3 weeks

2 weeks

The first week

Michael is now 10 days old, and we have survived the first week and a half. It has been a long, difficult 10 days with him, but it looks like it should be getting better soon.

Since we left the hospital, Michael has been back to the doctor every day (except 1 day) to check his bilirubin levels for jaundice (his poor feet have SO many needle punctures in them), and to check his weight. Rachael also had jaundice when she was born, but it didn't get quite this bad. His last check put his level at almost 20 (the high 20s is when it can do serious damage), but it looks like it may have peaked. We go back to the doctor again today to check, but we expect the levels to be down...hopefully.

Michael weighed 8lb 2oz at birth, and has gone down to 7lb 6oz. He was crying all of the time in the first week, and I thought he was just going to be a colicky baby. It turns out, my milk supply isn't fantastic, and he was crying because he was hungry! Poor guy! Nursing has been...a challenge. I had some issues with Rachael, but nothing like this. I don't know why I expected everything to be the same with this pregnancy/delivery/recovery/nursing as it was with Rachael...but because I did expect that, it was a major shock to find out that things just aren't as easy this time around. Michael has a really bad latch, causing me to blister and bleed and crack and all sorts of fun stuff. It was toe-curling pain every time he ate, and I was just miserable. I saw a lactation consultant who gave me a shield to wear when nursing, but that didn't do too much good, and he was still causing damage. Ready to give up and just feed formula, we saw the pediatrician and he recommended renting a breast pump.

I have a love/hate relationship with my pump. I love that it is pain-free and I am still able to give Michael the best nutrition possible. However, my day is pretty much spent like this:

• pump for 15 minutes
• pour milk into bottles to store in fridge
• wash pump
• feed Michael the pumped milk
• wash bottle
• have an hour break or so
  
• start all over again

I am pumping every 2 hours, and I still have to supplement him with formula at night because I don't have enough for him. It's a frustrating process, but I do it hoping that in a few weeks we can try nursing again, and I won't have to pump long term. If nursing still doesn't work out, then I'll be exclusively pumping for as long as possible.

Good news: ever since pumping and feeding by bottle, his "colic" is gone. Poor boy was just hungry, and now that we've solved that problem, he is a very good baby. He sleeps ALL day and ALL night. He'll wake up to eat every 3 hours or so during the day, and wake up every 4 hours or so to eat at night (the formula helps him sleep longer at night). He has 2 or 3 twenty minute periods of awake time every day...but that's about it.

Crossing our fingers that today is the last day we have to be at the doctor's (until his 2 week check up on Monday...), and now that he's a happy boy, things are looking up. It was a pretty bleak first week at home. Adam goes back to work tomorrow for the first time in 3 weeks (he worked from home to help take care of me and Rachael the week before Michael was born), and I am a bit nervous to take care of 2 kids. I have a feeling there will be lots of Handy Manny and Imagination Movers in our house for the next little while...



1 week old (and not too happy!)

Michael Adam is here!

Michael Adam Coles was born on November 23, 2009 at 4:43pm. He weighed 8lb 2oz, and was 20.75 inches long.

Monday morning at 2:30am I woke up to some pretty good contractions. They definitely hurt worse than the contractions I had in early labor with Rachael! I started timing them right away (being hopeful), and they were 7-9 minutes apart. After contracting like that for a couple of hours, we decided to head to the hospital because of my fast labor with Rachael (8 hours). I went up to Triage, while Adam waited for Karen to get to the waiting room and take Rachael home with her.

I was 3.5cm dilated and 75% effaced when checked, and they admitted me pretty quick! Adam met up with me right before getting to the room. I was having some really painful contractions, and they were about 2-3 minutes apart! When the midwife was finally able to check me, I was sure I would be at least to 5cm...but I was still a 3.5. At that point I asked for some pain meds in the IV. I was hoping that's all I would need to control the pain, since that is all I had with Rachael. However, this labor was MUCH more painful than Rachael's labor. So, 2 hours later when the midwife checked me again and I was only 4.5 cm, I decided to get the epidural. Something I really did not want, but am now so glad I got it! It took them a long time to place the epidural. Much longer than normal! So about 15-20 minutes later, and many sticks in my back from unsuccessful attempts, the epidural was finally in! It worked perfectly, I didn't feel a darn thing! Unfortunately, from bending over with my head to my chest for those 15 minutes, and tensing my shoulders (involuntarily) the whole time, I had the WORST neck pain throughout the rest of my labor! I could hardly move my head to look around!

Once the epidural was in, everything went pretty smoothly. My blood pressure dropped a little, causing baby's heart rate to drop. But they gave me some meds to bring it back up, and baby's heart rate went back up too. Time went by so slow just waiting for the baby to come. I believe I was at 7cm a couple of hours later, and not too long after that I was at 9.5! They had me do a couple of practice pushes, but wanted to wait for baby to drop a bit further down before really pushing. Next thing I knew, the midwife was back and everyone was getting ready for Michael to be born!

It was so difficult to push, since I still couldn't feel hardly anything. I could feel the need to push (though it wasn't anywhere near as strong as with Rachael's labor), but it was hard to feel myself actually pushing. Apparently, I was doing alright with the pushing, because he was out in only 11 minutes! Turns out he was sunny side up, which is why it took a bit longer for him to drop. I was amazed that I didn't feel any pain while he was coming out!

They immediately plopped him on my tummy, and he started crying almost right away! He has a very good set of lungs, and makes the cutest squeal/squeaking noise when he cries. We came home on Tuesday, but have had to go back to the hospital every day to check his bilirubin levels for jaundice. He's hovering under the admittance level every day, and if he goes above it then he'll be back in the hospital to go under the bililights. For now, we have a bili blanket at home to help with the jaundice, and it seems to be working well, despite how big of a pain in the butt it is!

We are SO happy to be home and have Michael in our family. I'm just hoping that one day sleep will return to the Coles house :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Pregnancy update

I have had the worst week... *warning* this will be long

Wednesday I finally called Kaiser about my stomach pain, and they were able to get me in to see a doctor that day. She pretty much brushed it aside and said that pregnancy isn't comfortable (very sympathetic). The good news is that she did an ultrasound and found that baby had turned head down, yay!

The pain got worse throughout the day, and we ended up leaving for Labor and Delivery around 2am. I didn't think I was in labor, but I was just in SO much pain, I didn't know what else it could be! I was also starting to feel pain in my shoulders, but didn't know what it was. After dropping Rachael off with my parents, we got to the hospital around 3am and stayed until 9am. They wouldn't induce me or even give me pain meds...so I stayed up all night just to be bored and get a few rough internal exams. Not dilated at all.

We decided to just stay at my parent's place for the next couple of days so that Karen could help me take care of Rachael on Friday while Adam had to go back to work. I thought that I might go into labor over the weekend, since I had some inconsistent contractions that were pretty strong. They, of course, always fizzled out and didn't do anything to help labor get started. All day Thursday I had a lot of pain in my shoulders, chest, and back. It hurt all the time, but intensified whenever I took a deep breath. I was concerned, but it went away on Friday,so I figured I just needed a good night's rest. Towards the end of the day on Friday it started coming back, and it came back hard. I woke up in the middle of the night in excruciating pain, and it got worse throughout the day Saturday. I called Kaiser, and they wanted me to come straight to the ER in case I had a blood clot in my lungs.

I had a student nurse poke and bruise me a few times trying to place an IV, had blood taken, had to be poked elsewhere for a different blood test to check oxygen levels, had an EKG, CAT scan, ultrasound (to check my kidneys, liver, etc.), and at the end of it all, everything came back normal and they had no real answer as to why I was in pain. The doctor said it is probably just a muscle pain, but he doesn't know why I have it. At least he prescribed vicidin for the pain! The pain meds are working, and I have felt pretty good since taking some last night. Though I don't want to take more than necessary, since it can get to the baby.

It doesn't look like baby Michael is coming anytime soon. I was checked again on Saturday, and still am not dilated at all. I wonder if he'll come before Thanksgiving...

Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday, Adam and Rachael and I went to Vacaville to visit my sister and brother-in-law, and stopped at Larry's Produce to get some apples (and can some amazing applesauce), and to pick a couple of pumpkins. We failed to do this last year for Rachael's first Halloween, so I was determined to go this year. Since Larry's is really just a big produce stand, I was amazed at the selection of pumpkins and how 'pumpkin patchy' it seemed. This may have to become a tradition of canning applesauce and getting pumpkins (though next year, I'd love to throw in some spiced cider to the tradition).











Thanks for the great day, Stina and Trevor! Now it's your turn to visit us!

Goals, cloth diapers, pregnancy

I recently made a list of goals as part of the 101 things in 1001 days challenge. One of those goals is to update this blog every 2 weeks, so I will do my best to keep up with that goal. I have created a blog devoted soley to my goal challenge. You can track my progess here.

I completely finished Rachael's room a couple of days ago, and since then, Rachael has moved to her new room and has successfully transitioned to a toddler bed! She has slept in her bed for 2 nights and 2 naps so far, and there has been no crying or getting out of bed at all.
Today's nap she took a bit longer to fall asleep, but she stayed in bed the whole time.

Getting Rachael out of bed the first morning

She loves the flowers!

I am about 34 weeks pregnant, and can't wait for this baby to come! Less than a month until I start walking and trying all natural induction methods to get this baby out! Thank goodness!

I have decided to cloth diaper Michael, and now that I figured out why Rachael had such bad rash issues with the diapers last time, I have decided to cloth diaper her as well! I found a really cheap option of diapering, and will make up the cost of the cloth diapers in about 3 months of not buying disposables. I'm not exactly looking forward to all of the laundry again, but I just can't spend $100+ per month to diaper 2 kids!

Life for us is going well. Adam is a big help around the house, especially on those days that I just can't get off of the couch. My back pain is getting worse, and my stomach feels like it weighs 50lbs (even though I've only gained 12lbs)! Here's to hoping this baby comes closer to 38 weeks instead of 40+ weeks!

Quickie post

Some things Rachael does lately that I just love:

-Waves bye-bye to the house when we leave.
-Signs 'all done' to just about everything.
-Goes up/down stairs when I tell her to (so I don't have to carry her and hurt my back).
-Hands me the remote when she wants to watch a show.
-Gets excited and throws her hands in the air when Adam walks in the door after work.
-Throws her head onto her pillow when we put her in her crib at night.
-Recognizes family members and smiles (instead of cries).
-Lays down on the floor when I tell her she needs a diaper change.
-Tries on my flip flops and walks around the house in them.
-Lifts up my shirt/rubs my belly when I ask her where little brother is.


What I've been up to lately:
-Drinking massive amounts of Simply Lemonaide with Rasberry
-Painting a mural in Rachael's new room
-Watching the new fall lineup TV shows
-Enjoying the quiet of Sasha not barking due to a no bark collar
-Cross stitching
-Constantly disinfecting counters/bathrooms to avoid germs
-Watching The Dr. Oz Show (making me paranoid about getting sick/germs and bacteria)
-Going broke over my Propel water habit
-Reading The Work and the Glory/being disgusted over the treatment of the early Saints

Update

Has it really been 2 months since I last updated? Wow. Time has flown by. I've been meaning to update the blog since coming home from Utah, but we have stayed super busy and I just haven't had a chance. I've talked to a few of you since our Utah trip, but not many, so here's the info on what happened out there:

We drove about 12 hours on Sunday morning (left the house at 3:30am!), and made it to Utah around 5pm. We were staying with Kim, and it was so good to see the Youngberg family after about a year since last seeing them. That night we went to mom and dad's and saw most of the family. It was so good to finally catch up with everybody and get to relax after the long trip. I spent the last little bit over there talking to dad for awhile about the church and a lot of things, and that started my interest in finding out more info on the church, and history of the church from better sources than I had been.

The next day I hung out with Kim for a bit, and we ended up talking in her backyard for a long time (I remember how hot it was out there!) about a lot of different things; what I was feeling about the church, my history in the church and our semi-activity for the past couple of years, and a lot of her experiences in the past few years. By the end of that conversation, I knew that I wanted to come back. While I didn't have a firm testimony of the church, I had the start of one, and a desire for more. Since that afternoon, everything has been different. We have been semi-active at best for the past 2 years, and I know that played a huge role in my disbelief for those few months. As I strive to read my scriptures, pray, and keep the spirit with me throughout the day, Heavenly Father blesses me beyond what I ever imagined. I am the happiest that I can ever remember, I feel like a completely different person. So, we are back in the church, moreso than we ever were before; and even though it's only been a couple of months since coming back, we can already see a huge difference in each other. Life is very good.

As for the rest of the trip, we spent a lot of time with family. Played games, went to the cabin, made skirts and watches (too bad my watch broke!), spent a day at the lake, shopped with the girls, visited the Salt Lake Temple, went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house, had bbq's, and just hung out. It was a very laid back trip.

We only planned to stay for 1 week, but while we were there, Adam's grandma passed away, and we ended up staying for 2 weeks. It is sad that she is no longer with us, but I am so happy to know she is reunited with her husband and her family. I am so grateful for the knowledge of eternal families.

With our extra week, we had many more game/movie nights, and really just hung out with a bunch of different people every day. We had such a good time seeing everyone and can't wait to go back in April for General Conference!


Now for some pictures...











I almost forgot to add, the Coles are now dog owners! Kim had bred her dogs a couple of months before we came out to Utah, and once we saw them and spent 2 weeks with them, there was no way we could leave without one! Sasha is a Yorkshire Terrior, and is now almost 15 weeks old!

Walking!

Rachael is walking! She is still very wobbly (as you can see), but she is learning fast!



...and a cute video of her laughing.


In case you're wondering, that was a sock in her mouth. She loves to suck on her socks...but now that her mouth is bigger, she's been a bit too successful at putting that whole thing in her mouth, so her socks have now been taken away and replaced by a blanket :)