Steeped in Joy: The Middle

Or The Beginning, Part II

When Guy was about 8 months old, I found out I was pregnant. This was not a shock or surprise & we were thrilled!! I was still doing physical therapy and getting massages for pain relief from the last pregnancy, but I was feeling so much better!

A few days before Guy turned one, we found out he would soon have a little brother! Now that was a shock! The pregnancy felt different in a lot of ways, and if possible, I was actually sicker than I was with Guy! Everyone “knew” it would be a girl. We were delighted that Guy would have a baby brother to wrestle with and a best friend for life!

In September (my 2^nd trimester), we packed up our house in Retirement Community, Idaho and headed North! Handsome got a great job at a brand spankin’ new hospital. They wanted to pay him many dollars to work less with half the responsibilities. {Not much to think about!}

There was lots of training for Handsome that took place in a different city, where we all lived in an apartment. Check that off the list of things to try. ;) And finally, after Thanksgiving we moved into our home on Sunny Island for good!

no shortage of black tail deer here!

December was packed full of trips to the mainland to visit people, buy groceries that were more reasonably priced, and have a couple visits with a midwife… you see there is one rule on Sunny Island:

You Shall Not Deliver Any Babies Here!

They have the same rule on the ferry, too. (you cannot drive off of the island, no bridges. It’s strictly boat or plane. Or perhaps you could ride an orca bareback, but I wouldn’t recommend it... especially if you were in labor)

Finally Christmas was over, Handsome’s family had left and he was going back to work on Thursday, January 3rd. (1/3/13) Only on Thursday morning, my water broke! It took me a while to really believe what was happening, because our baby wasn't due for at least a month.

We snuck on the ferry, like the law-defying citizens we are. Little Guy was VERY excited!!!!

Ferry ride to get his baby brother

Our midwife determined “there’s no going back.” My water had “grossly” ruptured. She also informed us that we couldn’t deliver at their birth center or the alternative hospital where she had birthing privileges, because I was too early. I was crushed! I did not want to go to the hospital and have their interventions forced upon me, but we did have a premature birth on our hands... and no alternative.

Since I wasn’t contracting, the doctor started me on pitocin, which they had a very hard time regulating. Pitocin was the biggest deal to me! I DID NOT WANT IT. But, there was no choice, because I was hardly contracting at all. The labor was tremendously difficult and didn’t resemble Guy’s in any way, except that it was long and scary. After LOTS of interventions, they informed us that I would be getting a C-section and told me what to expect, etc… The nurse left to chat with the doctor and make the final arrangements and suddenly I felt a LOT of pressure. (which was weird since this baby was high and WOULD NOT come down!) I guess he changed his mind, because exactly 10 minutes after they told me I was getting a C-section, he was BORN! (none of this 3 hours of pushing stuff…)

Baby Bear & Handsome

Last Days in the Hospital.... Left: Little Guy, Right: Baby Bear

Baby Bear had to spend nearly 2 weeks in their level 2 nursery. I was hoping we could go home right away, but it was clear he was going to act like a preemie and not like a newborn. :( He had one real scary bradycardia where his heart rate dropped and he stopped breathing for a few seconds, but mostly they were small bradys and the biggest problem was feeding him. Some of the nurses refused to let me nurse him at all and he was under a jaundice light for a few days, too. They were about to put in a feeding tube, but allowed us to try and he ate well and it (mostly) stayed down!!! Things got better, he gained lots of weight and stopped having as many desats. We would’ve preferred to take him home on a heart monitor and oxygen (like we did with Little Guy), but that hospital doesn’t send patients home that way.

We were really blessed, because the hospital let us stay in the room where I birthed (right down the hall from the nursery). Thankfully, it wasn’t needed and I could be there to pump and drop off milk/nurse and hold my little one (when we were allowed). It was REALLY hard, though. One of the hardest parts was being away from Little Guy for so long, as he could not stay with us (the hospital’s rule), but we praised God we had family 20 minutes away and he got to have lots of fun with his Grandma, Grandpa, Aunts & Uncle.

He got to visit... and pretend to be a baby

When we finally brought Baby Bear home, we were all so delighted and relieved to be together as a family!! Little Guy was head over heels for Baby Bear. He just wanted to hold him & smooch him all the day long. Baby Bear lived in snuggly, fleece “bear suits” for the first 5 months of his life. He really wanted to be bundled, but despised his legs and arms being wrapped tight, so the bear suits were the solution. We had them in a variety of colors and patterns. He was the adorablest baby you ever saw! (ok, the bear suits helped)

Since he was always dressed as a bear, we called him Baby Bear.

Now Baby Bear is BIG! (I guess he copied his brother) He walks and talks ~~and throws fits~~. He climbs everything and is very, very charming. He loves to make people laugh and does lots of silly things to entertain others. (like wrinkle his nose, and grin, and make fish lips, and all kinds of silly noises) At 10 months we saw a big change in his reflux, and he finally slept through the night for the first time! (I was not prepared for that, since Little Guy was fully sleep trained at 5 months) He is a tiny bit chubby, which makes him look even more like a bear cub & we love him to pieces!

Guy & Bear are BEST FRIENDS! You never saw such pals. They play really well together. And yes, there’s lots of wrastlin’ involved. It was a hard couple of years having them so close with the complicated pregnancies/deliveries/NICU stays… but I wouldn’t change a thing. God has really blessed us with these two and we are so thankful and love them so much! They are loud, rowdy, and extremely energetic, but they are also very sweet and love us and one another dearly!