Lachie weight check

I think it's been every time now that we've run into a little concern about newborn's weights.  Everett was the most traumatic one, losing a pound within 9 days of birth, a bad latch, etc.  I honestly don't remember if Callum ever lost much.  Lachlan was a tiny concern for a little bit.
He was born at 7 pounds, 14 ounces.  At 3 days, he was all the way down to 7 pounds, 6 ounces.  At this point, he should have started putting on weight, but at ten days, he was only at 7 pounds, 8 ounces.  Since that wasn't quite what we were expected, our midwife decided she would come back four days later to check again.  Now babies are SUPPOSED to be back at their birth weight by two weeks.  Obviously Everett was not, I think Callum was.  It was pretty clear to me at this point that Lachlan would not.  We were hoping to see him at 7 pounds, 10 ounces today.  So I drank tea, made lactation cookies, and had some pale ale in those four days to try and up my supply and made sure he was nursing frequently.
Today's weigh in?  7 pounds, 12 ounces!  We did it!  Only 2 ounces shy of birth weight and he gained an ounce per day this week.  We will take it.  :)

Week 17

April 19: Easter Egg hunt in northern WI....

April 20: We did a little DIY photoshoot of this guy

and I managed to get a decent one of all three!

April 21: First day alone all day with all three.  We managed story time and an afternoon walk in the sunshine.

April 23: yes, I skipped 22...  Sleepy baby

and alert baby!

April 24: we tried to give L his first bottle.  He really wasn't entirely sure WHAT to think of that situation...

April 24 again: if ever this boy is fussy, lying on mama's chest makes everything better.

April 25: First big car trip to Duluth to look at houses

April 25 evening: Relaxed baby is relaxed.

Week 16

This week was a tough one to pare down.  :)  But I managed.

April 12: Birth Day!!!  This was the best family shot we got.  Poor Callum's not the baby anymore.  haha

April 13: iPhone shot, impressively.

April 14: My three minions

April 15: This kid is seriously too cute for his own good.

April 16: I might be a little bit tired....

April 17: Brian caught a cold this week and was banned from holding baby, but he made do with snuggling another tired "baby" on Thursday.  Callum's been enjoying lots of daddy time this week.

April 18: I think he's trying to look older already.  sob...

Just kidding about paring it down.  ;)

For funsies.  Everett on top, Lachlan on bottom.  Identical much?

Lachlan update - 3 days old

Lachlan continues to be super baby.  After a super fast birth that went exactly as I'd hoped, not a single tear, and a perfect latch on the very first time, this kid is just on a roll.  Despite the slower heartrate than typical, he continually managed to maintain a 99-100 O2 sat level and it is no longer a concern at all.  His little umbilical stump is completely dry and won't stick around too much longer.  He has managed to bring in his milk already and helped mama be almost done with cramping and bleeding.
He passed his hearing test this morning in both ears with the highest possible score.  He's down to 7lbs 6 oz today, but was allowed to go down to 7lbs 1oz, so we're good there.  Now that he's gulping down milk, we shouldn't have a problem getting back to birth weight by two weeks.  This is such an awesome feeling after all the problems with Everett losing weight in his first few days.
So far, his skin tone is still awesome and I'm hoping the oncoming snowstorm (yes, snow...) won't prevent us too much from getting him a little sunshine.  Fortunately, this whole being a third time mom thing is great for the nerves and I don't stress about all this newborn stuff that no one tells you.  It's great having read articles for years now, so I know more about things like, how jaundice in breastfed newborns is totally normal.
Callum is having a little bit of a rough time adjusting to not being the baby, but not bad.  He's not that interested in baby (as opposed to Everett, who is all over the poor thing, haha), but he's done a few sweet things and I have hope that he'll warm up to him soon.
I have been feeling fantastic (way better than being 40 weeks pregnant) and we've been up and moving, out and about, and living life since Sunday.  We went to library story time and the grocery store yesterday, brought Everett to school this morning, and have been surviving the day while Brian is off at work for meetings.  Thankfully, he'll be home again tomorrow because I am missing my little naptime today and think we might have to stop for a coffee before picking up Everett today.
But overall, life is great.  My three minions are fantastic.  I'm one happy mama.

Baby 3.0 has arrived!

Here's the birth story, in detail, so if you're squeamish, turn away now.

Just before 5 am, I woke up with the same sort of contractions I had been having all week, but they actually seemed to be getting a little more intense this time.  I decided it was probably going to be birth day and went downstairs to make myself some toast, occupy myself, and time contractions.  I didn’t want to wake anyone up super early on a Saturday until I was sure it was the real deal.  By 6:30ish, I knew it was happening this morning and things started getting very intense, very fast.

I called the midwife at 6:50am , tried to get ahold of my mom (to babysit), and Callum woke up requesting to “get dressed.”  By this point, I wasn’t going to be able to get him dressed so I told him to wake up daddy and flipped on the light.  I put my contacts in (haha), we got ahold of my mom, and by 7:30, we were at the birth center.  I managed to speed walk the half a block to the birth center without being totally debilitated by a contraction.  

Since my midwife’s apprentice lives a good 30 minutes away, she was still making her way there while the midwife tried to madly fill the birth pool.  She had the hose going plus buckets.  Brian said it reminded him of Mickey and the brooms in Fantasia.  That got a chuckle out of me in between the contractions.  While she filled the pool, I labored on the ball.  I could tell we were well into transition but my midwife didn’t want to stop to check me when there was a tub to be filled.  I had maybe 8 contractions on the ball before the tub was filled and at the right temp at 7:52 am.  After that, I had maybe 6 more contractions in the tub, and wow were they the most intense thing ever.  My water burst in the water and then his head literally felt like a bowling ball just sitting in my bottom and I did not care for that pressure AT ALL.  I needed to get rid of that pressure and so once I was told I could push, I pushed with all my might.  

Lachlan was born under water at 8:11 am and Brian pulled him to the surface.  As soon as he was out, he was screaming his head off.  We moved to the bed where he continued to be angry at the world for his very speedy entry.  I got to see the placenta, sac, and cord and it was awesome.  Sorry, but it was.  The placenta was huge and he tore a hole in the sac just big enough for him to squeeze through.

He didn’t even want to nurse right away, he was so busy screaming, but after a few minutes he latched on like an old pro and he’s already getting his colostrum (and killing my uterus with contractions when he does.  Yay for tylenol and ibuprofen round the clock.).  

We spent an hour bonding before we got his measurements.  7lbs 14oz, 21.5” long, 36cm head and 35cm chest.  His apgars were all perfect.  He’s the pinkest, roundest little thing and looks identical to Everett’s pictures.   He tried to sleep away most of the day and had to be forced to wake up and eat.

His pulse hangs out on the low side but he is consistently at a 99-100 sat level so we’re doing a bunch of checks on his pulse and O2 sats and he’s passing with flying colors, but we’re going to stay overnight and keep doing checks just to be on the safe side.  We actually got the head cardiologist at children’s in Minneapolis to consult on the whole thing so we’re feeling fantastic!

Week 15

I was hoping I'd have a newborn picture to post this week, but alas, he is staying put for now.  40 weeks today.  Come on, kid!  If there aren't any newborn pictures next week, I shall not be a happy camper.

April 5: I went to a community baby shower event and the boys tried out some snowshoes in the warm weather.  Callum did amazingly well so we might have to get them some non-plastic snowshoes next winter.

April 6: (it was actually the 5th, but shhhh).  Out for breakfast with my boys.  Callum didn't want his picture taken.

April 7: The puffy quilt.  It's been done for a while but I finally washed/dried the whole thing.

April 8: And then there were 3.  Three minion hats, that is.

April 9: Foot rubsssssss

April 10: 39 weeks, 6 days.

April 11: My feet made the pictures twice this week?  Oops.  haha.  It's gloriously melty outside today and I went outside barefoot.  ahhhhh.....

Week 14

I have some extras this week because I couldn't pick.  :)

March 29: We went to the farm and dairy breakfast.  4-H kids make us delicious breakfast, there was a petting zoo, and this beast.

March 29, take 2: Brian took the boys skiing and sent me this shot from the lodge.

March 30: The snow was melting, it was 45 degrees, and I told the boys they could shovel snow ONTO the sidewalk to melt it.  :)

March 31: belly shot.  38 weeks and 6 days by LMP, 38 weeks and 2 days by my dates

April 1: My walmart vacuum broke and I finally got to buy myself a dyson (refurbished from woot).  This was JUST my living room.  Apparently cat hair hides from all other vacuums.

Extra picture from the week: I made this!  I looked at pictures of plush elephants online and made it.  I was so proud.  His ears are even crinkly.

April 2: I signed the boys up for a Start Smart class.  Callum's not the best listener.....LOL

April 3: Rest time

April 4: Finished this set last night

And for funsies.  A picture when the snow started yesterday afternoon and then again this morning.  And it's stilllllll coming down.....