He's Here!

This post includes our labor story (not graphic) and my thoughts on our second son.

Everyone says every pregnancy/delivery/baby is different. We definitely experienced that. It's really hard to wait even 3 days past the due date when your first baby took you by surprise 15 days early. My first labor was 15 hours, starting after only a couple hours of sleep in the middle of the night. This one started with a sharp pain at 5am but I snoozed until 6am when the contractions really got started. We arrived at the hospital by 8:30 with contractions only 4 minutes apart. By 11:15 I was pushing and M entered the world at 11:35. But this time, I felt so much better after a "fullish" night's sleep. We had the whole afternoon left to relax with this little boy, and more energy from the sleep and shorter labor. Our recovery was a little more difficult the second time around, because they thought Baby M may have an infection because of a high fever (he's fine) and I developed an infection our second night here, resulting in a longer hospital stay and more pain for me.

But, that's a good excuse for me to get to know and enjoy this new little bundle a little longer before we go home and upset the rhythm of our family in our regular life. Baby M is just as happy and content as his big brother was and is just a sweet little cuddler. His preferred position is to be cradled, unlike big bro who wanted to peer at the world over our shoulders. I enjoy being able to look into his sweet face!

Soren's first meeting with his baby brother was a little overwhelming and I got a little nervous about how he'd handle everything. But a new place and lots of people in the room made everything a little strange. The next day he was much more excited about looking at the baby and curious about what he was doing. It was so sweet to watch and just warmed my heart to see Soren standing on his Daddy's lap peering over the side of the bassinet to check out the little bundle of brother. He's going to be a great brother and helper, I think.

I am greatly enjoying this calm before the storm, but I'm looking forward to getting home and starting to settle into some sort of routine of family life. I miss Soren and look forward to the two boys beginning to get to know each other. I am excited to take Mattias home and really have him be a part of our family as settle back into some semblance of "normal," whatever that means during the holiday season!

We are so very blessed to have a healthy and happy baby boy, a sweet big brother and a wonderful support network of family and friends who are excited with us and come alongside our family. We are filled with joy about this precious boy who we are welcoming into our family and look forward to getting to know him and his developing personality in the days, weeks and years to come. Thank you Lord, for bringing Mattias safely into the world and for allowing me to be his Mommy.