Big Changes #3

And now we're home as a family of four (and Gramma makes 5)!

  They weren't kidding when they said that going from zero kids to one is much easier than going from one to two!  How does a mom handle it??  Well, for this first four weeks, thankfully I have my own mom around.

Gramma and G

  Such a HUGE help, she is!  She did all my laundry, cooked my meals, did the dishes, took E out to the park and to the library and endlessly played with her, took G from me so I could shower or sleep or eat, cleaned my house, gave me advice about…everything and kept me laughing (which wasn't always good because of my stitches).  And when the time came, she ventured out of the house with me, lifting all my groceries in and out of the car and carrying my son in his carseat.  WOW, what a woman!

  

Gramma and E making snicker doodles

Gramma and E making pumpkin cinnamon rolls

watching "Mr. Darcy"

Mom and I went to Cocok's for a little relaxation

  We've had a bunch of visitors since we got home: Jake and Maggie, Ciara and Natalia, the Donaldson Family, The Coia Family, Shawn, Megan and Camryn, Jared and Shelley and Michelle, Autumn and Austin.  How blessed we are!!

Austin's first time to ever hold a baby!

Camryn said, "oooh, the baby is moving!" 

G, Megan, Camryn and their baby boy (due in December)

  Life around here is VERY busy.  

catching sleep whenever we can!

    But we're slowly getting used to having a baby screaming while a toddler is dancing and singing at the top of her lungs.  Someday, this will all be normal!  But it's just another step in THE GODDARD ADVENTURE!

a proud daddy

Big Changes #2

Delivery!

   Pregnancy number two went by much slower than the first one…all except those last few days.  It's weird to have a scheduled c section.  You know EXACTLY when your baby will come so you have all these "lasts."  Your last normal day with just your family of three, your last load of laundry before the spit up begins, your last date when you're not exhausted and you can actually focus your eyes on your spouse for an entire sentence, your last meal as a family of three…all these things you can count down.

  My mom came to Okinawa to help me with E and the house while I recovered from my surgery.  She arrived a few days before and we got the house ready, played at the park, went over routines with her and generally enjoyed ourselves!!  My mom is the best caretaker you will ever find.  She knows instinctively what I need before I ask for it and she does it.  She is amazing.

  As a woman who has done both a natural birth and a c section, I gotta say: It's SO nice to be able to pee the same day as you give birth and not cry!  I had a pretty intense 7 hour labor with little E and I wasn't even fully dilated when her 8 pound 10 ounce body came hurtling into this world!  Needlesstosay, my recovery took a full 9 months and even then I wasn't the same.  With little G, I'm almost feeling normal now just 4 weeks past!  But that's for the next post…here's little G's delivery story:

  I chose to give birth at the Naval Hospital here on Camp Foster (it is a brand new facility just this year) and I'm so glad I did.  I saw multiple doctors during pregnancy but finally got Dr. Mueller (had to ask for him specifically) and stuck with him.  I am SO glad I did; he's a great doctor, took time with me, was completely competent (a challenge to find here in the military) and did a fabulous job with my surgery.  I also had a amazing anesthesiologist - so concerned about my comfort and talked me through every step of his procedure.

  All that being said…c sections are absolutely TERRIFYING!  At least with natural birth, you have some sort of control (well, maybe not) or at least participation in the process which gives the illusion of control.  With a c section, not only am I strapped to a table with my arms spread out, but I can't move my legs at all because of the epidural, there's a sheet right by my face so I can't see anything, a mask over my mouth, terrible tugging and pressure on my stomach and as I look around me, I am reminded of the inside of a spaceship from some movie I once watched so it is totally plausible for me to imagine that I am being dissected and disemboweled by a very calm and reassuring team of aliens.

scary, but worth it!

  Little G was born on October 21, 2013 at 8:22am.  He weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces and was 20 inches long.  I remember him screaming so loud while they were cleaning him and I just wanted to hold him, but Dr. Mueller was busy shoving things back into place!

First words: "AAAAAHHHHH"

  Our hospital room was enormous, the food was terrible (should've known when they call it the "galley"), my main nurse was amazing and overall, the stay was good.  Mom and E came by each day to visit and we also had two other girlfriends come by, Colleen and Diana.  It is so lovely to have  such amazing women in my life who take care of me and my family (also, they both brought delicious treats!!).

Gramma and G meet

G meets big sister E

Gramma and Mama Diana (pregnant with baby girl)

Big sister E

  I had some issues with getting out of bed that they couldn't diagnose.  I tried 5 times to get up and walk around with no success.  I passed out each time (and I mean losing consciousness - something that has never happened to me before).  Finally, after multiple tests (somewhat incompetent corpsmen trying to take blood samples AND an EKG) and the 5th time I passed out they decided that the catheter had to come out for fear of infection and we were going to have to find another solution.  When I tried my 6th time, SUCCESS!  I blame the catheter :)

  SO, then I could go home (only 48 hours after delivery) and I was so ready for my own bed and my mama's cooking!

Love

Already friends!

Little E loves being a sister already.

Big changes #1

  OK, I'm going to chunk up that last two months into a few posts because they all deserve their own little spotlight.

Self shot at 39 weeks!

The end of pregnancy!  I am happy to report that my ankles are back to normal size, I can sleep in almost any position I choose, my bladder can go an entire night without emptying, the arthritis in my hands is gone and I can almost feel the tips of my fingers on my right hand.  YIKES, this pregnancy was harder!  But before it ended, here's what we were up to...

Little E and I did a few last days-before-baby fun excursions: the zoo, donut date, the parks!

Zoo silliness

Finally got to ride the merry-go-round!

Icing face

Little Mama E…I made this baby carrier for her just by looking at Pinterest pictures!

My friend, Yoshie did a practice photo session while I was 8 months pregnant and I LOVE how they turned out.  I didn't get photos while pregnant with E, so this was really special!  Just thought I'd share my favorites!