Marin Regains Birth Weight

Well -- it takes most babies 1 week to do it, but apparently Marin wanted to create havoc with a bazillion pediatrician copays by waiting until she was 4 weeks old to reach her birth weight again. Granted, she was a chunker at 8lb 10oz, but it was still a VERY slow climb back to that weight marker. Thank goodness she made it, though, b/c the doctor was about to tell me that I needed to start supplementing with formula to make her gain more quickly and I think with all I've been through with mastitis and continuing to nurse through that -- I would've either punched out the doctor or broke down bawling. But she's right at 9lbs now and doing fabulously, so all is well. And she's gotten much cuter than when she was born. She had a rough few days for sure on the looks... but she's a great baby, so I could handle a few days with an awkward-looking newborn! ;)

I am feeling human again now that the mastitis has subsided. That was literally hell on earth. I wanted to die. I laid in bed with tears streaming down the sides of my face and into my ears because I just felt so cruddy. David was so nice through it all. He felt so bad that he couldn't help me at night with feedings and stuff b/c of nursing and all, but he was supportive and great. He always is, actually. He's the best dad in the universe. I always watch him with the kids and am just so proud of my family.

My in-laws are here right now. They got here this evening and I am WAY excited!!! They are going to be able to bond a bit with Marin since they hadn't seen her since her birth with all the drama that insued... PLUS they can help a bit and I can get some well-deserved (I think) sleep. Maybe even a nap during the day????? WOW!!!!!!! Or they could get up with Cade when he wakes up at 6:30am (that has GOT to stop) and I can sleep until Marin wakes up. That will be awesome!!!

My mom has offered to help as much as she can with how busy busy busy she is with Mary Kay right now, but Cade has temporarily been banned from long visits at Ima and Popsy's house because he likes them too much. He ALWAYS wants to go over there and when we get him back, he has to go through about 48 hours of Ima and Popsy Detox. He just cries for them and throws fits when he can't go back. It's really cute, actually, because he is so in love with them. Maybe we'll lift the ban soon and he can go back and visit. I think the detox was just really bad this last time because he was over there so much during Marin's birth and then we had to stay there during the power outage right afterwards for 4 days... so he was basically there for a whole week non-stop. We'll have to break him back in slowly with small visits... :)

We feel so blessed to have our new little family unit! God is amazing!

The 2 Week Mark -- Still Alive

Well, I wish I could say that things have started to run smoothly again at the 2 week mark, but I'd be lying. On Saturday, I had to go to the emergency room because (warning: the following might be TMI) my fever climbed to 103 degrees in a matter of an hour and ... yes... my right boob felt like it was going to fall off it hurt so bad. It was so swollen and tender and BRIGHT RED. I feel wierd putting that on a blog, but it's the truth. I was in so much pain and my fever was so high, the doc said to go to the ER since it was Saturday. It is what they call "mastitis" which is a severe breast infection. It's a lot of pain and lasts for up to a week, but it apparently is extremely treatable and I can continue nursing through it, which I am glad about because nursing is actually going really well this time around. I would've hated to have to quit b/c of something out of my control. So I have been bedridden for 48 hours and am just starting to feel a tad bit better, but I wouldn't have told you that last night at about 10:30pm when my temperature soared again to 103.5. GEEZ!!!!!

But get this everybody -- MARIN SLEPT FOR 7 HOURS STRAIGHT LAST NIGHT. Holy gosh. I have never heard of a 2 week old that could do that. She geared up for it for sure by eating non-stop from about 4:30pm to 9pm and didn't sleep hardly at all during that stretch, but I certainly didn't expect her to sleep that long. Somehow, I guess God knew I needed her to since I was so severely ill... hope that's a repeat performance someday. Cade didn't do that until he was months and months old... wow. I did pray while I was pregnant for an easier baby than Cade was and apparently I got it. I don't know what it's like to have a baby that doesn't scream constantly, fuss while eating, hardly sleep and require constant bouncing/walking/rocking. It's bizarre. I feel blessed to have had the easy baby as the second baby. But of course, Cade's great. I don't mean to sound like I didn't love him to pieces anyway... ;)

I'll post more pics when I take some... it's been a bit much the last few days to try and snapshot anything. Plus... she sleeps all the time! Yippee!!! :)

Welcome Marin (i.e. Drama, drama, drama...)!!!

Marin Anne Williams was welcomed into the world on April 30. She weighed in at a whopping 8lb 10oz and was 21 1/2" long! Long girl! She was a full inch longer than Cade... wow. That's exactly how long Kelsey was when she was born. Cool. Plus... she kind of looks like her Aunt Kelsey did when she was born...

So, I'll spare you the birthing details, which were kind of intense. I will share the fact that I didn't get my freaking epidural until I was 7 cm dilated. HELLO! Talk about pain people. They had trouble getting in my I.V. b/c my veins kept collapsing or something. They had to call the anesthesiologist to come put in my I.V.... that took 30 mins for him to get there. Then I had to wait for the drip of fluids to get in me... another 30 minutes. Then I could get the epidural... minor complications with that... so that took 30 minutes... GEEZ! But Marin is here nonetheless and there you have it.

She is a wonderful baby. She has her days and nights mixed up for sure. I have to literally wake her up in the day to feed her after she's been asleep for 4 hours straight... and then at night... well, let's just say I basically try to sleep in the glider between nursings while holding her because the second I put her in the bassinet she wakes up. I think I might have gotten 3 hours of sleep last night and even that was interrupted sleep. Hopefully she'll figure things out soon. I'm just trying to enjoy the moments we have together.

So -- the story. About an hour after Marin was born, my father-in-law collapsed in the waiting room when his back gave out on him. So... he was wheeled down to emergency and doped up on super narcotics. My mother-in-law was keeping Cade, so she had to leave to put Cade to bed. Well, my father-in-law couldn't even sit up on his own, so he couldn't go in the car with her to our house... so he slept on the couch in my recovery room for the night. Glad we had the room and glad he was so doped up he didn't know what was going on around him. If you don't know it, the night you have your baby isn't exactly glamorous. Your body is displayed for all to see and you have lots of blood/nasty issues. Anyway...

The next day, he still couldn't sit up. So they wheeled me in my recovery bed out of the way so that they could get him out on another stretcher. He went back to emergency and took enough drugs for Carol (mother-in-law) to get them both home to Hot Springs. They made it...so that's good. But there goes our house/dog/Cade-sitters. So my mom and dad took Cade, some friends from church came and let out the dogs. But woops! My chihuahua BIT HIM when he was getting her out of the crate. Drew blood, people. Not good. I felt horrible about that.

We get released from the hospital on Wednesday, only to get to the parking lot to find a flat tire. Had to fix that on the way home.

Got home. Time to relax with the new baby. Just kidding!!!! Two hours later, a huge storm left us without power and neighborhood rumor held that it could be several days before it was back on. So pack up 2 dogs, diapers, new baby, clothes, food from the fridge, and head to my mom and dad's house. It was a good thing we did, too, because we didn't get power back until Saturday. So we spent 3 nights there.

It was trying and David and I did our best to keep our senses of humor roaring, but it was a rough week. Things are better-settled now as we get to know our new family-of-four unit. We've already eventured out to Target with the clan and all went well there... of course, I had David to help. I'm wondering when I'll get the adventuresome spirit up to do an outing... gulp ... alone. We'll see.

Anyway, for now, enjoy the pic of our new beautiful baby girl. I just gaze at her in amazement. God is so good.

To the doc again...

Now that I am almost about to deliver, it seems like all I do is go to the doctor. :) But this last visit was pretty exciting. I am already 2.5 cm dilated and 50% effaced. In layman's terms, that's basically just that I'm getting ready to pop out this baby! It was at least encouraging to see progress.

I go in next week (if I'm still pregnant by then) and have another sonogram. My doctor and I will then decide if we think we should induce labor based on her GINORMOUS size. Ha! I told David last night, even if she's not really that big, it doesn't sound too bad to induce... I'm ready to not be pregnant anymore! But at the same time, there is something kind of exciting about going into labor on your own -- it's like the rapture... you don't know the day or the hour. Ha!

Stay tuned for updates...

Latest Doctor Appt

Things are looking good on the pregnancy front. I know I've mentioned this before, but apparently, my doc things Marin is going to be significantly bigger than Cade. As in, she may be 8 to 8.5 lbs. Which I actually prefer as far as newborns go... I have friends who have had 8+ pound babies and they just seem a bit less puny and sleep and eat better and stuff... so all sounds fine by me!

The biggest news is that "unless I go into labor on my own in the next 2 weeks, I'll be induced." So, ladies and gentlemen, that means by May 1, we're probably gonna have our new baby, Marin Anne!

I have a baby shower today that my best bud Amber is giving me. Should be a fun affair. I don't know how I got so lucky as to swing a shower with baby #2, but hopefully people will just come with smiling faces to visit and not fuss with gifts. We have all we need... course, most of it's blue... :) Amber told people it was a "diaper and wipe" shower, so hopefully I'll get stocked up with those consumables.

David is excited that the school year is winding down. Marin comes, then he gets summer vacation! How wonderful is that!!??? He'll be home to help me all summer with a baby and a toddler. Hopefully we'll all survive. We have several banquets and dinners we've gone to and are going to to honor David's Teacher of the Year award for Duncanville. It's been really nice. There's a big one in Waxahachie to honor all the Teacher of Year noms on April 30... Marin will either be coming the next day or I'll probably still be in the hospital... I told David he has to go no matter what, though. The only reason he can't is if I'm literally in labor or pushing. Other than that, I think he should be there. So we'll see.

Have a great Sunday! And see below for bluebonnet pix... I posted that just a few mins ago... so the post below is new, too.

Bluebonnets!!

The bluebonnets were gorgeous this year!! Best I've seen maybe ever. Wanted to share a couple pix from our afternoon out in them with Cade. He loved them! He kept running and flopping down on his stomach in them.

Busy Spring!!

Things have just been rolling along quickly lately. The Williams household has been busy, busy, busy!! I am working this month full time for my cousin, Nicki at a mothers' day out program in the North Park Mall area. Nicki is the director at Northway Christian Day School and one of her workers had to leave for a 6 week maternity leave, so I'm filling in. Cade absolutely loves going to "school today." I think his favorite thing is all the new girlfriends he's made!! Ha! Last night at church, he and Abbie (Amber and Justin Robinson's daughter) literally walked around the church lobby and hallway for five minutes holding hands, parading around. Everyone was laughing at them. It was absolutely adorable. I think a few pictures were taken on several cell phones.

I am feeling great for the most part. I have certain days when I feel a bit sluggish, but what can you expect when you're in your 8th month. Woh. That sounds pretty far along!! I can't believe Marin will make her debut in about 2 months! I feel so much better than I did when I was pregnant with Cade. For a while, it almost had me worried that I felt so good... I was thinking surely something was wrong if I have this much energy and can just get on and off the floor and on and off the bed and on and off the couch easily... but apparently feeling good is a good thing according to the doctor.

Speaking of the doctor, I'm starting to go every 2 weeks now! It feels like all we do is go to the doctor. I am sure Mom feels that way, too, since she's the one that has to watch Cade when I go for my visits. I could just take him with me, but it's nice to be able to just concentrate on me and ask questions without being distracted. My last visit was a big sonogram. It was pretty cool. With Cade, I only had a 20 week sonogram. Well, this one being 29/30 weeks along, you could see A LOT more. it was WAY cool. I mean, you could see her face. Not just a skull/embryo looking face, but a real, chubby, baby face with eyes that were opening and closing and stuff. It rocked. She is obviously going to be adorable! Right! :) Apparently, her head is measuring pretty small compared to her tummy and legs. So, doc says I"m gonna have a long-legged, big-bellied baby with a peon head. ATTRACTIVE!!! :) In summary, what the sonogram told us was that she is healthy and perfect. But my due date is now up for speculation because her legs and tummy show that I am on track to delivery end of April/beginning of May... but her head shows May 10... so first half of May, she'll be here for sure. I just assume keep her cooking as long as possible -- they are easier to take care of when they are inside your body versus outside. MUCH EASIER.

David is doing well. He is going on a mens' retreat this weekend with a large group of the men from our church. The theme is "The Power of a Praying Husband." I think he'll enjoy it. If not for anything other than the fact that he will be able to spend some fellowship time with good guys. Bryan and Justin (a few of our good friends) are going, so that will make the weekend a good one. He's been doing some good mountain biking lately. He's caught a few afternoons with Bryan after work and goes on Sundays a lot with the guys in our Young Adults class. I am only mad because I bought a brand new mountain bike about a month before I found out I was pregnant, so no biking for me!! I have a new bike just sitting in the garage begging to be ridden. I tried riding once while I was only about 4 months along and took a "head over the handlebars" fall... David benched me from then on. Woops.

Cade turns 2 tomorrow. Wow.

BTW -- Kelsey and Derek come home at the end of March!!!!! I am so excited, I can hardly contain myself. It will be great to have them back home. Keep them in your prayers as they transition back to America!!!