Silas John - His Birth Story

I've got a sweet one month old today.  Last month at this time, Jason and I were skipping church and snoozing on the couch because we had spent a large chunk of the previous night in the hospital with false labor.  We were exhausted and taking turns keeping one eye on Amos.  Jason had a meeting at 3:00 p.m. and at that point, I felt like the baby was never going to come, so I told Jason he should go ahead and go.  Around 4 p.m. I started noticing some pretty intense contractions, but they were really far apart, so I wasn't worried too much about them.  Then Amos woke up from his nap, and it was hard to continue to play with him during contractions and all I wanted was my exercise ball to sit on.  This happened to be in the back of Jason's car.  So around 5 p.m. I texted Jason telling him to bring my ball home...NOW!

Meanwhile, something came over me and I decided I needed to make dinner that night.  I hadn't made dinner in a while, and maybe I subconsciously thought that if I made dinner, the baby was going to come.  Well, it worked.  By the time Jason got home, I was whipping up Cajun Chicken and stopping to have a contraction about every 4-5 minutes.  My contractions from the night before had been a lot more frequent, but not near as HARD.

I did not want to go in with false labor again, so we decided that we would eat dinner, load everything up, and head to my sisters house so that we would be closer to the hospital and could just leave Amos there if I was sure I was in labor.  By the time we got everything ready, I was pretty sure I was in labor.  I had to stop doing anything when each contraction came on and just focus on it.  In the car, Jason began counting for me so that I could breath with him through a contraction.

We were only at Amelia's house long enough for her to say, "I think you are in labor." We said goodbye to Amos and headed to the hospital.  On the way into the hospital, as nice as he could, Jason said, "I think you are suppose to try to breathe WITH my counting, or why else am I counting."  I didn't want to hear him say that then, but I'm glad he did because later on it really helped me to focus myself on trying to stay with his count.  We had to wait to be checked in and then once in triage they quickly checked my dilation - 5 cm - and admitted me.  That was at 8:00 p.m.  We called our parents and told them it was the real deal!

At this point, the nurse asked me what I planned to do for pain.  I timidly told her that I wanted to try to do it on my own as long as possible.  She immediately said, "DO IT!"  and then another nurse walked in and said the same thing.  I think that might have been all I needed.  It really helped to know that the nurses were going to be very supportive through labor.    They let me immediately get into the birthing tub and even put in my IV and did paper work while in there.

The tub was WONDERFUL.  I still felt the contractions, but all the pressure between them was relieved by the jetted water.  The tub even had a little bench that Jason was able to sit on to continue to massage my back.  After what seemed like forever, the nurse wanted to check me and needed to monitor the baby since they hadn't done that yet.  I was at a 7-8 so she said that she would call the doctor.  Being monitored for the next 15 minutes was agonizing.  My mom showed up at about that time and was a great support.  I don't know how people labor naturally without two people massaging.  Once I could stand being on my back no longer, I was able to get off my back and kneel over the birthing ball.  During this time, I was saying and doing crazy things.  Just ask my husband.  A couple of times, I tried to bite his fingers off.

My doctor showed up and asked if I wanted my water broke!  I said, "YES."  She broke it and found out I was a 9.5 and was almost there.  I WAS NOT READY TO BE ALMOST THERE, I NEEDED TO BE THERE!  Luckily, it didn't take long because I told them I needed to push.  I won't go into details about the pushing, but I will say that I had every intention of not yelling, but I couldn't help myself.  It was a complete out of body experience.  And then at 10:11 p.m. Silas John was born!  It wasn't a long labor, but it felt like forever.

Here his is then.

And here he is today.  He blessed Mommy with 7 hours of consecutive sleep last night!

My Little Helper

People told me that Amos would be able to help when Silas arrived, but I didn't hold my breath.  I had yet to view Amos as a little helper.  He was more of a little destroyer.  However, he really has WOWed me with his "helping", hence the title.

The first way he learned to help was throwing away the dirty diapers.  He started throwing things away before Silas came along, but only started saying, "trash" when he saw a dirty diaper.  I rarely have to throw a diaper away because Amos is always on it.

He also quickly learned about a burp cloth.  He now recognizes them as they lay all around the house (I must thing I need a burp rag at arms reach anywhere in the house because they are everywhere) and will bring them to me.  He tries to wipe Silas' mouth and occasionally Mom's and Dad's.  I'm never at need for a burp cloth.

He'll let me know when Silas is crying by running to his door and saying "Shh" because we know we have to be quiet while Silas is sleeping.

And lastly, he can now be sent on missions.  The other day I was giving Silas a bath and forgot to grab the towel from the bathroom.  Jason was "indisposed", so I sent Amos to the bathroom where Dad gave him the towel and he brought it to me in the kitchen.  Amos to the rescue!

Can't wait to see what he does next!

Week 4

This has been a fun week, full of family and fellowship!  We started the week by Jason going back to work Monday and Tuesday.  Which meant that I was on my own with both boys!  On Monday, Jason met up with a friend for coffee before school, so that meant two things.  We didn't get to see him at all in the morning and NO COFFEE for Mom!!! Luckily, my wonderful friend Nyssa, surprised me with a drink from Starbucks!  Not only that, but she came over for lunch the next day!

Wednesday Jason was off from work and we spent the morning getting ready for his family to arrive!  We are so thankful for our time with them.  It involved playing, biking, shopping, eating and great conversation.  We were lucky to have them until Friday afternoon, so we really got to enjoy ourselves and not feel like our time together was rushed.  Teigan, Amos and Emma had a fun time either playing with all the toys or taking walks outside.  

Silas spent most of his time in someone's arms sleeping!  

Speaking of sleep, he blessed me with a 6 1/2 hour stretch two nights this week!  I'm hoping that this will soon become the norm!

The brothers got in a quick wrestling match! 

On Saturday, we spent time in Kansas at my parents house.  My brother flew back from California for Thanksgiving, so everyone was home.  We started the day with an entire family Christmas photo shoot.  Hopefully I'll have pictures to share soon.  Amos would only sit still if he was eating cheese.  Our photographer said that was the only time he took pictures holding onto actual cheese.  The rest of our day was filled with games and food!  Again, Silas and Priscilla spent most of their time sleeping while Josie and Amos had a blast running around together.  I'm amazed at how well the sit and play together.

Silas seems to be growing like a weed.  He's started losing his front hair, so I'm guessing he's really going to look like an old man soon.  He's been a great sleeper too!  I'm hoping that its not just new baby tiredness.  At night, he does a good job eating and then heads back to dreamland so that Mom can too.  He still sleeps really good in his car seat too.  I can't remember when that changed for Amos, but here's to hoping that we have a car seat sleeper.

Here's Amos at 4 weeks.

Newborn Photo Session

Couldn't love these more!

All photos taken by the talented Areke Worku!  Check out her website: http://www.arekeworkuphotography.com/

Week 3

We've had another fun week at home with Jason.  The first week home was a whirlwind.  The second involved figuring out life with two boys.  And this past week was practicing what we learned.  We're not ready for Daddy to go back to work, but I think we will be able to make it at home (at least for 2 days until Thanksgiving break).  Jason has been such a huge help.  I think Amos is really going to miss having Dad around all day.

Here's so action shots of them playing!

So my game plan involves waking Silas at 7 am to feed and then being ready for Amos to wake up at 7:30 am.  We've done this on our own twice now!  We shall see how it goes.  I'm not thrilled knowing that for at least the next 9 months, I will not sleep past 7 am, but we do what we must.

Silas has been doing a great job at night.  We still have a middle of the night and an early morning feeding, but he goes back to sleep right after eating, so I wake up fairly rested most morning.  This is good, because with Amos, I rarely nap.  Silas is turning into a pretty good napper too!  

I think Silas has a pretty sensitive stomach.  That bad news: salad, onion and chinese affect him.  The good news: coffee and milk do not!  Jason said that I'm going to have to go on a water and bread diet.  Let's hope not, especially with the holidays coming up!

We had a few outings this week.  On one of the warmer afternoons, we went for a walk.  It is so handy having the trail in our backyard. It's great for spontaneous walks.  Here's a picture before our walk.  Obviously, Silas loves standing up!

We also hit up the Corcoran's Pig Roast for a while on Saturday.  Silas slept most of the time, but Amos had fun playing with MaKenna in their huge yard.

Later on Saturday, we spent some time with Grammy and Gramps who were in town.  Amos was hamming it up for them.  Here he is wearing Grammy's glasses.  They almost fit his BIG head.

Lastly, I thought it would be fun to put up Amos' 3 week picture for comparison.  Check out how skinny his legs are.  Also, we're pretty sure that Silas has him beat on amount of hair.

Belly Buttons and Bye-bye

I've got two Bs for you today.

To Amos' delight, Silas finally has a belly button!  Amos has a new belly button to find when he goes on his search for everyone's belly button.  I'm pretty sure we've got an in-nie on our hands.

(Look at his chubby guy!  Amos didn't get legs rolls until... who knows when!)

Amos' new favorite thing is to wave bye-bye.  He waves when anyone leaves of course.  But he also waves when he takes a nap or Silas takes a nap.  He waved bye-bye to his bath water this morning.  He waves bye-bye to his high chair when he's finished.  And outside gets a wave as he goes in.  If anything is leaving, it gets a wave from Amos.  Waves are hard to capture, so I had to do a collage.

Week 2

We had a really great second week.  I told Jason that the first week went by so fast with being at the hospital and enjoying family that it didn't seem like we had much down time.  This week was a lot different.  We pretty much spent the week taking it easy and enjoying our two boys.  Tuesday night, Amos woke with a pretty high fever.  We finally got him back to sleep, but the fever hung around all day Wednesday and part of Thursday.  This kept us in our pajamas and cuddling on the couch.  I'm so glad Jason was home to help with Silas and Amos those two days.  

We also had two rounds of newborn pictures taken.  I'm excited to share those with you soon!  Amos wasn't very cooperative the first go around and Silas wouldn't go to sleep, so we tried again later in the week when he was feeling better and had happier and sleepier campers. 

On Saturday, Grammy and Gramps came up for the day.  The ladies (and Silas) went birthday shopping with Aunt Amelia and left the men (and Josie and Priscilla) at home for the afternoon.  Silas did a great job and spent most of the time sleeping in the stroller.  Afterwards, everyone headed to Altamont to celebrate Aunt Amelia's birthday.  Uncle Jason and Aunt Audrey were waiting for us there.

On Sunday, Gramps dedicated both Priscilla and Silas to the Lord at church.  Everyone was so excited to see the two new little ones and see how much Josie and Amos had grown.  

Josie and Amos participated in the children's sermon.

We spent the afternoon celebrating Aunt Amelia's birthday and then headed home.

 They love each other so much!

 Great Grandmas with Silas.

Silas had a good week of sleeping and eating!  He's still sleeping in our closet, but I think I'm going to try some naps in his crib this week just so he can get the hang of it. We caught him awake a few times!  Here's his "Middle school acne" shot.  Poor guy was covered with it, but now its only on his face.    

Grammy and Gramps think that Silas looks a lot like Mommy as a baby!  What do you think?

Whether or not he looks like Mommy, he does look like someone you know!

Silas - 2 Weeks

Amos - 3 Weeks

Even while sleeping, Silas has a more pleasant face!  He scowls, but not all the time like Amos at that age!  Can't wait to see how he will look next week!