Baby Emerson is Here!

My sister, Kelly, was expecting her 2nd son on February 7...but he decided that was too long to wait! About 4:30pm Friday afternoon, Kelly's water broke and she began the labor process. Great news right? Yeah, only except there was a HUGE snowstorm-a-brewin'! Like, coming down in sheets! Like, 7 inches in 3 hours! Like, "holy crap we could have this baby in the backseat if we get stuck". Whoa. Thankfully, Dusty, my brother-in-law, was able to 4-wheel-it to the hospital. The normally 30 minute drive took them about 2 hours but he did it! And praise God that Kelly was listening to her intuition (or quite possibly to the voice of God himself) because she had a "bad feeling" about taking Interstate 26 and insisted that they change routes at the last minute and go Hwy 25. Come to find out, a tractor trailer had jack-knifed on 26 and traffic WASN'T MOVING! Ahhh! That would have been a story to tell, huh?

Anyway, about 12:10 am early Saturday morning, our newest addition to the family arrived. Emerson Caldwell Stepp was 7 lbs 7oz and 20 inches long. He's perfect. Kelly says he looks just like Jackson, but with hair...and lot of it!

Praise God!

Not sure if I posted about my friend K earlier or not, but she's a God-send. I'm a big believer in God sending you the right people at the right time. When we first moved here I was 26 weeks pregnant and had to take my glucose test. I failed. I had to go get another test at this place call Quest Diagnostics. It just so happened that K was about 27 weeks pregnant and having the same re-test done. Since the test required us to be there for 3 hours, we had some time to chat. It turns out we had some things in common and she ended up leaving me with her phone number in case I needed anyone. I ended up calling her for recommendations about a hair stylist (priorities!) and a pediatrician. She gave me great people for both! We've been chatting ever since...and she's turned out to be a wonderful friend. I can't wait to see our boys grow up together. :)

Her son, M, was born exactly one month earlier than Landon. She lives about 10 minutes from me and about 3 minutes from a beautiful park. We get together frequently and hang out/talk/vent/laugh/cry together.

On her day off, we decided to take the three boys (she has another son who is 20 mos) there and walk around the lake and play on the playground. While the babies didn't do much playing, they did enjoy the walk. M eventually fell asleep, Landon...not so much. But we did snap some great pictures of them all!

Praise God for beautiful days...

Praise God for parks...

Praise God for baby boys...



Praise God for sending a friend with whom I can share all!

Got milk? I don't...

So, after about 10 days on the baby Zantac I thought that I would be noticing a big difference. While I have noticed some, I was still seeing some of the behaviors that worried me...like pulling on my nipples, crying during and after feedings and waking up in the middle of the night (when only weeks ago he was sleeping through for 9-10 hrs at a time). So...back to the doctor we went. And that's when I figured out the real problem.

When we put him on the scale he had only gained 1 oz in 10 days. Imagine my shock and surprise when I discovered this! I felt like the worst mother in the world. How could my baby not be gaining weight? I feed him regularly, I'm making milk, my breastmilk is supposed to give him everything that he needs, it's supposed to be pefect, it's supposed to be natural and easy. Apparently not so much. What the heck?

My doctor was very encouraging and reassuring. At least Landon isn't one of those babies that really needs to gain a lot of weight. He did start out on the large side. So...the plan? Feed him more, try to increase my milk supply, feed him in the middle of the night as much as he wants *hooray* and supplement with formula if I so desire. Yeah, well...I don't desire to give him formula, but I do desire to give him food and if I'm not making enough then I have to accept that. So I finally had a peace about the whole formula thing and would you believe that Landon REFUSES to take a bottle now?? I've heard this can be a problem with breastfed babies if they haven't been exposed to a bottle before...but he HAS. He took a bottle as recently as last Saturday morning! Why not now? I've tried several different brands of nipples and speeds of flow...to no avail. So, honestly, what do I do when he's emptied both my breasts and looks at me like he's still hungry? What do I do? *sigh* Mothering is the hardest job I have ever had...