1 month old

I have to post this while I remember!  He is growing SO fast and time is flying.  Malcolm went to his 1 month appointment just after he turned a month.  He weighed in at 9lbs 7oz (50%) and 20in long (25%).  He got a shot which he handled ok as did I.  He was perfectly healthy.  One thing that we knew from the 2 week appointment that I don't think I wrote is that he has an umbilical hernia.  That will be watched and if it gets bigger or is still there by the time he is 3 he will need an outpatient surgery.  Here's hoping that is goes away on it's own.  We sure love this boy!

Bath Paint

I've been on the hunt lately for things I can do with Kaylee.  Especially in an apartment without any sort of backyard (except the apartment "park" which you can only do so much at).  So thank you pinterest, it has given me a few ideas.  One was bathtub paint.  It is shaving foam sprayed into a muffin tin and then you color it with food coloring.

You think she liked it?  YES!  She loved painting with the "colors" in the tub.

She was pretty good at dipping the brush in the paint and painting the wall with it.

Then she made the mistake of giving mommy the brush.  :-) COLORFUL KAYLEE!!!  Love this girl!!!

Surprise Visit from Claudia

So the Monday when Malcolm was one week only was my first day without Kevin or my mom.  I was scared because I still couldn't lift Kaylee.  In the afternoon I get a text from my friend Amy asking if she could come see Malcolm.  I said yes and promptly got myself dressed and ready for the day...that is what happens when you have a newborn by the way.  You wait until someone comes by to dress yourself.  :-)  I got a knock on the door and when I opened it, BAM!  It was my sister Claudia!!  I was SO EXCITED!  Claudia is my ultimate best friend.  So having her here was a huge and wonderful surprise!  She got to hold Malcolm and she helped me for most of that week!!  It was fun having her there, she was able to play and take care of Kaylee and we watched movies and had great talks!  I love that girl.  Kevin was very pleasantly surprised as well.  I love that we have a family full of in laws who like each other!  THANK YOU CLAUDIA FOR YOUR AWESOMENESS!!!

I wish I took more pictures.  I can't wait to see her again in December when I go to San Diego!!!

Hospital Pictures

So at the hospital a lady came in and took some pictures of Malcolm.  They do this for everyone.  We didn't buy the CD with Kaylee (although we did get a good one that my mom bought for us <3) but this lady did a much better job so we got it.  These are just a few of my favorites.  :-)

 Above is my mom's hands

Big Sister

Since I had Malcolm after 8pm at night we did NOT want Kaylee to come until the next day.  It was way after bedtime she would have acted horrible!  Plus we wanted to get the meeting on camera for my dad. So we had her come the next day.  We set the camera up on a tripod and filmed her meeting Kaylee. 

This is Kaylee giving Malcom kisses.  She loves giving him hugs and kisses.  Especially when he is crying.  She also enjoys bringing him a blanket and pacifier when he is upset.

Such a wonderful big sister.  I'm so glad my mom was able to be there for it too.  And of course Kevin was there witnessing and videoing it all.  I wish my dad could have been there too, but at least I have a video and he has 2 more chances with my sister and brother. :-)



Here is the video of them meeting.  :-)

The Story of Malcolm's Arrival

If you aren't into birth stories, go ahead and skip this one (or skip to the bottom if you want to see the video take right after his birth where they clean him off and weigh him).  But I will tell you it isn't gross or crazy like some you might hear.  I didn't write Kaylee's birth story because I was so devastated that I had to have a c-section.  I knew that it wasn't a bad thing or any less than a vaginal birth, but my recovery was really painful even without complications.  Plus at the hospital I was treated like a wimp and I could only think it was because I had a c-section.  Which is ridiculous because it is MUCH harder to go through a c-section recovery.  Unless you have some very big complications otherwise.  This time, I want to share my story of Malcolm being born.  In preparation for his birth I read and studied Hypnobirthing suggested by my wonderful sister in law Britany who was able to have a completely pain med free birth with their son Cam.  I knew that trying to have a completely natural birth was my best chance on having a VBAC.  That being said here it is:

I started having contractions about 2 min apart at like 5:45am so we had breakfast and got everything together and headed for the hospital. Kevin's mom was already there so Kaylee stayed home with her. We weren't in triage very long when they decided to admit me.  My mom was already on her way to the airport and called me while in triage and when Kevin called her back that is when the nurse came in and gave us the news.  I was already 5cm when I got there. So I get to the room and eventually they let me walk. Later Dr. Nett broke my water and then the real contractions really set in but I was able to focus and handle them very well. But the monitors were constantly acting up so I couldn't use the birth ball like I wanted and even walking was hard to get a good reading. So I ended up back in bed, which wasn’t what I wanted but we did what we could. Kevin was really good at helping me remain calm and relaxed.  They then told me that he wasn't handling the contractions well and that the cord was probably around his neck. I then no longer could focus.  I was really worried about my baby and I wasn’t prepared for complications like that.  So the contractions were actually unbearable and I decided on getting the epidural.  The nurses said that I was in transition by that point and almost 8 cm.  Honestly at that point I knew that I was going to be having a c-section even though they hadn’t told me that.  Because his heart rate was going down with every contraction they had me on oxygen. My blood pressure went really low and there was a whole room full of nurses trying to get it back up.  My IV started leaking so the meds weren’t fully getting into my body so they had to re stick me a few times.  One time my vein blew.  Gross.  Finally Dr. Nett turned to me and told me what I already knew. We had to get him out. Off to the OR we went and Malcolm was here :-)

I was able to stay positive about everything throughout the process.  Once I knew that we were probably going to end up in the OR I started telling myself that it was ok and that this will make us both safe and healthy, basically reaffirming to myself that this is how it is meant to be.  My main concern was for a healthy baby, and of course he would love a healthy mommy.  I felt good about how far I made it before I asked for any drugs.  I am proud of myself.  The best thing (besides the baby of course) is that Kevin told me that I was brave and that he was proud of me.  That is all I wanted.  I wanted to hear those words.  Everyone was so helpful and encouraging to me and I was grateful for all the effort given to try for a natural VBAC.  I feel like I have gotten enough of that experience, I know what it is like to be in labor, that I am satisfied with my experience.  I will definitely just do a repeat c-section next time though.   And by next time I mean after both kids are potty trained and possibly Kaylee in school.  We will see.  

My recovery this time has been really good compared to last time.  For one the nurses at the hospital were really nice to me this time.  One thing that helped is that I never had to have staples.  She just put steri strips on my incision and that was it.  It freaked me out at first, but I'm pretty sure that is why I have felt so much better.  Those staples are a PAIN!  I also had been through this before so I knew that I NEEDED colace.  Haha I needed to be on top of taking my meds.  I knew that walking was a good thing and so is rest.  A good balance of the two helps.  The only thing that sucks is that I can't pick up Kaylee.  So luckily most days I have had help so far, but I have to use a chair and have her climb into her crib by herself and when I try to sit and sing to her before she has both times decided that hitting me in the face was the appropriate response.  So she ends up crawling in the crib and then she gets no songs.  Which just makes me sad because I love to sing to her and get Kaylee cuddles.  But hitting mom in the face is not a cuddle.  Anyway, thank you for reading!!



Above is the video taken by Kevin of Malcolm strait out of my belly.  Unlike his sister he cried a lot and didn't hold his breath.  

Introducing Malcolm Brent Sproul

Yes!  He is finally here!  Malcolm Brent Sproul was born May 7th 2012 at 8:15pm.  He was 7 lbs 2 oz and 19 in long.  He is an AMAZING baby!  He sleeps a lot.  I have to wake him up to eat most of the time and he rarely cries.  Kaylee makes more noise than this little man.  I think he would love for us to let him sleep through the night but seeing that he is a week and a half old....yea too little.  :-)  But hopefully this makes for a promising future in the sleep department.  Kaylee is in love.  When he does cry Kaylee immediately says, "Malco! Malco!" and searches for a blanket or paci to give to him.  She loves to shower him with kisses and hugs.  She is pretty good about being gentle but we still have to remind her.  Kevin and I are in love with our family of 4.

Above is some hospital pictures I took while we were there.  He sleeps a lot.  He looks good doing it!  Below is my mom and Malcolm doing skin to skin!  The nurse said it is good for grandma's to do it too so we told my mom she could and they had a cute little nap!!

 

 

Our first photo as a family.  I made sure to get one this time as no one took a picture of us with Kaylee.  I love it!

Meeting her little brother for the first time.  The kisses begin!  Grandma got her this cute outfit too and brought a gift for Malcolm!  So cute and awesome!

Going home.  The outfit is way big on him.  It is hilarious.

I love my babies!!

Birth Story and other posts to come.  I thought I would go ahead and get pictures and stuff out there.  Because I love showing off my babies.  :-)