Our Past Month at a Glance

There are so many wonderful things to write about from this past month; I am way behind to say the very least.  I want to capture everything in more detail, but that will have to be at a later date.  For now, I want to give a brief overview to capture our past four weeks at a glance.

The biggest moment this past month was of course the birth of our third son Luke Alan French!  What a blessing he is!  He was born at 8AM on 08/17/12; weighing 7lbs 4oz and 20 inches long.  I ended up having a C-Section as scheduled (and what a blessing, I'll write more later).  Luke was not breathing when he was born, but the nurses quickly got air into his lungs (it felt like an eternity to me as I waited to hear him cry).  He ended up having to go to the NICU after the doctors discovered he had 1) low blood sugar levels, 2) high respiratory rate and 3) low O2 levels.  The first two were corrected pretty quickly, but for the next 2.5 days, he worked to keep his O2 levels up and consistantly breath well on his own.  During this time they discovered that he had low platelet counts and jaundice.  By the fourth day in the NICU his platelet counts had risen some and leveled out, so he was able to come home!  My C-section went wonderful.  I was up moving around as soon as my feeling came back in my legs (I had a very special son in the NICU I had to get to!).  It was the hardest thing not being able to hold my son for the first 12 hours after his birth.  So hard still not being able to hold him w/o tubes and IVs in the way.  I felt like I couldn't be there for my newborn son Luke and I couldn't be there for my sweet 17 month olds Gavin and Wyatt (who did AMAZING while I was in the hospital and since Luke has been home!!).  I'll write about all this and more later when I have more time.  The C-section was on a Friday morning and they were going to let me go on Sunday morning, but since Luke was still in the NICU, I stayed until Monday.  I decided I needed to go home and spend time with my Gavin and Wyatt and husband and sleep in my own bed that night.  It was an awful feeling... feeling like I needed and wanted to be with Luke when at home and needed and wanted to be with my other 3 men when at the hospital.  God helped bring me peace and I was able to enjoy my time with each of them when I was given the time.

Luke came home on Tuesday, day 4, and what a great feeling to have all 5 of us together!  The boys have been so sweet and gentle with Luke!  We've all been adjusting well.  Luke was majority spoiled his first two weeks since we didn't get to give him the love we wanted his first 4 days.  By the 3rd week he decided he didn't want to sleep unless he was being held!  Not good, hehe!  Anyways, he is now sleeping fine when we aren't holding him.  He was very sleepy his first 1.5 weeks... I mean very very sleepy; to the point I'd wake him up to feed him and because I just missed him!  Then he hardly slept for a week.  Now it's been a great balance the past few days.  Again, I'll write more about this later.  

Luke is an incredibly sweet little boy who loves to stare deep into you as you talk to him.  He loves to snuggle on my chest (wiggles to the middle of my chest if I put him on my shoulder...) where he gets lots of kisses on his forehead and head.  He is also the most stubborn and strong willed newborn I have ever known or heard of.  He gets so red and his overall looks majorly change when he gets mad (mainly when he wants food NOW, bath or diaper time).  Luke will contort his body and stiffen up like I've never seen.  He is beyond strong; seriously strong.  He stands up like nothing when he's mad and I'm trying to burp him on my lap; you can't bend him at the waist.  Nursing him when he's in this state is a nightmare.  He moves 180 and forward when on tummy time and upset.  But I've been very happy to see that these fits are fewer in-between the past few days!  He's learning to trust that Mama will take care of his needs and he can relax when she's holding him!  Makes my heart happy watching him feel safe and loved!  

Luke was on formula the first day of his life due to him being in the NICU.  I started pumping and giving him the colostrum via bottle (I couldn't nurse until he was out of the NICU...).  Long story short (I'll write more later), he was on about 70/30 breast milk his last 2 days in the NICU, 90/10 breast milk his first day home and 100% breast milk every since!  My milk supply is amazing; I"m actually having to freeze a whole lot.  Nursing however has been a major challenge due to a number of reasons: 1) not getting to nurse until day 4 due to him being in the NICU and taking a bottle 2) Luke was tongue tied until 1.5 weeks of age and 3) his strong will/fits make it so hard to calm him down to focus on nursing. I've seen a lactation consultant though and things are heading in the right direction.  He nurses about 50-70% of the time; mainly with the shield to help bridge the difference between the nipple and the bottle nipple.  But he does nurse okay w/o it at times depending on his mood!  Our main issue now is that he gets too relaxed and comfy and nurses so slow; a MAJOR challenge with two now 18 month olds to also care for.    

My mom and sister were here his first week and my dad was here his second.  What a gift!  Again, I'll write more later.  The day after my dad left, Wyatt came down with a bad tummy bug; the next day Gavin and I got it and then the following Daddy had it too.  Everyone but Luke was throwing up and just felt AWFUL.  So thankful Luke never got sick!  Jason's mom ended coming over to help one day because it was so hard on Jason and me to take care of two sick boys and a newborn when we were so sick ourselves (and I was still recovering my C-section).  What a gift!  She ended up getting the tummy bug too a couple of days latter :(  While we were still recovering, Jason had to go out of town for work for about 2.5 days, which meant it was my first time to take care of the 3 boys by myself.  It was challenging to say the least with us all being sick still, but we made it!

Then then past week, I have been potty training the boys!  Wyatt has been getting ready for a long time, but just wasn't quite there yet.  Two weeks ago he started to get VERY upset when he'd pee or poo in his diaper and want me to change him right away.  Gavin too would want me to change his diaper, but not be as interested or bothered by it.  For Wyatt, everything started being about potty.  I knew I had to start training him despite the fact that we had a 3 week old.  So the following week we started off on our journey through potty training.  After 4 days, I can say it's gone very well.  We are no where near being potty trained completely, but we are for sure heading in the right direction with huge successes!  Both boys have gone pee and poo on the potty many times a day.  Wyatt is doing excellent with control; his main accidents are tiny dribbles in his briefs and then we run to the potty.  Gavin's learning as well, but doesn't seem as interested; he actually seems upset at times that he's having to do this.  I know he isn't really ready, but I have to try with him as well since Wyatt is ready.  I'm making sure to treat them as individuals though.  We continue to make it fun.  I'm thankful for the joy and happy hearts God has blessed us with this week!  I'll write more about potty training too in another post.

I had my first outing with the 3 boys by myself today; to the pediatricians office for the boys' 18 month checkup.  It was great and a piece of cake!  The boys are so good out in public walking holding my hand, that it wasn't any trouble or worries.  Gavin is 34 and 1/4 inches (100% in height) and 28lbs and Wyatt is 33 inches (80% in height) and 26 and 1/2 lbs.  I weighed Luke this evening and he is 9lbs 8oz at 4 weeks old.  Just the past two days he has really become more aware and interacting with us.  He loves to stare at us when we talk to him (he'll contort his body trying to look at the boys!).  He also is trying to coo back to us when we talk to him.  He's starting to enjoy learning to grasp material or other simple things to hold/touch.

Again, I want to capture so much more in individual posts about these special topics, but I wanted to give a 'brief' overview first before another month passes!  So thankful for all God has blessed and entrusted us with!  Here are just a few pics in random order due to time: