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Life With Two*
Shortly after Peeah gave birth to my handsome nephew three years ago, I asked her how she was managing. For some reason, her response found a tiny shelf in my mind and has stayed put. After telling me everything was good, her answer to my question was simple. She chuckled and said: “Life is busy with two.” I knew that life would get a little more complicated with two kids, but I didn’t understand or appreciate what she really meant until now. I’m pretty sure that the Hubster and I have been blessed with two of the most amazing kids out there. Ruby is smart, funny, and kind and she…
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Handsome Hank: A Birth Story* (Part 5)
After Hank was born, we learned a little about what had happened during his delivery, but it wasn’t until the next day that I got the full picture. Immediately after he was born and weighed, Olivia told us that she was concerned that Hank’s shoulder had fractured during the delivery. She wanted to have it looked at, but in the meantime, Hank was given to me to hold. After taking a minute to let out that first initial cry, he hollered non-stop for the next 40 minutes. As I held him on my chest, Olivia noticed that he was having a little difficulty with his breathing–it sounded like his breath…
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Handsome Hank: A Birth Story* (Part 4)
Olivia arrived around 11:15am, just as Anna and the nurses were helping me back into the bed. I asked again about the epidural, and Olivia told me that I needed to have some blood work done before it could be started. She assured me that if the anesthesiologist arrived before the results were back they could try and get things started anyway. To help me in the interim, she also brought me a tank of laughing gas to help me cope with the contractions until the epidural kicked in. Olivia went to work trying to start an IV when the Hubster made it back to our room. She tried to…
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Handsome Hank: A Birth Story* (Part 3)
I called Olivia for the second time at 10:20am. By this point I had been having regular, intense contractions for over an hour. They were quickly building in frequency and strength, and I wanted to know how far I had progressed. We decided to have her come to the house and do the assessment here, to avoid the possibility of being sent home from the hospital. She let me know that she could be at my house within 30 minutes, but encouraged me to call her if anything changed. Before we hung up she suggested that I try and get back into the tub as it had been fairly comfortable…
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Handsome Hank: A Birth Story* (Part 2)
Before I begin, I just have one thing that I need to say: both of my kids are napping. AT THE SAME TIME. Miracles do exist. haha SO. Last night I wanted to set the stage and provide a bit of context for why I was a little surprised that I actually went into labor on my own. Looking back, I guess I could say that my early labor began with the cramping at 4:30am, but I don’t think anything really started happening until 7:30 or so. By 8:30am I was really starting to consider that this could be the real deal. I started texting Peeah (my older sister) and…
