Sleep Training

I don't know who needs "sleep training" more...me, Sully or Cece. All three of us could use help, I think. Sully. Oh, Sully. Why would you want to sleep in your crib (ok, pack and play) when you can snuggle up to Mommy? This is what Sully's bed usually looks like...where's Sully you ask?

In our bed! This kid has got the bed snuggle down pat. He burrows in and goes for it. And who am I to deny him? It's just about the coziest way to sleep. Which has led of course to the inevitable fact that he cannot sleep any other way. Sleep through the night next to mom? Check. Sleep through the night on his own. Never. In fact, never more than three hours on his own. So, here I am with an 18 pound baby who is clearly capable of sleeping but doesn't want to do it any other way than next to us. We have "cried it out" just like we did with Cece around this age. It took her 10 minutes and two nights to catch on. Sully will go and go and go and go...until he practically can't breath anymore. It's too much for my heart to take. So I scoop him up and bring him to bed. And so it goes. He's my last baby so I have more or less come to terms with the way it is. I don't care what you have to say about it, I'm going to snuggle my baby. My last baby. Maybe until he's 18 if he'll let me.

Let's move on to Cece. We are stuck in a holding pattern with this girl. She sleeps like a dream at night and girlfriend likes to sleep in. She'll go until 8:30 on most mornings if we let her. In her crib. She's two and a half and it's time for a big girl bed. She's had it set up in her room for six months or more. We read in it. She jumps on it. We talk about sleeping in it. But come bedtime, she always asks for her crib. So we haven't pushed the issue. And at times, she still naps like a dream in it too so we have been reluctant to say goodbye to it. However, I'd like to claim the crib for Sully so he doesn't have to sleep in a pack and play (not that he does anyway, ha). So...it's time. We attempted nap time in the big girl bed the other day. I've since been told that nap time is NOT the time to go for it with a big kid bed. Better to wait until they are really tired (or drugged, haha...kidding people!) to make the switch. Turns out nap time was not the right time. But Cece did have a blast exploring her room, reading books and basically swinging from the rafters" when we tried this during nap time the other day. Oy! We have some work to do!

Sullivan's Birth Day

It took four weeks for me to write a post about Cecelia's birth day. It's taken more than double almost three times as long to finally recap Sullivan's. I looked back at the post about my first birth experience and I have to tell you, even I only managed to read a few paragraphs of it. This one will be much briefer, kind of appropriate as Sully came into this world much sooner and much faster than his big sister.

My second birth experience started late in the night of Thursday, November 13th. I hadn't officially started my maternity leave so I had worked a full day, picked Cece up at school and completed our evening routine. After putting Cece to bed around 8 PM, I snapped a belly pic that ended up being my last, ever. Then I sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. I had been so tired that I was going to bed most nights just after Cece did. But on this particular evening, I stayed up to watch two of my favorite shows, Scandal and Parenthood. Silly me, I didn't make an attempt to go to bed until after 11 pm that night. And of course, that was the night I went into labor.

After about 30 minutes of sleep, I woke abruptly to the feeling I was wetting the bed. Lovely, right? It took me a second to realize my water had broke. I yelled to James to get up and get me a towel and I waddled my way into the bathroom to see what was up. My water didn't break with Cece until the very end, right before she was born so I hadn't experience this before. For me, my water breaking was more like a slow moving stream than a gushing waterfall (TMI? Sorry, but this is a birth story. You can stop reading now if that makes you uncomfortable!). At the time my water broke, I wasn't having contractions. I had felt crampy and tired at work all day but never experienced what I would call a contraction. Interestingly though, three different people had commented at three separate times that I "looked different" that day. Maybe they knew what was up. In any case, I sent James back to bed while I scurried about the house doing last minute pre-baby tasks like scrubbing cabinets and folding clothes. Within an hour or so, I started feeling regular but still mild contractions. One every 8-10 minutes. It was probably about 1:30 AM by that point.

Eventually, I started getting uncomfortable enough that I needed to sit down. I got out my handy iPhone App and started tracking the contractions. One every 6 minutes...one every 3 minutes...one every...oh, crap, we needed to get to the hospital, like now! We called my mom and told her to come as soon as possible. The contractions went from literally nothing to hard and fast, well, FAST! Truth is (please don't report us to DCF) we actually had to leave about 10 minutes before my parents arrived. Before anyone freaks, Cece was fast asleep, we could watch her on the video monitor the whole way (not that I did are you kidding) and my brother and sister-in-law were right next door. She was just fine.

By the time we got to the ER I was in a lot of pain. I had already made up my mind that I wanted an epidural this time. I went the "all natural" route with Cece and it was a horribly painful experience that was burned into my memory. I was exhausted after a long day of work and no rest and after being told that the baby was big, I mentally wasn't in a place to take on the pain of childbirth on my own. I wanted the drugs!

I was wheeled up to the maternity floor and checked. I was already dilated 8 cm (out of 10) and was well on my way to babyland. No wonder it hurt so bad. I still made them give me the epidural, which in retrospect probably wasn't necessary (easy to sat AFTER the fact) because things were moving along so quickly. A half hour later, the nurse checked me again and sure enough, it was time to push! The problem was i literally couldn't feel a thing from the waist down. Turns out it was a good thing I didn't have drugs the first time around because I needed to tap into that experience in order to remember what it felt like to push a baby out (the "right" way). It took three stress free pushes and then, at 7:03 AM on November 14th, little baby Sullivan was here!

My birth experiences were so different simply because I had an epidural the second time around. I mean we were laughing and joking and so relaxed that it was a pretty surreal experience. I have to say though, I'll always hold tight to my memories of my first birth, as tough as it was. And while I definitely could have done it again the second time around, I was happy to experience a less stressful method of birthing. I think James was happy too.

One of the best moments of Sully's first day with us was introducing him to his big sister. Cece feel in love with him from the moment she laid eyes on him. Even now, almost three months later, she's still obsessed with him. I hope these two know how important they are to each other and how much we love them both. Welcome to the family, baby Sully. It's like you've always been here.

Pregnancy Notes

This post is more for me than anyone else. I started this post during my last week of pregnancy. My last week of pregnancy, likely, ever. I wanted to jot down some thoughts and take note of my pregnancy symptoms while I still remember them.

It's safe to say I'm not a big fan of the state of being pregnant. I don't take it lightly though and I would never take it for granted. I have friends who can't get pregnant or spent years trying to convenience and while I try to comfort them, I can only imagine what that would be like to actually go through ourselves. We have been very, very fortunate that both times it has been easy to get pregnant. Put it this way, with both kids we were planning for spring babies. Both kids turned out to be fall babies because it didn't take long to conceive. Both times we were caught a little off guard when we found out I was pregnant.

A few notes and observations about how my two pregnancies panned out. This is mostly for me, possibly for Cece someday in the distant (distant!!) future. Sorry if some of it is TMI. You've been warned. Turn back now!

• With both kids it took 2 months to conceive (without diligently trying). 
• Weeks 6-10 were tough with both kids. Possibly worse with my first pregnancy. Found it hard to decide what I wanted to eat and when I did eat I would feel sick. During my second pregnancy I lost 5 pounds during these weeks because I lost most of my appetite all together.
• Beyond issues with my appetite during the first trimester of both pregnancies I also experienced constipation, bloating and extreme fatigue. These symptoms tapered off around 10-11 weeks.
• Very sore bbs during the first trimester of Cece's pregnancy. No pain during the second pregnancy (probably because they were beaten and battered already from breastfeeding!).
• Felt movement at 14 weeks or so with Cece. Even earlier with number two. Feel like little fingers tickling you from the inside out.
• Baby bump showed up much sooner the second time around. Maybe around 8 weeks?
• Gained 45 pounds (!) during first pregnancy. Gained 39 during the second.
• Cece was born 4 days past her due date. I went into labor naturally and gave birth to her 13 hours later without the help of drugs. Sully arrived two days before his due date. I went into labor naturally and delivered him 7 hours later with the help of drugs. More on that to come!
• First sign of labor with Cece - upset bowels and radiating lower back pain (feeling similar to menstrual cramps). First sign of labor with Sully - my water broke in bed.
• My first baby bump was big and wide. My second was big and mostly in front of me. Even so, my booty and legs got much bigger during both pregnancies.
• My hands and feet swelled during my first pregnancy, especially after giving birth. Swelling was minimal during second pregnancy. 
• Had a 8mm kidney stone at week 23 of pregnancy number two. I believe it was a more painful ordeal than giving birth to Cece, which is saying a lot.
• Lost all of the baby weight from my first pregnancy within 5 months of having Cece. Hoping it's as "easy" the second time around!
• Was active during both pregnancies, though in different capacities. With Cece, I ran until I was about 30 weeks pregnant. With my second, I only ran once (a 5K race!) but spent every day lifting and lugging around a 25lb toddler, which is probably more of a workout than any pregnancy jog any day!
• No stretch marks with either kid (knock on wood) but my belly button...oh my poor stretched out belly button!
• Breastfed Cece until she was about 15 months old. Stopped within weeks of finding out I was pregnant again.
• Both kids took to nursing like champs. 
• Worst pregnancy symptom the first time: carpel tunnel syndrome. Non-existent during my second pregnancy. Worst pregnancy symptom the second time: heartburn. It was really, really, really bad and probably has contributed to my slightly lower overall weight gain because I was literally afraid to eat anything! Immediate relief as soon as Sully was born.
• My hair grew fast during both pregnancies however, during my first it was along thick, strong and shiny. During my second it was still thick, but dry and dull instead. Boo.
• Strange pregnancy side effect - randomly seeing dancing "lights" around the corners of my periphery vision. This is a hard one to describe. They kind of look like fireflies dancing in the corners of my eyes. Yup. 
• Cravings: cold fruit (both), salt (second), sweets (first), lots of cold milk during the last few weeks (both).
• I've always been an imaginative dreamer but during both pregnancies, my dreams were even more vivid and definitely out there. 
• While on the subject of sleeping, for both pregnancies sleep was interrupted early (by week 7 I was unable to sleep through the night) due to the need to pee at least 1-2 times a night. Hormones!
• Read several books, took a birth class and typed up an extensive birth plan to prepare for first labor and delivery. Second time around: dug up old birth class notes during my 39th week of pregnancy and jotted down a few thoughts about labor and delivery on a scrap piece of paper to serve as our birth plan. It didn't make it out of my hospital bag.
• Both kids have camped out entirely on the right side of my belly. There has never been any movement toward my left side. I'm sure I will be lopsided forever. 
• After 13 hours of unmediated labor, I delivered Cece after 3 contractions during the "pushing" phase. She weighed 7lbs, 3oz and was 18.5 inches long. I only needed a stitch or two to patch me back up. After 6 hours of unmedicated labor and one hour of pain-free labor courtsey of an epidural, I delivered Sully after 30 minutes of intermitten "pushing". It was a much different experience (more to come!). Sully weighed 7lbs, 11oz and was 19 inches long. I only needed a stitch or two to patch me back up. 
• Physical recovery has been much easier the second time. Less pain, less bleeding, less swelling, less stress, fewer mood swings. Also, less time to cuddle and coo at baby thanks to a rambunctious two year old!
• During my first pregnancy I worked up until the week before (5 days) I delivered and took 11 weeks of maternity leave. During my second pregnancy I worked an 8 hour day on the day I delivered and plan on taking 11 weeks of maternity leave.
• Cece was born on a Wednesday. Sully a Friday.

Cece on the right, Sully on the left. 

Spotted Cece

I'm a few days late on Cece's 11 month update but that's because we've been dealing with this. Yeesh. Poor Cece girl either had an allergic reaction to an antibiotic she was on (for an ear infection) or she caught a viral infection from her cousin Zach who broke out in a rash too. To complicate matters, he was on the same antibiotic at the time so it's impossible to know if they just happen to both be allergic to the medicine or they both had the same virus. Either way, we had one spotted, grumpy Cece on our hands. Not to worry, she's all better now. That update is coming soon!

And then there was sleep.

We have had a major break through with Cece's sleep pattern over the past two weeks. Girlfriend is sleeping through the night! And I'm not talking 5-6 hour stretches. She's gifted us with 11-12 hours of sweet, glorious baby sleep a night. Cue the butterflies, angels and gospel signers. Halleluiah. Excuse me now while I go knock on some wood.

If Only Cece Had Hair

Oh the possibilities! Thanks to Cece's Aunt Alisa for providing the inspirational photographs.