Ephram at One Month

Ephram made his grand arrival on a Thursday. This worked out well with Charles' schedule. He was actually able to be off work the entire next week. My mom then came and stayed with us the second week. This was super helpful because Charles actually had his cardiology boards that week. The next week, I was on my on. But not really. Our nanny Michelle, who has been with us since Wills was 10 weeks old, is still working for us and she is coming in 3 days a week while I am on maternity leave to help out. It is awesome and I am so thankful we are able to do this!

Ephram has been sleeping in our room in a bassinet. I keep threatening to move him because he is a really loud sleeper. I have him snoring on one side of me and Charles snoring on the other. I won't do it for a while though. Ephram still gets up 2-3 times a night and I am just to tired to have him any further away from me than necessary right now. 

Ephram is eating a combination of breast milk and formula. I am exclusively pumping and he gets whatever I can make, about 15 oz a day. The rest is formula. He was consistently eating 3 oz and sometimes even 4 oz at a feeding and going 2-3 hours during the day. Unfortunately, over the last few days he has decided he just wants to snack and is eating 1 to 2 oz every 2 hours, sometimes even every hour. This is getting a little exhausting, particularly since he did this during the night last night. Hopefully we can get him back on track soon!

He is definitely awake more frequently now. Overall he is a pretty happy baby. I feel like he is easier than Wills was, but this could just be because I'm not a nervous wreck about everything like I was then. 

One Month Stats:

Weight: 11 lbs, 1 oz (76%)

Length: 23 in (96%)

Head: 15.25 (87%)

Clothing size: Newborn stuff is TIGHT. I am still squeezing him into a few things though because they are just too cute. Things labeled 0-3 months fit great and even some of the 3 months are fitting now. 

Nicknames: Baby Brother, buddy

Must haves: We wore Wills a lot when he was a baby, but Ephram has been worn a whole lot more. We have 4 different baby carriers, and Charles and I both agree the Lillebaby Complete is by far the best one. Ephram feels really secure which is great when chasing a toddler. 

And I have to do a side by side comparison. Just as a reference, that is the same shirt on the both of them. Little brother might not be so little!

Wills                      Ephram

Having two at home is definitely an adjustment. Wills got really clingy and started whining a lot. This has gotten better recently and hopefully will continue to improve. He has actually started giving Ephram kisses and telling him that he loves him. Of course he is also still yelling at Ephram that his trains are "mine" even though we assure him that Ephram has no interest in them just yet. It will be interesting to see what happens when Ephram actually does want to play with Wills' toys! 

Halloween 2013

Wills had a Halloween party with a music presentation at his preschool on Halloween. Charles and I were both able to go whcih was nice. They were encouraged to wear their costumes. We took Wills' hoping one of his teachers or the other kids could convince him to wear it. Sadly, still no donut.

That night, we went over to the Fong's to go trick or treating with them. The daddies stayed at the house with Ephram to hand out candy and the mommies and the boys went trick or treating. Wills would occasionally say trick or treat, he almost always said thank you, and every now and then he just tried to walk in to people's houses when they opened the door. I didn't even attempt pictures since he wasn't wearing his costume anyway! 

We did attempt some pictures when we got home of the two boys together. Here is what we got. It's pretty funny looking at them now, not so much at the time though!

Thankfully, Ephram is to little to have an opinion about his Halloween costume, so we were able to get a couple of photos of our cookie. 

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!

Doctor's Appointments

Ephram's first week of life was full of appointments.

Because there was no palate involvement, we were actually able to nurse. This was not something I was expecting and I was so excited that it was now a possibility. Ephram lost the normal amount of weight while in the hospital, however we only stayed 24 hours so we had to go back in for a weight check on Sunday. When we did, he had lost more weight, but still not enough to be too concerned. We went back in for another weight check on Tuesday and he had gained weight, so we thought things were looking good. Nursing was still very painful, so our pediatrician decided to clip his tongue tie. This really did make nursing less painful. Another weight check on Thursday and he had lost weight again. At this point we realized we were having the same problem we had with Wills which was low supply. I just wasn't making enough to keep up with him. Again, this was so disappointing, but I just reminded myself that the ability for us to even try nursing was a blessing. We are now on the pumping/formula path. The plan is to make it through the winter and then reevaluate if I want to continue pumping or if we will just go to formula full time.

Ephram also had his first appointment with his Dr. Smith at OU on Tuesday. They did an exam and confirmed what we already knew, incomplete unilateral cleft lip with gum line notch. They then told us the new game plan. Ephram will have his lip repair between 8 and 10 weeks of age. The gum line will not be repaired until his permanent teeth start to come in, sometime between age 5 and 7. This means only two surgeries! Again, what a blessing! We scheduled the lip repair for January 8th. What we know so far is that he can't eat for 6 hours prior to surgery, it should take about an hour, they will keep him overnight, and he will have to eat with a syringe for 3 days following surgery. We go in on January 6th for our pre op appointment and I am sure we will learn even more at that appointment.

On Friday, we had to go back to the hospital to have Ephram's hearing checked. He had referred on his left ear, but since we only stayed for 24 hours, they weren't able to check it again prior to us being discharged. We had actually went by my office earlier in the week for me to check his hearing and he passed, so we weren't worried. They rechecked his hearing and he passed on both sides for them as well.

That's a lot of appointments for the first week of life!

Te2 is here!

So this post is over two weeks late. I'm sure those of you with children will forgive me!

We decided to schedule an induction for our due date of Thursday October 24th for a couple of reasons. There was some concern over how large Te2 would be and we also didn't want to risk delivering over the weekend. Charles was worried the staff at the hospital on the weekend wouldn't be as prepared for our special circumstances and my OB would be right there during the entire labor since Thursday is a regular work day. We were told to arrive at the hospital at 7:30 that morning.

I had really been dreading being induced. I knew it was a good idea, but I just didn't want to do it. I tried everything to induce labor. We went on walks every night, I went to Jamba juice and drank pineapple smoothies, and I even had Hideaway build a pizza I had read about that was supposed to induce labor. It ended up costing over $20 for a medium! None of these worked. I went in on Wednesday for my weekly appointment and they checked me and I was between a 3 and a 4.

That night we went to the Storybook Forest with the Fong family and then to Othello's for dinner. It ended up being a late night for Wills, so we rushed through bath and bed time since he had school the next day. My mom and sister were here and the plan was Charles and I would head to the hospital around 7:15 and they would get Wills up and get him off to preschool. They would then come over to the hospital after that.

Thankfully, Te2 was listening to his mama and decided he would just come on his own. At around 5 o'clock Thursday morning I woke up with a strong cramping pain that would come and go. I decided to break out the contraction timer on my phone just to check. Turns out they were happening every 4-5 minutes and lasting about 1 minute. At around 6, I decided I must really be in labor and woke Charles up to let him know I thought we should go ahead and get going. We both took showers and packed the last few things. I went and told my mom we were going in early because I was already in labor.

We got to the hospital during shift change, so that wasn't the best timing, but they still did a great job of checking us in and getting us to a room. After we got our nurses for the day, things moved pretty quickly. I got checked again and was told I was 4 which was a little disheartening. My contractions were good, so there was no need for pitocin. They asked if I wanted an epidural, and I did. The anesthesiologist was quick and entertaining! He was a big flirt with the nurses and was cracking me up.

My OB came in later to check my progress and I was at a 7, so she went ahead and broke my water. The anesthesiologist came back in to check on me and I let him know the epidural wasn't working on my left side. This same thing happened with Wills and also happened to my sister with both of her kids. He made an adjustment and it kicked in on the left. My nurse then went in to put in my catheter and she couldn't get it because the baby's head was in the way. They called my OB back in and saw that we were ready to push. They got everything ready and 4 pushes later, Te2 was here! They handed him over to us and Charles and I were so surprised. We had prepared ourselves for the unilateral cleft lip and palate and it turns out that he has an incomplete unilateral cleft lip with a gum line notch, and NO palate involvement! This was definitely prayers answered!

Ephram Theodore Te

9 lbs 11 oz, 21 inches long

October 24th at 11:18 AM

Storybook Forest 2013

The boycott of the donut costume continued. This time I couldn't even get Wills into one of his Halloween shirts. We decided to hit up the Storybook Forest with the Fong family on Wednesday October 23rd since we had scheduled Te2's induction for the next day. My mom was here to go with us, which is a good thing since Charles wasn't able to make until much later. Chasing Wills around while I was 40 weeks pregnant was pretty exhausting and I was grateful for the help.

So it turns out spending the evening with the Fong family can induce labor. We went to dinner with them the night before I went into labor with Wills and we spent this evening with them knowing I would be induced the following morning. The induction wasn't needed and labor began all on it's own. If there is ever a Te3, you can bet I will try spending more time with the Fong's and skip the labor inducing pizza we tried!