Crappy Croup

Maddox was up coughing half the night (thus Mommy got in lots of sit-ups... I sat up with every cough to make sure he wasn’t spitting up). Since he's only three months old and wanted to make sure he isn't coming down with pnemonia or an ear infection, Daddy took him to the doctor this morning. The doctor thinks he has croup. At least we’ve been doing all the right things to ease his symptoms - having the cool mist humidifier in the room at night, bringing him in the bathroom during a steamy shower, having him sleep at an incline, etc. I guess it just needs to run its course at this point. The barking cough is scary! He hasn’t been eating as much and sleeping has been tough. Thanks for sharing germs, daycare buddies!

Comparative Pregnancy Musings

I wasn’t sure what to expect from either pregnancy—other than a baby, of course. My two pregnancies had some differences yet were fairly similar. Smells bothered me a lot with the first; in particular, beer smelled awful (and I usually love beer!) yet didn’t bother me at all during the second. I noticed that my sense of smell was heightened during the second pregnancy but nothing was particularly vomit-inducing. Fortunately, I didn’t really have much for morning sickness either time around. Though I was certainly huge both times; I started out at around the same weight and gained a little over 60lbs with Izaak whereas did a little better at about 45lbs with Maddox (5lbs of that was fluid retention packed on during the last week). I consumed a ridiculous quantity of milkshakes during Izaak’s pregnancy (hello, 60 lb weight gain!) but learned my lesson and tried to stay away from them for Maddox’s. I did give in to my craving for mushroom pizza a couple of times during Maddox’s stay in the womb yet I don’t think I had any inkling towards that while carrying Izaak. My ankles and feet were terribly swollen with Izaak, I didn’t have much of an issue with it while pregnant with Maddox. I carried Maddox a lot lower than Izaak; I didn’t get much for stretch marks until the very end of the first pregnancy but feel like I’m a mess from newly added stretch marks across my belly that were acquired towards the end of the latest pregnancy. There goes my swimsuit modeling career… Ha!

Breastfeeding. Ugh. I really wanted this to work out for both children and sadly, powdered formula ended up being the answer for both babies. I did give it a fierce try for a couple months each and both kiddos did get some of mother’s milk. Besides having some latch issues, my milk production sucked and I had big, hungry babies that needed sustenance!! Rather than beating myself up over this snafu, I choose to just be grateful for what I was able to provide them and give a big shout-out to science and technology for picking up the slack. Izaak tolerated a generic brand of “gentle” formula pretty well but we’ve found that Maddox does much better with the name-brand gentle formula. A $26 tub of formula lasts him about 4-5 days… if I could produce milk instead, believe me - I would!

I’m so very appreciative of my ability to make babies (with a little help from Joe, of course) and carry them to term and I know that creating a new life is really a miraculous capacity not afforded to everyone. I’m also definitely not implying that it wasn’t absolutely and completely worth it but it’s still no secret that I really didn’t enjoy being pregnant. I tried to have a good attitude about it but felt exhausted and crappy most of the time and I strongly detested the attention I received from casual acquaintances and random strangers about how gigantic I was. It’s a means to a very desirable end but 40 weeks can sure feel like a loooong time! My cognitive abilities felt like they’d been dulled (in fact, I’m not sure I’m ever going to quite recover!) and felt achy and uncomfortable during the majority of the time for both. I was convinced that Izaak’s toes were jammed in my ribs for the last couple months of his stay in my womb (ouch) and wow did I have some heartburn, especially with the last one. In general, I felt grumpy, frumpy, and slow! I also felt stressed about trying to make sure I wasn’t too stressed and trying to make sure that I was eating only the right things and not taking any meds that could potentially cause any issues. I had some particularly awful sinus problems during my pregnancy with Maddox and pretty much the only slight relief I could muster was from using a kid’s formula of saline nose spray (grape scented!). After too much time spent on the internet and reading people’s sad stories of pregnancies gone wrong; I was a little scared about miscarriage and/or birth defects especially given my practically geriatric maternal age for the second pregnancy (I was 33 while pregnant with Izaak and 37 with Maddox). So, essentially, I’m thrilled for my beautiful babes and glad to be done with all that goes along with pregnancy!

Maddox is 3 months old!

I’m back to work full-time now and have both kiddos in daycare but I was able to take 12 weeks for maternity leave—it was glorious! Not having paychecks for half of that time wasn’t entirely stellar but we felt that it was valuable time that could never be retrieved and I’m grateful for it. We kept Izaak in preschool for much of that time, we didn’t want his schedule turned completely upside-down and it allowed more one-on-one time for me and kid v2.0. Maddox and I spent a lot of quality time snuggling on the couch with Criminal Minds (via Netflix) or some DIY home fix-it show on in the background, playing a bit of peek-a-boo, and lots of time was spent with him snoozing in my arms while I gazed at his delicious little face. Luckily, Joe’s parents and grandpa had decided to come down, by chance, on the evening that I ended up going into labor and stayed with Izaak while Joe and I were in the hospital. Labor this time around came on very fast and furious so I’m not sure what we would’ve done with him otherwise!! Maddox arrived early on a Thursday morning; we were back home by Friday afternoon. My parents had a trip planned to visit us for a 10 days starting that weekend which worked out great too.

Everything about Maddox’s entrance into the world was quicker than Izaak’s. Izaak’s due date was 4 days prior to his actual arrival, Maddox only waited 2 extra days. I was in labor for about 14 hours with Izaak; we barely got checked in and into a hospital room in time for Maddox’s delivery. Really. The nurses were still doing check-in paperwork while Maddox was curled up on my chest. I’m not exactly sure what time we got to the hospital but my cell phone call log indicates that I dialed my doctor just after 2am and baby was out just after 4am. Besides laboring for what felt like an eternity, I was pushing for hours with Izaak yet Maddox was out in about 3 (excruciatingly-painful-because-there-wasn’t-enough-time-for-an-epidural) pushes! And, we actually had a doctor present this time, I hadn’t met her before as she was a stand-in for whichever of my doctors that was supposed to be on call, but we had a doctor nonetheless!! I refused any pain meds for aftercare this time other than regular Advil due to "the good stuff" not agreeing with my stomach - something I learned from the aftercare of the first pregnancy. Even the getting-pregnant part was quicker with Maddox; it took about a year to become pregnant with Izaak and only around 4 months for Maddox.

 

We’ve had Maddox in the breathing world for 3 months now and what a great baby he is! Such a sweet little butterball!! Izaak loves him to pieces too, it’s adorable when he holds his hand or plants a big, sloppy kiss on his forehead. I was a little worried about how our family dynamic would change with the new addition. Going from no kids to having a newborn in the house was a big adjustment for us but adding a second kid wasn’t as big of a shock to the system I guess! Sure, we’re still getting used to how to juggle our roles and responsibilities but overall things are going really well. I’d be lying if I said that Izaak wasn’t a little jealous here and there because he isn’t the only child anymore however. He was very accustomed to always being the center of attention and now the baby occupies some of the time that used to be devoted solely to him. For the most part, he’s been doing great with the change though and as mentioned, he loves his brother. Joe and I have been having fun with comparing their similarities and differences too. Probably the biggest difference this time around is us. In general, we seem to feel less worried about not knowing what to do with an infant. I don't think that the lower stress level is because we think we know everything, rather our realization and acceptance of “you’re not going to know everything” is huge… ya know?! For the most part, Maddox sleeps through the night too… how lucky are we??! Having two parents that aren’t always completely and utterly sleep deprived is a wonderful thing!!