2 weeks

It has been 2 weeks since Ben was born, 12 days since we have been home and things have been good. We have had a couple bumps along the way with feedings, but we seem to be back on track now. When we left the hospital it seemed we were finally getting the hang of breastfeeding, but then things quickly went south. He refused to latch on despite the fact that he was showing obvious signs of being hungry. He would scream and yell and fight every second we attempted to feed him. He was not peeing enough and when we brought him to the pediatrician after being home for a couple days he had lost over a pound. Our pediatrician had no real advice for us other than we needed to get him to eat more (unfortunately our appointment was with one of the doctors in the practice that we don't particularly love). Luckily, there are some great lactation consultants at our hospital that we were able meet with and we came up with a game plan that Bennett took to with no problem. We bulked up his breast feedings with a tube and followed each breast feeding with an additional 1-2 ounce bottle and I pumped after every feeding to try and increase my milk supply. By our follow up appointment with the pediatrician 3 days later, he had gained almost a pound. Success!

We have had the additional complication with the fact that right after Ben was born, my blood pressure jumped up and hasn't really come down. I have been monitoring it since being home and went for a follow up with my midwife last Friday. At that point, she said that while my BP is high, its not high enough to medicate without in effect making it too low and the game plan was just to continue monitoring. Through the early part of this week my BP readings kept increasing and it became harder to get them back down. So, yesterday I was started on medication in hopes that we can get it under control until my body gets back into what it is supposed to be doing. I have also had a headache for most of the past 2 weeks that I cannot seem to shake. It might be related to high BP, or the weather, or tension, or hormones, or a million other reasons. Hopefully it will all sort itself out soon! (Just more proof that my body truly does not deal well with anything having to do with pregnancy and having babies!)

But on a more positive note, our boys are amazing! Charlie LOVES Ben like crazy and has been so good with him. He obviously has his typical 3 year old-pay-attention-to-me moments, but they are mild. He wants to help and be involved. He is infatuated with "petting" Ben's head and giving him kisses. He did manage to catch a handful of spit up earlier as he reached out to touch Ben's face while daddy was burping him. He didn't quite know what to do and after making a disgusted face, he wiped it on daddy's arm. If only we had the video camera out, we could have been the next million dollar winners on America's Funniest Home Videos!

Vince's parents have been living with us for the past couple months and have been a huge help with everything the past 2 weeks. They leave on Saturday for their new house in Florida. They are sure to be missed - especially by Charlie who has loved having them around every day. Just gives us one more reason to plan trips to the Sunshine State though!

 such a proud big cousin!

 cousins!

 helping with bath time

 and helping with Ben's bottle for the first time

 Grammy and Ben making use of the porch swing

 a little play time with daddy

 baby toes!

so sweet...

It's a Boy!

Bennett Michael D'Angelo was born last Thursday, July 12th at 9:31pm. He weighed in at 9 pounds and was 21 inches long. He is amazing and perfect in every way. 

We came home with him Sunday morning and are settling into our new normal as a family of four. Charlie is in love with his little brother and just wants to be involved in everything to do with him. Life is good...

 a very special mama moment

 the proud big brother

 look at those lips!

 love...

ready to go home

(Thanks to Nurse Shannon for the pic and
for getting us discharged quickly!)

the next step...

I was supposed to be in bed by now - sleeping or at least resting in preparation for what lies ahead of us tomorrow. But instead here I am unable to turn my brain off. Tomorrow morning we will report to Crouse Hospital at 6:30 am to start our induction. My due date was yesterday (7/9) and because of the fact that I have been diabetic and have a very sensitive blood pressure, they don't want to sit back and let this pregnancy take any more of a toll on my body than it already has. Baby looks perfect and is a plenty big enough - probably around 9 pounds give or take - so they feel comfortable moving things along. 


Being induced was one of my greatest fears after the process of bringing Charlie into this world - water broke with absolutely no signs of progress any where else. Took 3 days on medications in L&D before he made his grand entrance. It felt like my body failed me and had no idea what it was doing and I determined that there was nothing natural about any of it. But we trust our doctors and midwives and are at peace with what we are walking into tomorrow. The past few weeks of this pregnancy have been completely different than with Charlie - way more contractions, and painful ones at that, and definitely signs that my body has more of a clue this time than it did last. So we are hopeful that this means it will be a completely different induction as well. Just 'a little something' as my doctor and midwife has said and then my body will kick in and remember what it's supposed to do.


So our bags are packed and in the car. We have breakfast ready to take along with us. Playlists have been made and loaded on our fully charged iphones. Charlie knows he will be waking grandma and grandpa up in the morning, not us. And we are ready to bring a baby home by week's end - a bizarre thought. We packed baby clothes and diapers and installed the car seat - so strange. This is what 'normal' feels like? Not that there is ever reason to trust that normal is what you expect it to be - but I will take it for now.

(By the way, we have Alex Thornton Photography to thank for the fantastic family and maternity pictures we have been putting on here. <https://www.facebook.com/PhotographyByART> She did a great job and we had a lot of fun getting together with her for them. She'll be one of my first phone calls to arrange new born pictures once we have a baby here to photograph.)