A little over six weeks ago, we welcomed Andrew Sawyer (that's his full first name) into the world. It was a bit of a bumpy road, with a NICU stay very similar to Hannah's, but he's been a healthy, bouncing baby boy ever since.
Born at 37 weeks, Andrew Sawyer weighed in at 7 lbs. 5 oz. - pretty darned impressive, if I do say so myself. A good deal of that was head, which measured a full month ahead of time, but now appears normal, since you don't adjust for gestational age once you hit 37 weeks.
He looks A LOT like both Hannah and Caroline. A lot. Their newborn faces are starting to blend in my memory now. His hair is very similar to Hannahs, but his personality is more Caroline. He's very easy going and easy to please. All three of them have the same basic face, but Sawyer has a decidedly more masculine look.
My former boss made this adorable hat (along with booties and a blanket) for Andrew by hand while undergoing chemo. She's clearly a badass. A badass who was planning for a premature baby. We are so very thrilled that we made it through 11 weeks of bedrest, all the way up to his planned c-section date. It was an indescribable blessing to walk PAST the incubators in the NICU with micro premies, knowing that that should have been us.
It was also much easier to deal with his NICU stay, having been through it with Hannah and knowing that it can (and often does) go just fine. All in all, the decision to move the surgery up to 37 weeks (from 38) was a good one. We avoided any placental conditions and, unknowingly, problems with gestational thrombocytopenia that likely would have meant general anesthesia had we waited any longer. So my girl bits are intact and I got to experience his deliverly - complete with a scary "code pink" in the OR when they had to call in the NICU docs and make sure he was okay.
With some history under my belt, I was able to avoid an overproduction issue this time around, carefully pumping only as much as he was consuming in the NICU, despite an overwhelming urge to relieve the pressure and engorgement. As a result, I have normal sized nursing boobies, and a baby who isn't riddled with reflux. It took some doing, and some attention-paying, but the result has been well worth it.
Life, my dear friends, is spectacular. It's not perfect or without challenges, but it's full to the brim. So much so that what used to feel like an overwhelming compulsion to reach out into cyberspace and glean comfort and support from all of you has slackened. I hope that doesn't sound bad! I don't mean it to. I cannot count how many times my life was saved by this blog and my readers.
I'm not shutting down or going away, but I do need to be more realistic about how often I might post here. I have one-and-a-half more weeks of leave before I go back to work. We have hired a day nanny to take care of Andrew Sawyer and the girls, so I'll be able to enjoy them as I work full time from home. I have Patrick. I have new "IRL" friends and evening playdates. I have at-home mani-pedi obligations with the girls. We have gymnastics practices and homework, and a house that needs some lovin'. And all of it makes me smile. And drowsy. It makes me really drowsy.
It's the kind of life that leads you to fall asleep with a baby in your arms and a smile on your lips. And that was the goal all along.
