Diapers for Two

Doing diapers for two is, well, exhausting. And I'm using disposables part time on Bryson. I don't want to push him, but I can't wait until that boy learns how to use the potty. The above picture is ONE DAY worth of laundry. For Bryson there are 3 pockets, 1 all in one, and 4 fitteds for a total of 8 diapers. For David, there are 7 fitteds, 4 prefolds and 2 all in ones for a total of 13 diapers. And then there is the pile of wipes, extra doublers, and random pile of momma cloth on the floor. When you go through 21 diapers in one day, you have to wash diapers EVERY DAY. Just no way around it. The pail gets full and if you delayed it (because you know you have enough diapers) you'd just wind up doing two loads of diapers in one day, which would be worse.

However, with all of that said, I'll just say, Man I'm glad we use cloth diapers. I can't imagine the fortune we'd be throwing away every day if we used disposables. If you figure 17 cents per diaper (on the low end), we'd be throwing away $3.57 every day. That's $24.99 per week, $1299.48 per year. And that's if the kids don't get sick and burn through say, 15 diapers in one day with explosive poo. Knowing I've only spent something like $400 on the diapers I have in my house, I'm happy we use cloth!

Pictures for you.. Finally!

David likes his fingers!


Proud Big Brother Bryson (complete with Impetigo sores under his nose)


Big sister Mikayla holding baby brother for the first time.


David all wrapped up in my knock off Moby wrap


All three of my guys together.

Getting ready (for school)

We've really been struggling the past two days trying to get our household on a school time frame. In order for Mikayla to be ready for school on time, we have to get up at 6:30am. That hasn't happened yet. Do you know how hard it is to get up at 6:30 when your newborn fell asleep like 20 minutes before that?

David is growing well. At his checkup on Friday, he had gained 11oz since discharge from Temple and grew 1/4". The doctor was very impressed with how well he was doing considering his rough start.

I had a checkup the same day. Turns out my Super Secret Weight Loss Plan is in action again. For those who don't know, my Super Secret Weight Loss Plan is called Pregnancy followed by Nursing. For me, it leads to massive weight loss in the first 6 weeks. So far, I've lost 30 pounds. I'm down to 190! Go me!

SURPRISE! We got a boy!

I'm sure most everyone is aware by now, but David Shane was born August 1st at 6:14pm. He weighed 6lb 7oz and was 20 inches long. After a few hours of observation, it was obvious the little guy was in trouble. He wound up with a chest tube, lines in his umbilical cord and lots of monitors. After a day, he still wasn't better, so he was flown to Scott & White in Temple where he could be watched better. He recovered well and was released on Tuesday August 12.

I had a really good experience with my immediate c-section care. The spinal worked REALLY well and I can't remember ever feeling as good as I did after this section. Brad and I sat and laughed so hard in the recovery room about our little BOY who was supposed to be a girl!

Shortly after they moved me back to L&D (I was on magnesium for my blood pressure so had to be monitored closer), I was feeling great and just wanted to rest, so I sent Brad home to get himself a good night's sleep. Right around 1am on Saturday morning, things spiraled out of control for me. My blood pressure went from around 190/100 to 70/30 in less than 5 minutes. There was a code called and about 20 people swarmed into my room. I have no idea how close I was to actually dying, but I'm sure I was pretty darn close with all those people acting like they did. I rebounded after several bags of fluid (thanks to an additional IV) and stabilized for a few hours. THEN, it happened AGAIN! Throughout the entire ordeal, I never lost consciousness. It's even more scary when you see how concerned the doctors and nurses are! I was once again stabilized.

The doctors (because at that point there were at least 3 involved in my care) decided I was having some post-surgical bleeding and debated sending me back to surgery. I can't tell you how scared I was of that! Thankfully, after four, YES FOUR, units of blood and about 13 bags of saline, they decided I was stable enough to just be watched for signs of more bleeding. After several hours, and lots of blood draws, they decided I was still bleeding, but not enough to send to surgery. PRAISE GOD! I did get two more units of blood though, for a total of SIX units!

Overall, I spent from Friday afternoon until Wednesday morning in the hospital recovering from my section. I was discharged Wednesday and headed to Temple to see my little guy. I had only seen him for a few minutes during all my time at St. Joe because I was not stable enough to go to him and he was too sick to come to me.

We are all home now, and have been since Tuesday evening. I can't tell you how blessed I am to still be here to be a mother to my children and to watch them grow and learn. I'm so lucky that David and I were not any sicker than we were. It could have been SOOO much worse. Spending a week in the NICU makes you well aware of what can happen with sick babies!

I'll be back to post pictures later. I've got THREE kids to get ready for a visit to the doctor. Only one is going with us, but the other two have to be dressed to go to the neighbor's!

Today is Baby Day!

Well, baby will be arriving today! I'm 34 weeks and 6 days, so she's early, but hopefully will be very healthy. My section is scheduled for 5, but I have to be at the hospital at 3:30. Prayers for a healthy baby please:)