purple

Had Levi in to the doctor today for Thrush.  When Caleb and Logan had it they just had some medicine to take at home, but today the doctor gave Levi something called Gentian Violet.  Crazy stuff.  He swabbed the whole inside of his mouth with it and it's a very intense purple that stains.  But, it should do the trick so I don't have to give him anything else!  Also, my little guy now weighs 13 lbs 3 oz (with clothes on).  I had been guessing maybe he was 12 lbs since only a little over a week ago he was 11 lbs 6 oz, but once again he surprised me.  :)

Mid-week last week I started driving again, which has been great.  Wednesday night I went to a friends house (took Levi with me), and Caleb and Logan were VERY upset.  This hasn't really happened before!  There have been just a few times that they've been sad when we leave, but nothing like this.  First Logan was just sobbing and sobbing as I left, and then Mike said that Caleb started up as soon as I was gone.  The only way he got them to calm down was by telling them that they would call me and talk to me.  Must be something with all the adjustments lately!

Saturday we visited my family camping at VanBuren State Park.  A little rainy in the morning/early afternoon, but then it turned out to be great weather!  Caleb and Logan had lots of fun visiting the campground, playing with some cousins, and going to the beach.  It was fun to visit for the day, and I was very glad to come home and sleep in my own bed that night.  :)

 Heidi and Logan (cousins that look like they should be the twins...) playing in the sand.  

 Love that smile.

Yesterday we went to the Memorial Day parade in Jenison.  Caleb and Logan loved it!  Fire trucks, busses, dogs, candy...  Caleb would grab the candy, and Logan kept track of the bag.  We just took it easy the rest of the day.

 Clapping for the veterans leading off the parade.

Me and my boys.

Caleb and Logan are 2 1/2 today!  Hard to believe.  They seem so grown up - especially since Levi came along.  Except for when they're throwing tantrums, of course.  Behavior has been so-so lately.  Not sure what to attribute to our big changes lately, or what's normal two-year-old stuff.  

They both talk A LOT.  We get such a kick out of some of the stuff they come up with.  And, Mike was commenting yesterday that it's neat to see how they figure out what they want to say with the words they already know.  For example, yesterday they were taking turns playing with the garden hose out in the driveway.  When it was Logan's turn to have the hose, Caleb would say, "Don't clean me!  Don't clean me!"  He didn't know the word "spray" but still figured out what he wanted to say.

They have both been peeing in the toilet from time to time, and I am so not ready for this.  :)  We haven't been pushing anything because it still just seems like too much to handle right now, but they often ask to go on the potty.  Yes, it would be great to only have one in diapers, but the whole potty training process is too overwhelming at the moment!

smile

Got some definite "awake" smiles from Levi today - love it!  Of course he was smiling like crazy then stopped when I got the camera...

slow down!

Levi is already growing up too fast!  :)  He had his two week check-up Friday and he now weighs 11lbs 6oz.  They look for babies to be back at their birth weight at two weeks, and he's already past that...

Mike's first week back at work went fairly well.  My mom came once to help entertain Caleb and Logan, and Friday she drove us to the doctor (since I shouldn't be driving yet - hopefully this week...).  A friend came over with her kids on Thursday.  It's so hard not being able to get out of the house!

I was so looking forward to getting back to church today - I haven't been in about a month!  Last week we were at home recovering, the week before we were still in the hospital, the week before that we were in the hospital with our first induction, and the week before that I stayed home because I just couldn't handle the comments and opinions on my size anymore!  :)

Levi had a good first visit to church.  Well, other than filling his pants very loudly at a quiet moment in the service, and then coughing/burping/spitting up very loudly during our class.  :)  (I think it was Caleb and Logan's first time at church that Caleb had a HUGE blow-out all the way up his back - big mess.)  Mike does a pretty good job showing off a new baby.  :)

I'm generally only getting up once in the night with Levi.  So, I'm tired, but not in a total fog during the day.  Caleb and Logan love him lots and are doing well with him.

forgot

A couple things I forgot from our time in the hospital for Levi's birth...  First, I just have to brag a little.  After being so huge for so long and getting pretty used to feeling like a whale, the doctor had some nice news for me.  He said I had only a very thin layer of fat to cut through for the c-section, most people have quite a bit more.  Nice!  :)

I don't know if I mentioned it in a previous post or not, but at some point in the pregnancy I got a frayed nerve in my belly due to the stretching and growing.  Nothing serious, just means I've got a big numb area.  And, it'll probably take a few more months for it to get better.  It's mostly annoying, but at times uncomfortable.  Kinda strange.

Levi did alot of spitting up at the hospital.  He probably swallowed a bunch of gunk during delivery (like Logan did, too, because he was breech) and needed to clear that out.  Of course that kind of freaked me out because of Logan's choking incident in the hospital after he was born.  The spitting up has mostly stopped now - keeping my fingers crossed it's stopped for good!

The past week has been a bit of a blur.  We came home on Tuesday, the 8th.  The first couple nights we didn't get much sleep, but now the last couple of nights have been better.  Hope that trend continues!  It was WONDERFUL to have Mike home for the whole week.  I've been limited in what I can do thanks to the c-section, and he's been doing pretty much everything but feed Levi.  It's going to be interesting over the next few weeks as I'm still recovering, and I can't drive or lift Caleb and Logan.

At this point it appears that Logan is having a little harder time with the adjustment than Caleb.  He's been a little more prone to acting out.  Of course, it could just be normal two-year-old stuff, too, and maybe next week it'll be Caleb.  :)  Caleb and Logan LOVE Levi, and I'm often having to tell them to back off and give him some space.  I wonder when the novelty will wear off for them...  For the most part they are gentle, but not always.

Levi had his first check-up with the doctor on Friday.  He's doing great!  He's been sooooo sleepy that I wasn't sure he was eating good, but he only lost a few ounces in the first week, so that was good news.  He weighed in at 10lbs 11oz (the doctor didn't tell us what percentile he's in, but I'm just assuming he's off the charts...).  It's always nice to have the doctor tell you, "Just keep doing what you're doing."

Caleb peed in the toilet twice yesterday!  We're still not pursuing potty training, but if he says he wants to go in the potty we'll let him try.

Yesterday was a very nice Mother's Day.  I didn't feel up to going to church yet, and Caleb and Logan kind of had runny noses, so we just all stayed home together.  The weather was gorgeous and I actually got to sit outside by myself and enjoy some peace and quiet for awhile.  :)

plans

Things don't always go according to our plans, do they?  :)  Here's the story of Levi Michael's birth on Saturday, May 5, 2012...

Friday night, May 4, we went to the hospital to once again try induction.  I felt much better about it this time, but was still nervous we'd be sent home in the morning.  The night is a bit of a blur to me, but I believe it was around 2am that I started having good, strong, regular contractions.  I wanted to make sure this was the real deal, so I held off on getting an epidural.  Took another drug instead which didn't really help with the pain, but I was able to relax in between contractions.

A few (?) hours later it appeared that this was for real and we weren't going to be sent home, so I went ahead and got the epidural.  Ahhhh.....  It was probably a couple hours after that that the doctor decided to break my water.  (For those of you who don't want gory details, skip this part...)  He could tell there was alot of fluid and didn't want it to "gush" as that could cause problems with the umbilical cord and positioning, etc. so he just pricked it instead.  The nurse just could not get over how much fluid there was.  I think after they saw that they realized why he had been so hard to track on the monitor - room enough for two, crazy amount of fluid - he was just having a good ol' time swimming around in there!  The nurse that we spent the most time with told me to let her know someday if he becomes captain of the swim team.  :)

The doctor knew at this point that Levi wasn't positioned correctly, and was hoping that by breaking my water and keeping labor moving that he would adjust.  After a couple more hours Levi was still trying to come shoulder first.  The doctor tried to move him externally, but it wasn't going to happen, so he told us I was going to need a c-section.  Wow.  Was not mentally prepared for that one!  The doctor said it would be about 30 - 45 minutes, but then Levi's heart rate started dropping so they began moving pretty quick.  They had to get monitors, IV's, etc. unplugged and transport me down a few floors to an operating room.

We got down there and Mike had to wait outside the room for a bit while they got things ready.  It's kind of surreal to go from being in labor thinking I'm close to delivering my baby normally, to being in the midst of the buzz of surgery prep all within a few minutes.  Anesthesiologist talking me through everything (he was the only one on my side of the curtain - besides Mike - and was really great through the whole thing), a couple doctors and a few nurses getting things set up.  I'll admit I was kind of freaking out inside, just praying over and over that everything would be okay.  But, at the end when they were wheeling me out the doctor commented on how calm, cool, and collected I was. :)

It felt like forever when they brought Mike in and got started.  They asked if he wanted to watch, and he didn't hesitate one second on that one - nope!  They had to work a bit to get Levi out, I could tell it was taking more effort than normal.  But, they got him out, quick showed him to me, then went to take care of him.  He looked alot like Logan when he came out - purple, limp, and not crying.  I was just waiting and waiting to hear him cry, it took a bit, but that was one of the sweetest noises I've ever heard!  I did lose quite a bit of blood because they tore an artery trying to get him out, but that didn't end up being a serious issue.

They didn't have a scale down in the OR, and I was SO curious to find out what he weighed!  Mike went back upstairs with Levi and the nurse while they stitched me up and got me to the recovery room.  I had to stay there for a bit and the whole time I'm just thinking, "I'm fine, I'm fine, just get me upstairs so I can see my baby!"  Finally they brought me upstairs and as they're wheeling me back into my room Mike asks how much I think Levi weighs.  I figured he was 10 lbs, and when Mike said 11lbs 2oz I could hardly believe it!

After a little while my parents, Mike's parents, and Caleb and Logan came for a visit.  Caleb and Logan didn't seem too out of sorts about it.  Logan walked in saying something about bringing Baby Levi a balloon, Caleb had a bit of a wondering look on his face for just a bit, but then they took a few minutes to say 'hi' and check him out, then they were busy playing with the balloons they brought Levi.  :)

Once again, we had a great experience at the hospital.  The nurses are all awesome - very kind, caring, and never seem too busy.  Some of them we spent quite a bit of time with and we enjoyed visiting with them, hope they didn't get too sick of us.  :)

We're so thankful that Levi is here and healthy, even though the Lord had a different plan than we did!

crazy

Caleb and Logan have been something else lately.  I'm talking more drama than a couple of teenage girls.  Really.  They have extremely emotion reactions to every. little. thing.  And they seem to be looking for every opportunity to misbehave.  Even Mike got frustrated with it last night!  We tried to go as a family to the grocery store, normally a pleasant experience, but after they ran away twice Mike took them out to the car to wait for me (apparently they had a nice long talk about reasons why it's not safe to run away from us in public like that...).  Of course on their way out of the store the boys were not happy, and I was in the back of the store thinking, "Yup, those are my kids crying loud enough for everyone to hear!"  And, I was very glad Mike was the one dealing with them and I could just keep shopping.  :)

In other, nicer, updates: Both of them do quite well with counting.  They can pretty much get up to ten with maybe only skipping seven or eight.  They continue to talk like crazy and I love having conversations with them (as long as the conversation isn't along the lines of "Do you understand why you are in time out?"...), and it's fun to listen to them have conversations with each other.

I'm still always amazed at the things they observe and remember.  For example, last week we met friends at Burger King for a playdate.  We rarely go to Burger King - I don't think we've ever been in one with the boys, and have only done the drive-thru a couple times.  But, we went there last week and then that night or the next night I went out with just Logan to get groceries and he pointed out a Burger King (a different location than the one we had been to).  I guess he must recognize the colors on the building??  And, of course, we took them to Captain Sundae in Zeeland once and now when we drive by they know that's a place to get ice cream.  :)

They are still getting quite a kick out of the bird feeder.  Yesterday we saw "a whole bunch of blue jays" and that caused quite a stir (there were over a dozen, it was pretty cool).  This morning Caleb started shouting, "A red one! A red one!" and sure enough, there was a cardinal.

I just can't believe what little boys my babies have turned into!

due date

Due date.  No baby.  Two 2-year-olds that have really decided to test me this week.  Otherwise, I'm great!  :)

Just going through some old blog posts...  I really think this baby will be somewhere in the 10 lb range, and Caleb and Logan didn't hit 10 lbs until they were four months old!  On the bright side of that, even though this baby is being born in the spring instead of the fall like the boys, everything should work out fine in order for him to wear the boys' clothes.  We have OODLES of clothes, and I should never have to do laundry!  :)

roller coaster

Wow, what a weekend we had!  We were scheduled for induction Friday evening.  Yay!  Or so I thought...  About an hour before we were to leave for the hospital, they called and cancelled because too many other patients came in.  Bummer.  Was told I would get a phone call the next day with a new plan.

Thinking we were leaving for the hospital soon...

So, a good portion of Saturday was spent just waiting for the phone to ring.  When it didn't, I finally called my doctor and he said, "Oh, I thought you were coming in tonight."  Nice.  Somewhere there was a communication breakdown that kinda shot my day, but in the grand scheme of things it could've been worse.  And, guess what, when we got to the hospital that night the nurses said they didn't know we were coming!

Actually leaving for the hospital this time.

We spent Saturday night and most of Sunday morning at the hospital.  I was having good contractions overnight, but things still just didn't progress enough, so the doctor decided it was best to just send me home and we'll try again later.  The rest of Sunday was pretty rough - you just can't put a pregnant woman on that kind of a roller coaster.  But, so far I'm surviving this week okay.  Trying to pray lots for patience and a good attitude.  :)  With all the monitoring they did, the baby appears to be doing great, so that's really what matters right now.

Saturday night, while I was still smiling...

He's super active and is a bit of a stinker for the nurses when they're trying to get a good read on his heart rate.  They'll get it and then he moves again.  He's just about as difficult as it was when I was pregnant with Caleb and Logan and they were trying to monitor two at once!

As I've mentioned before, the boys talk alot about Baby Brother.  When we drive by the hospital (which happens a fair bit because it's right on the way to lots of things) they know that's where I go.  But now that they've been dropped off at Grandma's two separate times and told that the next time we see them we'll probably have Baby Brother to show them, they're probably all mixed up.  I think it'll be a shock when they actually come to the hospital and see me holding a baby!