Dad for the second time! - D's Blog

Dad for the second time! - D's Blog - SacMomsClub.com http://www.sacmomsclub.com/home/Blog/D This blog is to give a dad's perspective of having a new baby. I wanted to share this journey of having a new baby in the house and a two-year-old little girl. This blog is to give a dad's perspective of having a new baby. I wanted to share this journey of having a new baby in the house and a two-year-old little girl. en-us The Big 2 http://www.sacmomsclub.com/home/Blog/D/8229 http://www.sacmomsclub.com/home/Blog/D/8229 Yesterday my daughter turned two.  Though she did not understand the whole birthday concept, she had a good time opening presents and blowing out candles.  Everyday I am more amazed at that little girl. How she views the world and watching it unfold from her point of view never gets old.  Every new word she learns is just as exciting to me as her first word. Just last week she began saying her own name very clearly.  She has been able to say her name for a while now and though it sounded similar to her name it was more just a mocking jumble of sounds.  Now I ask her to say her name 20 times a day just for my own entertainment. She has turned into a little copycat so we now have to be a lot more careful of what we say and what we do.  It will be a small adjustment for my wife and me but it will pay off and avoid problems down the road.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Our little boy is turning into a little chunk.  He will be 7 weeks tomorrow and must be pushing 14 pounds.  The last few evenings he has been throwing a colossal fit, probably from getting over-stimulated during the day. He is sleeping more at night though and helping us get some rest finally. But today he offered his first true smiles and my wife was able to capture them with our camera.  The last six weeks of little or no sleep paid off in that single moment. It is only going to get easier from here.   -D-<o:p></o:p> 3 Weeks Today! http://www.sacmomsclub.com/home/Blog/D/8176 http://www.sacmomsclub.com/home/Blog/D/8176 Well it has been 3 weeks since our little boy was born.  It has gone by so fast and so slow at the same time.  The transition has been going fairly smooth.  We did have a few hiccups to deal with however.   Almost as soon as he was released from the hospital we noticed some boils under his chin and armpits.  We thought it was just baby acne and casually mentioned it to the doctor.  The doctor seemed a bit alarmed but we were not sure why.  They ran a culture of the sores and 3 days later we learned that he had MRSA, the antibiotic resistant strain of staph, the one the news media is calling the "Super Bug".   Luckily he never developed any other symptoms such as a fever and began taking a medicine that quickly cleared it up.  I think we really dodged a bullet there.   During this same time our daughter who is very prone to lung congestion contracted a cold that went straight to her lungs and caused a fever off and on for 5 or 6 days with a nasty cough to top it off.  We thought she may have gotten pneumonia, but luckily that turned out to not be the case and she too is feeling much better.  Those illnesses did not make our transition very easy at first and was very stressful for my wife and me.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> But on the upside our little boy is putting on weight quickly and never seems to want to stop eating.  He has a great temperament and we have been getting about double the sleep every night we did when his sister was this age, but that only means 4 hours instead of 2, but we will take anything at this point.  Our daughter likes the new baby and is very gentle with her new brother but on the same note she does not like the attention that we give him instead of her.  At least she recognizes that and throws her temper tantrums at us instead of her brother.  This week has gone much better now that they are both on the mend and so hopefully we can keep it that way. -D- He is here and he is big! http://www.sacmomsclub.com/home/Blog/D/8130 http://www.sacmomsclub.com/home/Blog/D/8130 The C-section went great.  Our son is here and healthy and I could not be more proud of my wife.  She is a real trooper, she did great in the surgery and now we have a healthy baby boy.  Our son came in at a whopping 9 lbs 7 ozs, nearly a full pound and a half larger than our daughter.  Good thing she had the C-section!  We are both convinced that even though the birth was scheduled, our son was coming that day or the next.  At the hospital my wife was having decent contractions every 5 minutes.  The last two days have been a blur, time moves in strange ways when you are stuck inside a hospital room.   We have had a few minor issues with our son though.  Apparently when babies are that large, they deplete their blood sugars and sure enough his was low.  After a few feedings the problem went away very fast, but the poor little guy’s feet have a lot of pokes from all the blood tests.   The second problem and the one that is still ongoing is jaundice.   And apparently in this case it was caused by mom and baby having different blood types.  So he is being monitored closely for that as well.   We hope by morning that it is at a level where he can come home when mom is discharged.  Our daughter had to be readmitted two days after we brought her home for the same thing, we are hoping to avoid that this time around. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Speaking of my daughter, she had some mixed reactions to seeing her little brother.  The first day she did not like seeing mom with baby at all and did not like being in the hospital in general.  Today she did much better and touched her brother’s head and legs and seemed much more interested.  It is going to be a huge adjustment for her I expect.   Time will tell.   Any tips out there? Hopefully we will all be at home together tomorrow.  -D- 12 Hours to Go! http://www.sacmomsclub.com/home/Blog/D/8116 http://www.sacmomsclub.com/home/Blog/D/8116 Where to start?  As I write this my wife and I are enjoying our last quiet night for at least a few months.   Our two year old daughter has just gone to bed, her last night as an only child.  In less than 12 hours we will be at the hospital awaiting the arrival of our second child, a little boy, via C-section.   The pregnancy for us has gone as good as I could have asked.  We have had a few visits to the hospital for pre-labor contractions but were told they were caused by stress and dehydration and sent home after a few hours.   My wife is visibly and audibly nervous about her upcoming surgery and I can hardly blame her, she is undergoing significant surgery in just a few hours.   Our daughter was born via C-section after 23 hours of labor and two hours of hard pushing.  She just was not going to make it via the birth canal.  So, from what I understand, doctors usually recommend C-sections for subsequent children.  And that is how we find ourselves in this situation tonight.    I must say I am somewhat relieved that there is a plan this time and everything will be on a schedule as opposed to the chaos and not knowing when and what is going to happen next.   But unlike last time we have a two-year-old little girl to worry about and make sure she is ok while we are at the hospital.  There is a lot to think about tonight and still some last minute tasks to complete.   Wish me luck!  -D-