Surprise Arrival

Here we go...

I woke up Saturday morning, looking forward to a relaxed day taking my friend to the embassy pool and letting her acclimate to the city and the time zone.  But instead, we went to the hospital at 9:30am and Daniel Knox was born at 3:30pm!  Welcome, tiny man.  You are very loved.

I had been a little freaked out about having labor go super fast the second time around, but it actually went a little slower, at least at the beginning.  I was able to walk around and get things going a bit before succumbing to the epidural.  The anesthesiologist was the same nice man who did my D&C, and it was a super quick and easy process.  Earlier in the morning my OB said that I had the option to go home, as I wasn't very far along but I'm glad Thomas convinced me to stay.  And I didn't need any Pitocin or other labor-enhancing drugs, which was a blessing.  All in all, it was as pain-free as I could wish it.  Praise the Lord!

My sweet friend, who had arrived just over 24 hours before, stayed home with Benjamin for two solid days, then we came home Monday morning a bit before lunch.  Our hospital room was one of the biggest available, and while it was so great to have space to walk around and recover, I was ready to get home.  Not to knock Virginia Hospital Center, but my bathroom at Farah was the size of our room at VHC.  Thomas had his own bedroom and full bath, and there were two sitting rooms, one for the guys with leather couches and the other for the ladies.  I was impressed with the food at Farah Hospital and the nurses were generally very responsive and helpful.

Proud daddy.

We could hear large parties happening in the other suites on our floor, people would be eating gigantic buffets of food and talking until 11 at night.  It was nuts.  Thankfully despite the Arab nighttime culture we were able to get some good rest.  So far Daniel has been a good nurser, fingers crossed I can make enough milk and we can skip doing the full-on formula and bottles scene.

Postpartum bump, day 3 (Monday).  Go away, please.

Benjamin has been mostly good, some fussiness and nighttime tantrums, usually around dinner and what food he needs to eat.  But he asks about Baby Brother Daniel and wants to see him, and he gets lots of attention from my dear friend and Thomas, and Emy when she's here.  It'll be a shock when Thomas goes back to work, and when my friend leaves, but right now we're in a pretty good groove.

Ready to go home!

Today (Wednesday) we went back to the hospital for the newborn blood screening, and then ate lunch at the embassy.  We also got Daniel his first immunization shots, so it was a big morning for us.  I even nursed him at the hospital, and at the embassy.  I'm so grateful that it seems to be working alright, but we're still supplementing a little (with a syringe, to avoid nipple confusion).

I think that's about it, we're just living feeding to feeding and attempting to remain showered.  Pray for a good milk supply, and continued good health for all of us.  And also for our safety in Jordan, as the Syria situation gets more complicated.  I'm still glad I had the baby here, but the news does stress me out a bit.

More to come...
Rachel

In Other News

Well, I had my doctor appointment this afternoon.  It seems I've gained two kilos since last week, so it appears I'm retaining water.  Oh well.  The doctor said my blood pressure looked good, so he's not concerned.  I would still really like to make it to September, so please pray that it won't turn into anything serious.  I'll see the doctor again next week, and then it'll just be a few more days!  So crazy. 

38 weeks.  Feeling very puffy and large.

Notice the guest room is clean and ready for our visitor!

We got our supplemental shipment delivered today, which is fantastic.  We now have my breastpump and assorted bottles, and the bouncy chair and exersaucer, etc.  Everything we used with Benjamin, including all his baby clothes up to 18 months.  Now I'll work on getting everything put away.  Probably some stuff will get donated, we already have a good bit of baby clothes.  Sweet friends have gifted us new things for the baby and I got a pile of hand-me-downs too, so we're totally set.

Now we're just waiting for the layette shipment, which has the new crib.  I'm planning to set up the pack-n-play in our room for the first weeks so it's not totally necessary to get the crib set up and everything, but I'm a planner and would love for it all to be ready to go from day one.  I've gotten a couple new crib sheets and have the new baby's loveys all washed and ready.  I can't remember when we started giving Benjamin his owl to snuggle, but it was maybe a month or two in.  I'm hoping this baby loves his raccoons just as much, Benjamin always gets owl out of the bed and carries him around, and has other toys talk to him.  So fun. 

We've started talking to Benjamin about mommy staying in the hospital for a couple days, which hopefully won't be too strange for him.  I'm trying to think if I've spent any time away from him other than the normal mornings/evenings out.  I can't remember spending nights away, so this will be interesting.  Thankfully I have an amazing friend coming to stay for a while and she'll take care of Benjamin while I'm indisposed.  What a blessing.  I can't wait for her to arrive! 

-Rachel

Lots o' Boxes

Because the embassy was closed for a week, we got a deluge of mail this week.  It's amazing how much getting packages improves my day, even if it's a new ice cream scoop, or laundry detergent.  (Yes, I have it shipped.)  Poor Thomas had to schlep all this into the house, though.  Bonus points to him!

It's like Christmas!

I've been getting anxious about going through labor, and even though we're officially in week 37 and I should have some time, Benjamin came three weeks early and I'm trying to be as prepared as possible.  We got the car seat and stroller set up, I've got diapers in sizes newborn through 2, and our storage and layette shipments are on the way.  I would feel a little better if I had my breast pump here and ready to go, but worst case scenario I can always rent one for a month.  But labor, there's just no way to really prepare. 

So I'm focusing on life after labor, and as dumb as it sounds, I'm ordering some clothes for post-baby.  I know in theory it'll take longer to lose weight this time, with the second baby, but I really want some black jeans for the fall.  And a camel-colored sweater.  And a leopard-print scarf.  So ridiculous, but it's also distracting me from thinking about delivering this baby, so I've spent some time on Pinterest looking at fashion.  I ordered a variety of things from Old Navy, their jeans were on sale, and I can always return them if in a month nothing is working.  But I remember with Benjamin I wore pajamas and a bathrobe for longer than is humanly acceptable, and I'd like to keep up appearances.  Of course after this baby comes I will laugh hysterically at my silly goal, so bear with me.

37 weeks.  Not sure I can get any larger.

I'm really grateful that the baby didn't come right at 37 weeks, but I'm also feeling very heavy and awkward.  The pregnancy waddle is in full effect over here.  But I'm trying to still do fun stuff, last night I went to book club, which was so great.  I really like getting to hang out with interesting women from all backgrounds, none of whom I would have ever met except from being here.  What a blessing.  I'll probably skip the next one in September, and maybe more, but knowing I can slide right back into it after taking some time off is reassuring.  And I'll probably want a night out sooner than I expect!

We're still pretty undecided on a name.  I keep waiting for divine inspiration, or a sign or something.  Not that we had anything like that with Benjamin, we just both liked it and agreed.  Argh.  Time to start looking at baby name websites again.

That's all the news for now, looking forward to a relaxed weekend and keeping my feet up whenever possible.  Pregnancy puffiness is the name of the game at this point.

Rachel

The Home Stretch

Well I've officially hit the "over it" stage of pregnancy.  Waking up twice a night to visit the bathroom, needing a crane to turn over in bed, and wicked heartburn are really cramping my style.  I think I promised not to complain when we shared the news some months back, but dude.  It's much worse than I remember.  I'm still amazed and thankful and half not believing we're having a second baby, and it's totally a miracle from God.  But I'm ready to have this little boy here and just skip over the next month and the whole labor scene.  It's weird that in a few weeks we'll have two kids, and be a family of four.  What a blessing, but also pretty scary. 

35ish weeks.

When they announced the embassy closing I was glad, because it meant more time with Thomas but it's been a pretty long week without the usual schedule of swimming once or twice, having the playground access, getting to eat lunch with Thomas solo a couple times, etc.  I definitely spend too much time there.  We haven't felt unsafe here in Amman, which is a big blessing, and honestly it's just been inconvenient.  Looking forward to having more of a normal life once Eid is over (after this weekend) and things settle down a bit.

We've resorted to some TV time, complete with Cheez Its.

Not much else to report, honestly we're just hanging out at home mostly.  Although Thomas and I did run out to the mall today to walk around.  Which completely wore me out, then we had lunch just the two of us at one of the few restaurants open during the day.  Thankfully today is the last day of Ramadan and Eid begins tomorrow.  I'm not sure what will remain open during the holiday, but fingers crossed Fatburger will reopen.  I'm in desperate need of burgers and shakes.  Or so this baby tells me.

Benjamin is ready to be a big brother!

We've got most things lined up for the baby, Benjamin is moved into his "big boy" room, and we've got the bottles and formula ready in case nursing crashes and burns like last time.  But I'm holding out hope, evidently there's an amazing lactation consultant here.  I feel silly asking God to let me breastfeed, I did that when I was still pregnant before my miscarriage in September last year, and then when I lost the baby I felt like I should only ask for a healthy child.  But I would really like it to work out, so I'm starting to pray about it.  Trying not to hinge my self-worth on it though, it was so devastating last time.  But in addition to praying for a healthy baby and smooth delivery, please pray that I will rest in God's grace no matter what happens nursing-wise.

Rachel