TWO

These pictures are all from awhile ago, and Abraham has already changed soooo much!  I was pretty nervous about having child number 2.  I remembered how tired I was with Macy and how I wanted (and did) sleep until noon when she was really little. I was also so worried about Macy feeling betrayed and jealous.  I was also a little concerned about having a boy and how I would feel towards him.  I have only ever known loving a girl baby...how would a boy be different?  Well I am pleased to say that the transition has not been near as difficult as I thought it was going to be!  Maybe it is because Abraham is such an easy baby, or maybe because Macy has dealt really well with the new addition, and maybe it has a little to do with the fact that I am more experienced and not as stressed as I was with Macy.

 Whatever it is though, I am glad.  I feel like I am really enjoying this newborn stage with Abraham.  He took to nursing like a fish to water (Thank Heavens!) and, although he was up every 2 hours to eat through the night for the first 7 weeks, I am happy and in a very good place.  Abraham is growing like a weed...and I am not kidding.  He was 6 lbs 13 oz at birth.  He weighed in at a whopping 11 lbs 4 oz at one month, and when I weighed him two weeks later, it said 13 lbs.  We will find out his two month stats tomorrow along with Macy's two year stats.  I always said how I wanted a chubby baby and man have I got one.  My favorite nickname for him right now is Chunka.

 Macy has decided that she wants a binky all of the time now because baby has one.  I'm fine with it except when she takes his binky and sucks on it...yuck!

 After my family left and it was just our little family at home, Macy would say over and over,"Hold you."  I thought that she was talking to me and wanting me to hold her all of the time.  Come to find out, it wasn't me she wanted, it was the baby.  She asks to hold him constantly and would hold him non stop if I let her.

 I never could have Imagined how much I could love two children!  At times I feel like I am cheating on Macy with how much I love Abraham, but then I think of Macy and my heart is full of love for her.  I love having a boy!  I thought it would be so weird, but it isn't.  He is my little buddy and I can't wait to teach him how to be a gentleman.  I look forward to him going on a mission and being a good daddy someday.  All I know is that the woman he marries better be a good one (sound like a mom to you?).

 Abraham is so chill.  He almost NEVER cries.  He will just chill where I put him down.  If he is opposed to something I do...he gives a tiny little whimper.   My mom says it must be the Hawaiian in him.

 Macy is growing up to be a lot like me.  Before I thought that she was going to be just like Clark, but alas she is not.  She is her mother's daughter that's for sure.  She makes so many facial expressions like me, she talks like me, she is super social, a wanderer, a dancer, and very independent.  There only a couple things not like me...she is cautious (no complaints about that) and she likes to make people laugh.  I mean, I would love to make people laugh, but it just isn't one of my strong suits...I am more of the laugher.  She is also super into the ABC's.  She loves to sing the song and she can identify quite a few.  She can also make the sounds of the ones she knows.

 I really hope that as my children grow up that they will have a true love and kinship with one another.  I know that there will probably be fights and a little sibling rivalry, but I hope that the love that they have for each other will win over that.  If anyone has any suggestions for how to foster that love for each other in siblings, let me know! As for now, they could not be more fond of each other.

 Clark was so excited about having a son.  He feels such a special responsibility to teach him and guide him on correct paths.  Their love and bond is precious.  One thing I didn't expect out of Abraham's birth was how it would bond he and Macy.  Clark has had to take on more responsibilities for taking care of Macy like getting her if she wakes up in the night and other things when I am busy feeding Abraham.  Due to this, Clark and Macy have become best little buds.  They play together so cutely and she even calls for him when she wakes up.  This brings so much joy to my soul!

 This is Macy's first gingerbread house that she made at our ward Christmas party.  She wanted to eat all of the candy rather than stick it on a house...and so she did.  And then threw it on the floor and stomped on the graham crackers til they were mush.

 I don't know if any of you have seen Kung Fu Panda 2, but Abraham looks just like baby Po.  A panda bear was a perfect choice of stuffed animal for this little/big guy.

Man how the time has flown.  Abraham turned two months old today and Macy turned two years old on the 16th of December.  A favorite quote I like to remember is, "The days are long, but the years are short."  Isn't that so true?  I will have to do another post for Macy's birthday and Abraham at two months, but for now, I hope you enjoyed.

Abraham Kalama is Born!!!

On 11/11/11 Abraham Kalama was born at 3:07 pm.  He weighed 6 lbs 13 oz and 19 3/4 in long.  He has been a joy since he was born and is growing so so so fast.  I have been wanting to document his birth story since even before he was born, and I am finally getting down to it.                          Here is Macy happy while Mommy was in labor.

With Macy, I was kind of talked into getting an epidural and pitocin, and I wasn't a fan.  So with this labor and delivery, I wanted to do it all naturally.  I was still going to be in the hospital with an obgyn, but I was gonna go without any drugs or an i.v.  My mom had told me a long time ago that I was the only one of her children that could have a baby on 11/11/11.  I thought she was crazy, but she must have known something cuz it worked!  My due date was on the 18th, so the 11th was exactly one week early.  The doc told me that he would induce me on the 11th if I wanted, but I was not going to give up my natural childbirth.  I did all the research I could on the internet about all the different methods of childbirth like hypnobirthing and the bradley method.  I took from them what seemed to fit for me.  I would visualize each night and try to prep Clark with affirmations to repeat to me when I was in labor.  I also read every birth story I could and watched video after video of natural childbirth.  I still had my worries, but I was determined to do this.

 On the 10th, I went to the doctors office and they stripped my membranes.  I was 2+/3 cm dilated and 80% effaced.  My mom and I went to the mall and walked walked walked.  That night she pushed on my pressure points and I took evening primrose oil.  The next morning nothing had happened.  I was pretty bummed, but I was still gonna try to go into labor.  After a little bit of trying to go into labor and having pretty consistant braxton hicks, my mom heated up a hamburger for us to share.  I took 2 bites and I felt a really strong contraction that peaked went down and then just peaked again.  Then I felt a gush of fluid.   I said, "I think my water just broke."  When I stood up, I was pretty sure it had, but when I got to the bathroom I saw that it was blood and a lot of it.  My grandma called at that moment(12:00) and asked if anything was happening.  I told her what was going on and she said the same thing happened when she went into labor with my mom.  I was worried that maybe my placenta was tearing off, so we just grabbed what we could and ran.  Macy hadn't even been changed for the day or had lunch. 

On the way to the hospital, I tried to get ahold of Clark who was at school.  He doesn't get reception in his lab, so I called his friends wife to call her husband to tell Clark to go to the hospital.  It's a good thing that worked, otherwise he would have missed it.  My mom wasn't really sure that I was in labor, but I knew that I was from the very consistant contractions.  I guess I just handled them well.

Once at the hospital, I told the nurses what was going on and one of them kind of freaked me out that I was gonna need an emergency c-section.  Luckily the nurse assigned to me was very calm and reassuring.  She said I would just need to have constant heart rate monitoring on the baby because of the large amount of blood I was losing.  His heart rate was great and he wasn't in stress the whole time, thank heavens.  I asked my nurse if she could tell how strong my contractions were and she said,"you tell me, you seem to be handling them well."  That was such a nice compliment.  I then warned her that I dilate quickly so be prepared.  She was scared to check me at first, but after talking to the doctor, she did and I was 5 cm.  Pretty soon after, I needed to use the restroom. I walked over and while going I started to get super light headed.  After a little bit of apple juice, I perked right up, but they still wheeled me back to the bed.

This is when the intensity of the contractions picked up.  I was 6 1/2 cm, but I knew that wouldn't last long.  I was stuck sitting on the bed, which was exactly what I didn't want, but I worked with it.  I tried getting in new positions, but the way I felt the best was just sitting with Clark's hand on my lower back.  I felt really tired and could hardly open my eyes.   When the contractions got stronger, I started to make an "oh" sound, and Macy copied me which was so cute. Between contractions I could still talk and enjoy myself.  The one time I lost it was when I was trying to move positions and my foot got caught in the cords.  I was standing on the bed on one foot in the middle of a contraction and I yelled,"I'm Stuck!"  I got checked shortly after and I was 8 cm.  This is when my mom and Macy left the room.  The nurse called the doctor and he arrived a couple minutes later, checked me at a 9 and broke my water and left the room to sit down.  He said that I was way too calm to be doing it all natural.  After the next contraction I felt the urge to push.  The nurse checked and said all I had left was a lip.  The doc came in and checked and said I was good to go.   I just kept saying,"I need to push, I need to push."  The doctor told me to push if I felt like pushing and not to if I didn't.  I love that he gave me the freedom to follow my body. 

Pushing was the craziest thing I have experienced.  It was like I wasn't even there and my body just took over.  I didn't even feel any pain.  I never realized how strong a uterus is until I felt it push so strongly.  The doctor had to give me an episiotomy because my previous scar was not tearing or stretching and he didn't want me to tear somewhere else (this was the only bummer).  Abraham was born 7 minutes after I started pushing.  The moment he came out I said,"That is the best feeling ever!"  I have never felt such a good feeling in my life, it was amazing the relief I felt.  They waited just a bit to cut the cord and placed him on my belly.  After weighing and measuring I got to nurse him and he latched right on.  He was so alert and calm.  I felt great and even walked from my delivery room to the recovery room.  Right after Abraham came out, the doctor asked me if I had a method I used...I said that I just researched and did what came to me.  The pediatric nurse said that I used a sing song method because my oh's sounded like singing I guess.  My labor was 3 hours and 7 minutes...awesome!

 I love how good I felt after having Abraham and how much better my recovery was.  I think the second time around is also better because I know what I am doing and am not stressed about everything.

 Clark loves his little man.

 After walking to the recovery room.

 Macy loves her brother...sometimes a little too much.