Differences Part 2: Focusing on my Youngest Son

So, yesterday I introduced you to the trials I faced with my first born son.  I will call him B.  :-)
Today, I will talk about how different my second son, J, is from B and how it completely blows my mind.

My pregnancy with J was polar opposite from B.  It took a little longer for one thing.  4 months of wanting to get pregnant felt like an eternity, so much so that I actually starting thinking that something must be wrong.  Comical now considering I have friends who had to try for YEARS.

My pregnancy was as perfect as a pregnancy can be.  No gestational diabetes this time.  Weight gain stayed right where I wanted it.  I felt good.  I had energy.  I did get sick a few times the first trimester, but I learned it was my prenatals.  So, over the counter prenatal at night instead of prescription during the day.  Apparently the folic acid in prescription is stronger and is what tends to cause sickness.  Other than this and hip pain toward the end, everything was great.  I was taking P17 shots to try to help make it to term with this one.

I woke up one morning with some "cervical change".  I was 36 weeks and 6 days.  Instead of rushing to L&D, I took a bath.  Then realized I needed to figure out what to do with B.  Ha.  Hadn't even thought of that part.  Luckily we had some friends willing to watch him.  So off we go to take him to their house.  After we get there, I'm standing around talking with them.  The husband finally says, "Don't you think you should get to the hospital?"  I kinda laughed and said I guess go.

I wasn't having contractions yet.  The rooms were all full, of course.  So after they checked me and told me I was already 5 centimeters, they sent me to the waiting room.  I saw B's old daycare teacher and talked with her a while until the contractions started.  They came on hard.  A guy in there starting panicking and told the nurses I needed a room STAT.  I thought it was funny.  I was just sitting there breathing.

Labor was still tough.  After all, it is LABOR.  My epidural hurt this time and did not work yet again, unless I was lying on my side.  Then it would kick in.  So. Weird.  I asked if I could deliver on my side.  My doctor was out on maternity leave, so there was another from her practice standing in.  She said I could deliver however I wanted.  This baby was coming out face up also.  Apparently I have a narrow pelvis and this forces my children to come out face up; it also forces my body into labor early.  I ALMOST made it to "term" which is 37 weeks.  Looking back, I see this was J's determined attitude of "I'll do what I want when I want."

I was able to deliver him a little more easily and a couple hours more quickly that B.  But we had a HUGE scare.  During deliver his heart rate dropped also.  I knew what that meant; I'd been here before.  So I gave it my all.  He came.  He was quiet.  I was excited that I got to hold him right away, unlike B.  And Daddy got to cut the umbilical cord, unlike with B.  But then I noticed his chubby little cheeks were awfully blue.  He was still and he was not crying.  They do their initial review of him and his score is low.  I start to panic because time is passing, they're rubbing him like crazy, and he's still silent.  My husband is crying.  My dad has the most concerned look on his face, and I'm supposed to be finishing up with the last bit of labor and "reconstruction" as I call it.

I look over to the bed where they have about 4 people working on him, and I see a tube.  I REALLY panic now.  I ask if they are intubating him, and my dad assures me they are not.  They are vacuuming out his throat etc to try to clear his air way.  He's still blue.  Really blue.  I think it was right around a minute, maybe more before he let out that cry.  When he did, everything in me was sucked out.  I just laid my head down and sobbed.  I thanked God right then and there.  They brought him back to me for short while to love on him.  He was so beautiful.  Dark curly hair and DARK DARK eyes.  Big lips and long eye lashed.  And he was so much chubbier than his older brother was.  A pound and a half more so.  He was 7 pounds 15 ounces.

They took him from me again because he had to go into a 4 hour observation.  He was struggling a little bit to breathe, but nothing super serious.
After I ate, I sent my husband home to rest and leave me be at the hospital.  Mom and everyone else went home to take care of B.  About 2 hours later, there's a knock at my hospital door, and in rolls baby J.  He did so well that he was getting to come to be with Mama already.  I immediately got him out of his bed and put him in mine.  We cuddled all night.  He actually spent the first night lying in between my legs.  I used to sleep like that with my mom.  It was the only way I was comfortable having him in bed with me and not having to worry about him falling off the bed.
The nurse was a little worried when she came in and saw his bed empty and didn't see him.  I smiled and lifted the blanket to show her where he was; she relaxed and smile back at me.

He was great.  He ate well.  Slept well.  He went home with me.  It was wonderful.  He started sleeping through the night around 2 weeks old.  And I mean SLEEP.  12 hours was normal for him.  We'd be playing in the day and all of the sudden, he'd be passed out on the floor.  B NEVER slept anywhere but his bed or swing.  J would fall asleep in his high chair as he got older.  B NEVER did that.

Personality, J has tons of it.  He reminds me of Taz.  He's go go go go go all day until his head hits that pillow.  Sitting still is torture.  He loves sports and is good at just about anything he tries.  He's the class clown.  He's a super cuddler.  He has gotten in trouble a lot at daycare for being "rough".  He loves to wrestle, tackle etc.  He's boy to the extreme, and it's funny because he has a very tiny frame.  He's very skinny and muscular.   His hair used to be to his shoulders and has always been curly.  We finally cut it a little shorter when he began getting called a girl.  The curls are more waves now.  His eyes are still jet black.  J likes to eat his french fries before his chicken nuggets.

B is much more observant.  He's shy at first and is a definite people watcher.  He can often be found sitting by himself playing.  He's not as athletic, but has the build of a lineman.  He does play sports but just isn't as fanatical about any of them like J is.  He prefers art, drawing, coloring, writing, reading.  B was never very affectionate; he is more so now than before.  B likes to eat his chicken nuggets before his french fries.

These are my two little boys in a nutshell.  They are as different as different can be.  They both have amazing qualities about themselves that people are drawn to.  J is Mr. Social Butterfly.  B flashes his sweet dimples and wins you over.  My heart is full because of these two, and why they do make me feel like I'm toying with the line between sanity and insanity, I have been trusted with raising them into strong young men.  I don't take that lightly.  And I am so glad they are so different because that makes loving each of them so easy.

Psalm 149:14