Happy 1 Month Birthday, Gabriel!

Emily and Ruthie with Gabriel on Mother's Day

 All of the cousins (except Chase since we couldn't get him to sit still) from the Sneed side of the family

 An unintentional smile (but we love it anyways!)

 Looking so serious as Nana holds him

 Gabe and I on Mother's Day (I so wanted Chase in this picture, but he refused to cooperate)

 Looking so peaceful and snugly

 Chase with no pants on (part of potty training) and 19-month old cousin Jaycee Turner

Wide awake after a bath

 Auntie Amber holding Gabe for the first time

Wow, time surely does fly! Gabriel is 4 weeks old today!!!  This past month has been a blur to me.  I've been in a continuous cycle of nursing, changing diapers, and sleeping when I can.  On average, Gabe nurses every 3-4 hours; sometimes we can make it for 5-hour stretches, but I'd say the norm is to get a solid 3-4 hours of sleep at a time in between feedings at nights. Surprisingly, I'm not a walking zombie as one would think, but I will say motherhood is more tiring this time around since I have Chase to entertain on top of the demands of a newborn.  My grandmother has been watching Chase some days, but I've had Chase here with me at home the vast majority of the time I've been off from work.  My mornings start around 6:30 (7 if I'm lucky) with Chase waking Gabriel and I up and asking me to go downstairs and get him some milk (keep in mind Chase just turned 3 and is still too young to fend for himself).  Our mornings are usually filled with Nick Jr. or watching the movie Cars one or two times while I nurse Gabe.  If I can get Gabe back in a sound sleep, Chase and I will sometimes play outside for an hour or two on a nice day before heading back inside for lunch and an afternoon nap. The afternoon nap is for Chase; I rarely get one since Chase is usually going down for a nap when Gabe is waking up.  My most exhausting time of the day is usually by the time Chase wakes up from his nap and Tim comes home from work.  Fortunately, Tim has been a huge help in taking Chase to the park and entertaining him for a few hours in the afternoon while I can get some quiet time with Gabe; sometimes I can sneak in a power nap.  The rest of the evening/night usually consists of cooking dinner (unless we do take out) and getting the boys ready for bed (Tim helps out with this process, thank God). I try to turn in for the night upstairs around 9 PM or whenever Gabriel falls back asleep after having a good amount of awake time.  Tim and I have been sleeping in separate rooms since Gabe has been born in order for Tim to get a good night's sleep so he can function at work.  It's been kind of lonely not having him in the same bed, but I know this is a short-lived experience when you look at the big picture.

Gabriel is definitely growing from his frequent feedings.  We see Dr. Baust on Tuesday for a check-up and a round of immunizations (no fun).  The 2-week check-up had Gabe weighing in at a whopping 8 pounds, 13 ounces.  He was also measured at 22" in length, which leads me to believe he was too curled up at birth to get an accurate measurement then.  I'd say overall Gabe has been a good baby.  The first two weeks were super easy with hardly any fussing.  The last two weeks I've noticed increased fussiness due to gas, but as soon as he gets the gas out of his system he's content again.  I remember Chase being the same way as a baby, but I still feel Gabriel is more laid back.  We've only used a pacifier on him once and the rest of the time he's been consolable and content.  Although he's been exclusively breastfed, he's had a bottle of pumped milk a few times just so we can get him used to taking a bottle before I return to work.  He took the bottle like a pro! 

Speaking of returning to work, I'm still not mentally ready to do that.  I'll most likely add an extra week of my vacation on to the remaining two weeks of maternity leave to give myself three more weeks of being a stay-at-home mom.  The first few months of a newborn's life goes by in a blink and I want to savor every moment I possibly can.  Plus, I've enjoyed getting things accomplished during my time off, such as shopping, working in the yard, and organizing odds and ends around the house.  I've also made headway with potty training Chase.  It's still a work in progress, but we're getting closer.  Our goal is to have it mastered this summer so that Chase can start preschool in the fall.  I'll type more on Chase attending preschool in the next blog posting since it's still not finalized which preschool he'll attend, but we have a good idea after I've done a lot of research.

Mother's Day was extra special this year.  Unfortunately, we didn't go to church due to mere exhaustion, but we did join my family at my grandmother's house for a cookout.  Both sets of of my grandparents were there as was the rest of the Sneed family.  Tim had a beautiful flower bouquet for me for Mother's Day.  Having a wonderful husband and being a mom to two precious boys has been more blessings than I ever imagined!

May 2, 2012

My Sleeping Angel in his carseat

Baby Gabe's First Bath (Check out that belly....Momma must be feeding him well!)

He blinked right when the camera flashed! Almost got a pic with his eyes open...

Proud Grammie Pam, Mommy, and Gabe at the hospital

Daddy and his two boys (this is Tim's FB profile pic)

Chase kissing his "baby bruller" (my FB profile pic)

Today was Gabriel’s official due date, but, thankfully, the Lord decided for him to come sooner! My last day of work was Thursday, April 19th. I had a doctor’s appointment that afternoon and Dr. Curtis informed me I was 3 cm dilated. In spite of the dilation and progress towards labor, she still felt I was healthy enough to continue on with work and suggested I continue working into the following week. I respectfully rebutted against her suggestion letting her know that I was done with work with or without a doctor’s note. My natural instinct told me there was no way I could continue working with the way I was feeling—not that I was feeling completely miserable, but I just had a lot of pressure on my bladder and could literally feel the baby descending more with each passing day. I was feeling more Braxton and Hick’s contractions and discharge everyday too. I also had more swelling than ever before, but still not enough for my blood pressure to budge outside of normal limits. I explained my work conditions to Dr. Curtis in great detail—not that I actually work on the ship anymore, but just the walk in and out of the shipyard gates is trying enough, not to mention the three flights of steel stairs I have to climb every day to get to my office. She finally agreed to write me out of work starting Monday, April 23rd and I made the call to just take a vacation day for Friday, April 20th.


Good call on my part! Little did I know on that Friday that it would be the last day of peace I would get before our family of three grew to four. I got a much needed pedicure first thing that morning since I hadn’t been able to reach my toes in quite some time. Throughout the day, I felt more pressure and drainage. Within just a couple hours of Tim getting home from work I told him that I wasn’t sure if I’d make it through the night without a baby coming. By this time, I was feeling more contractions, but they still weren’t strong enough or close enough together to rush to the hospital. So, we went about our evening as usual. Tim gave Chase a bath and then shortly afterwards, I told him it was best for us to go to the hospital since the contractions seemed to be getting more consistent. We had arranged for Chase to go to my grandmother’s house that night. Ironically, as soon as we got in the Tahoe to drive away from the house, the contractions subsided, although I do remember feeling an especially strong one on the James River Bridge (maybe it was all of those bumps on the bridge). After we dropped Chase off at my grandmother’s house for the night, we made our way to Mary Immaculate. Sure enough, the nurses checked me out around 11 PM and confirmed I had ruptured membranes (partial water breakage). It was like reliving my labor with Chase all over again because the same thing happened with him where my water had only partially broken.

I made it until around 4 AM the following morning—still no Gabriel, but felt stronger contractions at that point. I caved in and got the epidural. You may recall my Facebook post coming through around this time that said, “Thank God for popsicles and epidurals!” My mom came to the hospital after she had ended her nursing shift that morning and she stood by my side along with Tim as the nurses periodically checked me for dilation. As with Chase, the dilation was taking FOREVER. Dr. O’Connell checked in on me and put me on Pitocin some time later that morning to speed up the contractions and dilation. Alas, around 2:00 PM I was at 10 cm and ready to push. Unlike my labor with Chase, I felt more rested this time around since Tim and I had had the entire night prior to relax in the hospital without visitors as we waited for progression. I remember getting a few power naps in that night. Tim even ended up snoring on the loveseat in the L & D room.

Praise the Lord, it only took about a half hour of pushing with Gabriel. I didn’t tear too badly either (but, I’ve still felt better in my southern hemisphere). Dr. Kathy O’Connell was the OB on call that weekend and she was AWESOME! I’ve said this before, but it’s such a comforting feeling when you know your doctor is a servant of Christ; I know without a doubt that both Dr. Yonker and Dr. O’Connell are both Christian women and I couldn’t have asked for a better pair of doctors to bring my two boys into this world. All of the staff at MIH was very accommodating. Gabriel arrived in the world safe and sound at 2:44 PM weighing in at a whopping 8 pounds, 3 oz—a day before Chase’s birthday and just 2 oz bigger. Gabriel was measured around 19 inches in length, but I suspect he was still too curled up to get an accurate measurement because his little legs are just now starting to stretch out more at almost 2 weeks post partum.

The next few days were a blur: sleeping when I could, breastfeeding Gabriel around the clock (thankfully, nursing has been easier this time around than it was with Chase), and transitioning from the hospital to home. Chase’s first reaction to Gabe seemed like he was in a state of shock. Then he went through phases where one minute he was asking me to send the baby “bye-bye” to the next minute of adoring Gabriel as his “baby bruller.” Thankfully, I had Tim’s mom to help me out for most of that first week at home—the help really came in handy for entertaining Chase and keeping up with the house so that I could focus on Gabriel those first few days and nights at home. My mom and sister came by to visit later on in the week bringing me lasagna (Laurie makes the best lasagna). Dawn, Emily, and Ruthie came by to visit over the weekend. My dear friend Liz came by on Monday with an enormous tray of spaghetti and fixings to go along with it. Today, my dad came by with lunch from Bojangle’s and got to spend a couple hours with Chase and Gabe. We went for a stroll around the block on this beautiful, warm day. And as for my other half, he’s been a HUGE help with Chase since Gabe’s arrival—he’s taken Chase to the park several times and done lots of little things to keep him entertained so that I can focus on Gabe. Too bad he doesn’t get paternity leave so that I could have his help everyday for the next few weeks. With all of that said, I’m thankful for the help of my family and close friends.

Gabriel seems to have such a sweet spirit to him. Although it hasn’t been a full two weeks yet, he seems to be a less fussy than Chase was at this age and he’s already doing well at sleeping for longer stretches. On average during the nights, he wakes up 2-3 times for feedings and usually falls right back to sleep after a hearty meal and diaper change. Thankfully, I’m still getting 4-hour stretches of sleep during the nights in between feedings. As mentioned before, breastfeeding is going well; Gabe is already back up to his birth-weight and we have another weigh-in at the pediatrician’s next Tuesday. Gabriel was never the slightest big jaundice and all is healthy.

As appearances change so much during those first few weeks and months of a newborn’s life, it’s hard to tell who Gabriel favors. He doesn’t have as much hair as Chase did at birth and the hair that he does have is more of a dirty blonde rather than a strawberry blonde. I’m pretty sure he’ll have blue eyes like Tim’s side of the family or my dad. He seems to have my upper lip, but not my jaw line—in fact, we can’t figure out whose jaw line he has since he’s got a triple chin going on right now, LOL! Nonetheless, he’s beautiful. It’s funny how I envisioned him looking so much like Chase—I can see some similarities, but he’s definitely got his own unique traits and I can’t wait to watch them develop as he grows. I can’t even begin to say how bizarre it is to hold a newborn again after being around Chase at over 30 pounds for so long. It’s definitely a blessing to hold something so tiny and full of life and it’s as equally humbling to look at Chase and reminisce about him being that small just 3 short years ago.

For the next month, it’s just the boys and me! My focus other than trying to keep my sanity, rest, and maintain some sense of normalcy around the house is to try to see if I can get Chase any closer to being potty trained; look into preschool programs for Chase; try to tackle other odds and ends around the house; and, last but not least, bond with Gabriel and ensure I still show the same love and attention towards Chase. This is an awesome time to be off from work as the weather is warming up and I hope to make the best of these next few weeks even if it is exhausting at times. I feel very blessed to be a mother of two beautiful boys. Thank You, Jesus, for the opportunity to experience another one of Your magnificent creations.