baby brother.

Miles Spencer-a birth story

I never wrote down a full birth story for Charlie and I'm regretting it. I meant to do it shortly before Miles was born so I don't have 2 birth stories that I confuse in my memory. That being said...it never happened so I need to move forward and write Miles' story before I forget it. I still plan to document Charlies as well...but I'll do so in the future. 

So, as you can tell from my previous post...Miles' due date came and went. He was due on March 31st. I was hoping to get him induced on the follow Friday April 4th because that would work perfectly for my mom to watch Charlie all weekend. The hospital would not let me induce him that day for whatever reasons and said I could have an induction date the following day (Saturday April 5th) I wasn't super eager to induce him because I really wanted to know what it was like to go into labor naturally although I didn't know if my body was capable of it. 

I had a DR appointment on Thursday April 3rd to check on baby, they said I was dilated to  4cm and about 50% effaced. He swept my membranes which left me with uncomfortable cramps the rest of the day. This had happened at my previous appointments so I didn't feel like this would put me into labor. The next morning at 7am I woke up to those same cramps that were consistently coming and going. Around 9am I decided to start timing the cramps. They weren't exceptionally painful but I could definitely notice them. For an hour the "cramps" were coming every 4-8 minutes. I called Labor and Delivery and they told me I was probably in the early stages of labor but I should wait until the contraction were stronger, lasted for a minute, and come every 3-4 minutes. At 10am we had our friends Kerri and Madeleine come over. We were already planning on this because I wasn't expecting to be having contractions. We decided to have them over anyway because they had been out of town and we hadn't seen them in weeks, also, if we did need to go to the hospital, they could take Charlie home with them until my mom got off of work. We had a fun time but at the end of their visit I still felt like I wasn't that close to going to the hospital so we kept Charlie home with us so he could nap in his own bed. Around 3 pm the contractions were getting really strong so we decided to wake up Charlie and take him to Kerri's house and go to the hospital. The contractions were getting bad enough that I couldn't talk through them. Max ran Charlie into their house and we left for the hospital. It seemed like everything was taking forever...I mean when your unit of timing is contractions..things take longer...I got checked into triage and laid in the bed waiting to be checked again. The midwife that checked me said I was between a 4-5cm. This kind of bummed me out because it seemed like the contractions all day were for nothing. They still checked me into Labor and Delivery. Before I received any pain medication I wanted to try siting in the large jacuzzi tub. Part of this is because we don't have a functional tub at our house and I've missed it but also because I have 2 sister-in-laws who have had water births and swear that the warm water relieves contraction. The tub felt so nice and did relieve my contractions. I enjoyed that for awhile but was then ready for some stronger meds to numb the contraction. I dried off and got in the bed where they gave me my IV and some fentanyl. That felt really nice! I kept thinking of how relaxing it felt to get out of the Jacuzzi tub and then lay down and just relax and not worry about chasing my 2-year-old. It was kind of like a luxurious date! The fentanyl lasted for about an hour then I was ready for the epidural. Yes, I'm a fan of modern medicine! That felt great as well and Max and I spent time relaxing and trying to get as much rest in preparation for the long nights ahead of us. The epidural felt great for awhile but then I started to feel the contraction come on strong in my back...and then move to the front. (do contractions move?...) anyway, I tried upping the dose a bit but that didn't do much. Probably sometime between 11pm and 12am the doctor checked and said I was at a ten and just about 100% effaced so I would probably be pushing soon. The thought of starting to push scared me. I had to push for 3 hours straight with Charlie and I wasn't ready to commit to another 3 hour marathon...I think I felt better about taking on more contractions. Shortly after midnight I was finally convinced that I should start pushing. Since I could feel the contractions it was much easier to tell when I should start pushing. I had no idea with Charlie and that is probably why it took so long to get him out. I started with one big push. I could tell from the doctors reactions and Max's face that the baby was close to coming. If that was the case, I thought I could give it a couple more pushes before trying to rest again. I gave a big push with the next contraction and Miles slipped right out. I was completely shocked. When Charlie came out, this was the most painful part but with Miles, this pain didn't compare to the contractions and it really did feel much easier getting him out. They placed him on my chest and Max and I were once again overcome with shock and emotion. It was beautiful seeing my little boy's face for the first time and knowing that he was ours. His head was the perfect shape. He laid on my chest for quite awhile silently staring at me. It was perfect. He was born at 12:24am on April 5th 2014. 

All of Miles' test turned out great. He has some unique small toes and the end of his sternum protrudes a bit neither of which will be health issues. After the tests, we all took a little nap while preparations were being made to move into the Mother/Baby Unit. Half of the units in the hospital were being remodeled so only the high risk babies stayed there so we were transferred to the Mother Baby units in Doernbecher Children's hospital which were still pretty nice. We got settled in. Miles slept great in his little bassinet. (Charlie had issues sleeping in the hospital if he wasn't in our arms.) And Max and I were able to get a couple hours of sleep. And I think I'll stop the story there. IN the meantime we are learning to adjust to a life with two little boys and figuring out how to keep them alive and fed. Also did I mention that Charlie got me sick 2 days before Miles was born so I was completely congested and coughing through this whole experience? I'm stiill sick which has made the recovery a little more challenging, Also, Miles is having the same nursing issues that Charlie had so I've been up day and night trying to feed him and pumping in the meantime. Luckily, Miles is more ambitious about getting milk so he may just be a nurser if we work hard enough! 

And here are some pictures from the hospital....

I loved seeing Charlie meet his baby brother. I will have a future blog post about these cute brothers but just know that Charlie was more interested and excited about his brother than I thought he would be.

His excited face when meeting Miles!

This is a favorite!

We feel so blessed to have our amazing boys!

Max's boss got us all "Grow Construction" shirts...so here is Miles' shirt

We are so excited to have Miles join our family. He is a very sweet, mild mannered baby so far. He doesn't cry much yet. He likes to sleep, eat, and just observe the world around him,. I'm excited to see how his personality develops as he grows.