Kelvin is 1 month old!

Kelvin is 1 month old already. Well, he's actually 5.5 weeks old already as I'm a week late writing this post. I can't believe he's been here for over a month already and yet it feels like he's always been here.

He's a pretty sweet little guy who doesn't cry too much...except, apparently, when Grandma and Grandpa Lenz offer to babysit so we can go out to dinner. Sorry, Grandma and Grandpa! He really is a quiet baby most of the time!

8.10.18

I have to say that this time around, the newborn phase isn't nearly as difficult for me as it was with Ada. What has been the hardest for me is that I have to spend so much time with Kelvin that I don't get to spend as much time with Ada. Luckily, John has been able to spend a lot of extra time with her one-on-one. They truly have a great relationship...and I think Kelvin is going to be a mama's boy. Kelvin nurses really well, sleeps fairly well, and is growing well now. He hadn't gained as much weight as the pediatrician wanted at his 2 week visit (which we scheduled when he was 11 days old) so we went back again a week later and then he had gained well. Last week we weighed him with the super accurate method of subtracting my weight from my weight holding him. I'm pretty confident he's at least 9 pounds though since the scale said 9.6 pounds!

8.21.18

8.22.18

Ada is adjusting to life as a big sister. She really seems to love her brother and wants to help with him...but she also hits him on the head quite often. 😒 When he starts crying she usually says "eat" and sometimes wants to feed him. She even lifts up her shirt and grabs my phone (I use an app to track how long he nurses). Not much gets by her! She also likes to sit at the table with me when I pump. She fills up her empty Nuun tubes from her belly button. 😂

8.26.18

Overall, we're figuring out how to be a family of four. It hasn't always been easy but we're getting there! Mr. Kelvin, you are very much loved already.

Kelvin's birth story

Oh, Kelvin. I so wanted you to start labor on your own so I didn't have to be induced like I was with your sister. But you were nice and cozy in there so I didn't get my way. I thought I was going to when I was 99% certain my water broke in the early morning of Saturday, August 4th, but the Prentice Women's Hospital triage nurses confirmed that it wasn't so. You made us wait about 60 more hours to meet you...

My induction was scheduled for 4:30 am on Monday, August 6th. We were told to arrive at 4 am so we did...but we weren't taken to our room until closer to 5 am. Like John said at that time, if it wasn't so darn early, we wouldn't have minded the delay but we could have slept another hour! It took the nurse two tries to get an IV in me which was unusual as I have pretty good veins. She hit a valve the first time though. I think she felt really bad once I told her I was a nurse too (at least I waited until afterwards and was super nice about it).

Around 6:20 am, Nathan, the resident, placed the CRIB (cervical ripening with balloon) which is a foley catheter inside the cervix to help it dilate. At that point, I was dilated to 1.5 cm so Nathan wanted it checked in 3 hours. When Johnna, my midwife, came in around 9 am and saw that Nathan wanted the CRIB checked in 3 hours, she left to find him and confirm since they usually check it after 6 hours. Sure enough, she came back around 9:30 to check it and it came right out. My water broke at that time too and I was 3 cm dilated.

The next step was to start the Pitocin but first, I got to eat some super bland oatmeal that John found. Unfortunately, Starbucks was all out of oatmeal and he couldn't find any toppings at the place he got it from. It was pretty gross but I managed to eat a decent amount of it. In retrospect, I should have put one of my GU energy gels on it. John left to go get himself a good breakfast/lunch around this time too.

The view from my exercise ball. Can't complain about a lake view during labor!

The Pitocin started at 10:20 am. I mostly sat on the exercise ball from then until they checked me at 2:15 pm. John watched the monitors and put counter pressure on my back during contractions just like he did during labor with Ada. When Johnna checked me at 2:15 pm, I was only 4 cm dilated but fully effaced so she thought it would go fast from there. Just before she checked me I told John I wasn't sure I could keep going without pain meds. I decided to keep at it for a bit longer. I stayed in bed, lying on my right side and squeezing the bed rail with each contraction because I was completely exhausted by this point. John looked on from a chair in the corner of the room.

I called the nurse around 3 pm because of constant rectal pressure and the urge to push. Johnna came in to check me again by 3:15 pm and I was 9.5 cm! I told her I wasn't sure I could stop myself from pushing so with my next contraction, she got my cervix around Kelvin's head. Then I could start pushing. 10 minutes later, Kelvin was born at 3:39 pm! They put him up on my chest right away and he started crying. I was wearing my Oiselle sheroes sports bra which Johnna and my nurse both loved and thought was very appropriate for the day. Kelvin weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces and was 20 inches long.

Kelvin Sy Lenz

John wore the same shirt he wore when Ada was born.

Big sister Ada meeting Kelvin for the first time!

Dressed and ready to go home!