Jared Brother

AnnaMarie asked if it was weird having my mom and Emily there at the delivery. With Lila I definitely wanted it to be just Jake and I, but this time I was really excited when my mom said she could be there. She absolutely loved the experience, even though she was only there for the tail end of it. I figured it was probably one of the best gifts I could ever give her. And i don't know if we'll ever be induced again, so we might not be able to plan on having her here again. With Emily, a few days before we delivered she wanted to know if she could be there, and I said no. And she thought that was lame, and said that when I had Lila I told her she could be at the next one. I don't remember telling her that. I originally didn't want her there because usually she stresses me out. She said, "But it'll help me be not so scared to deliver a baby!" lol. Ok, that made me want her there even less. But, she came up with my mom to my room before Jared was born, and I think the fact that it was all happening so quickly and relaxed that I didn't feel like kicking her out. My mom had told me the day before that I should let Emily be there because Emily loves my babies like they're her own and takes such good care of them, and that's very true. So Emily had camera duty (though Jake had to tell her once to get out of my business) and stood by my head. And it's actually pretty nice to have pictures of everything. All in all it went very well and didn't stress me out.

Also, now that I've given birth twice, hopefully next time I'll have the sense to make sure the epidural is lined up for right after I have my water broken (assuming it doesn't break on its own).  I kind of liked being induced.  It was especially nice to have help lined up for Lila .

Lila is doing really well!  So much better than I thought.  Of course, she's had a lot of attention from grandparents, aunts, and uncles and that has helped a ton.  Jim and Lori brought her to the hospital a few hours after Jared was born.  She'd fallen asleep in the car so was pretty sleepy, but she did really well.  She didn't cry and she was very interested in meeting "Jared Brother."  She was a little shy of me and wary of the hospital bed, but she'd say, "Hi Mom!  Hi Mommy!" and we took pictures and visited.  Jake's parents spent Thursday night in Holland with Jim, so Mom and Emily watched Lila that night.  Lila didn't go to bed till 1am!  She had Emily playing bowling, listening to music, "turn Christmas tree yight on."  Finally Emily buckled down and rocked her to sleep and Lila slept through the rest of the night, which is good.

Having that alone time at the hospital, just Jake, Jared, and I, was really nice.  Felt like a bit of a babymoon.  Mike and Cassandra came to visit that night and brought me a chocolate milkshake from McDonald's.  Here's a funny story... an hour or two after I delivered, Mike calls and asks to talk to me.  He congratulates me on having the baby and everything, and then he starts telling me about the massage that he bought Cassandra for Christmas, and how awesome it's going to be, and how she's going with her girlfriend, and how he wondered if she would have issues being touched by another person, but that it would be a great opportunity for her to talk to Serena (her married friend) about how awesome it is to be naked with your husband and how awesome sex is.  And I had just given birth! lol. I was like, "Wow, Mike. That is very cool."  Dude has no clue. :)

Jake watched Atlas Shrugged (one of the DVD's we rented the day before) while I dozed in and out.  The night was pretty long.  Lots of visits from nurses.  We did get a little sleep.

Friday morning, Dr. LaRue (Lila's first pediatrician) made rounds and little Jared got circumcised.  Jake went with, I stayed behind.  Jake said Jared didn't even cry and he (Jake) thought the whole thing was very interesting.  I felt pretty bad for Jared, but it's what we wanted to do.  I later was talking to my parents and it turns out that back when my dad was a kid in the Philippines, they didn't circumcise the boys until they were 10 or 11.  So my dad was circumcised when he was 10 without any anesthesia!!!!

AnnaMarie and her girls came to visit.  They were in the area for a wedding.  It's too bad that our visit couldn't be longer, and things were hectic because Mom, Emily, and Lila showed up, and then Aunt Gina did too.  But they all got to meet little Jared, which is especially fun for them because AnnaMarie is having twin boys in March!

After our visitors left, we just had to play the waiting game.  We had to wait till Jared was 24 hours old to have some blood tests done, but we made it out by 4 as we'd hoped to.  We had lunch and I showered and Jake watched TV.  Then we packed up and headed home.

My mom and sister had left right after visiting us in the hospital that morning, so they were gone, but Jim and Lori were back.  Lila does really well with Jared, and with having me be busy with Jared, unless she's tired and hungry.  She was both of those things when we got home, so I spent some time with her.  I've nursed the two of them at the same time twice so far, and Jake thinks it's awesome and hilarious.  Me too.  But Lila is perfectly okay with me holding and nursing the baby otherwise and is concerned when he cries.  She's been helpful.  Sometimes she wants to "hold Jared"... she wants to carry him around.  But she's also sat in our laps and held him.  It's all going a lot better than I thought.  Jake thought that she would be able to sense/tell that he was her brother and he was right.  She's good with him.  I'm so grateful.

We had the Betzolds over for Christmas Eve.  Jim and Angela came (Emily spent it with Sarah) and so did Mike and Cassandra.  We had lasagna for dinner and then opened presents.  Lila got a lot of nice gifts and had fun opening them, but she got bored of presents and it took her until last night actually to unwrap most of them, and she still has one that she hasn't unwrapped yet!  Jake and I bought her a baby doll and stroller.  I knew she'd love the stroller.  She got an owl hat from my aunt Jackie that she didn't "yike" at first but now she does.  She got an outfit, socks, books, and a stuffed animal from Grandma Lori.  From my mom she got The Little Mermaid, some more gel stickers for the window, and a 5 little monkeys book.  From Mike and Cassandra she got a stuffed giraffe that you can wind up and it plays "rock a bye baby", which is hilarious because first of all, she doesn't like music box type music, but also rock a bye baby always makes her cry. lol.  Mike didn't realize that's the song it played.  Before opening presents, we sang Once in Royal David's City, read Luke 2, had a prayer.  Jake got a warm hat and a drummel tool from his parents.  I got a cast iron baking pan, an America's Test Kitchen cook book, and oven mitt gloves.  And Mike got me a plastic thing to put over dishes when I warm them up in the microwave so it doesn't splatter all over the microwave, which I was just thinking I needed the other day, funny enough.

We've had 3 nights with Jared at home so far.  We're not getting a ton of sleep, but it's not terrible I guess.  Last night he did a 4 hour stretch, which was really really awesome.   He's sleeping in bed with us, usually on our chests.  Seems to sleep better that way, and we're both so tired and that we just want to get sleep at this point.  But during the day I've been laying him down and he usually does fine for a while.  I don't think he likes to sleep on his back.  Prefers his stomach or side.  Jake absolutely loves having Jared sleep on his chest.  He's missed cuddling with babies, since Lila isn't too much of a cuddler with him.

Jared is soooo much sleepier than Lila was as a newborn.  She was awake SO much and didn't want to sleep a lot!  Jared seems to be much more like a "normal" newborn and sleeps most of the day and night.  He'll be awake for a little bit, but not long.  He's so cute when he's awake though, likes looking at me and when I talk to him.  I was telling my mom about it and she said, "Well it sounds like he'll be a good baby for you.  Which is nice, because Lila was/is pretty high maintenance."

Today we went to the pediatrician to have Jared weighed.  He's at 6 pounds 7 ounces.  Healthy.

My milk came in yesterday or the night before.  I was engorged all Christmas day.  Lovely.  Not as bad as it was with Lila, but still very engorged and my boobs are ginorm.  It's nice that this time around I know that they will eventually shrink back down, but it's still very uncomfortable and they're huge and I'm self-conscious about it.  Oh well.  It's worth it to have this cute little one.  Lila has been my breast pump.