Life with Wade, The First Two Months

Our little Wade is two whole months old! Today he had his well check appointment and here are his current stats.

Weight: 15 lbs. 7 oz 97%

Height: 24 in. 96%

Head: 15.9 in. 87%

Just One Week Old

 Gavin "helping" with diaper changes

My three boys

Early morning snuggles

Father's Day (not the most relaxing for Sam)

Snuggles with Grandma Pam

We call Wade our Juicy Turkey

Happy One Month Old! Not the best picture, but it was the best we could get

It is fair to say that Wade is still our big boy and he just keeps growing and growing. I am going to start needing to lift weights to be able to keep up with holding him.

Life with Wade has been kind of a roller coaster. The first week we brought him home was kind of the calm before the storm. We were tired of course but things seems manageable and I really felt like we had things under control. Sam took a whole week off of work and so I had extra help all week. We had so many family members and neighbors bring us dinner that I hardly had to even cook anything the first week and we had so many leftovers. Gavin was being taken by family members and neighbors to come and play and so he was kept busy.

Well it was after the first week that the realities of having two children and the trickiness of a newborn really set in. Our first real challenge was that Wade was beginning to struggle nursing. I found that I was having to nurse him all night long and it was starting to get to me. The second challenge was that Wade grunted all the time. I mean ALL THE TIME, but especially when he was trying to sleep. It was really impossible to sleep at the same time as him because he would grunt so hard that you for sure thought he was awake so you would check on him and he would still be asleep. The third challenge was that it felt like my milk really hadn't come in. I never felt that surge that I had felt with Gavin and it just seemed like not much was coming out, yet I was trying to nurse Wade all the time. I finally started counting how many feedings he was having and one day it was 17 times. After that I was like, okay nope. We need to figure this out. I realized that my milk probably hadn't come in and so I started pumping. I also had my sister in law who is a lactation consultant watch him nurse and check his mouth to see if he had a lip tie, which he did. My mind set this time around was to do whatever it took to help with nursing and make things easier in the long run. I decided that we would introduce a bottle after about a week and that I would just pump whenever he had a bottle and we wouldn't worry too much about it.

When Wade was just two weeks we took him to a pediatric dentist who confirmed he had a lip tie as well as a tongue tie, so we went ahead with the procedure to have them corrected. It was pretty sad and I felt so guilty for putting him through it afterwards because he was so sad fussy. That first night was actually not so bad and Wade actually nursed really well and it gave me some hope that he would nurse well again. Well after that things got worse and he refused to nurse at all, which is actually normal after that procedure and I told myself we would give it time to heal before I gave up on nursing. The thing is that since he wasn't nursing we had to just use bottles during that week until he would nurse again, but it kind of ruined nursing. I think that it is just easier for him to use a bottle and for some reason it is just a lot of work for him to nurse from me so he prefers the bottle. He also has a very bad gag reflex. I'm not sure if it is me or him, the angle he is when nursing, his trouble gagging and swallowing, who knows, but nursing is so hard for him and therefore hard for me.

Needless to say, the nursing issue has dominated our lives for the last two months and there have been some pretty bad lows of feeling like a failure of a mom. I had so much hope that nursing would go well this time around and so much hope when we came home because Wade nursed so well in the hospital. Nursing was never that great with Gavin and so I was hoping it would be better this time around and not worse. To top it all off Wade developed acid reflux which has just made eating kind of a challenge overall. We did put him on a medicine for that and it has helped a lot. Wade sleeps pretty well and gives us some good stretches at night. Also with bottle feeding, Sam kind of has to help me in the night so I can pump, and that has divided the night time load a lot so I am way less sleep deprived. Poor Sam is a lot more sleep deprived this time. 

On top of all these challenges and doctors appointments and poking and prodding Wade, we have also all been sick, except (miraculously) for Wade. When Wade was about a month old Gavin came down with this horrible fever that lasted a whole week. Then we had a break over the 4th of July, thankfully, and then I came down with it. It was this crazy sore throat and body aches with a fever. I am just now finally feeling back to normal. Then on top of that Sam not only got sick but also got this crazy case of pink eye that would not go away. He had to go to specialist and it is finally improving after over a week of having it. We have all been so paranoid about not getting Wade sick and so far we have been successful. I give all credit to breast milk for keeping him healthy, as well of lots of hand washing! 

We have had a lot of challenges these last two months, not to mention some major behavioral problems with Gavin (that could be a whole other post by itself) and just my overall dislike of the July heat. I feel like if we could just make it to two months and to the end of July, things would get better. And you know what? It has started to. I feel like we are such better parents and so much more prepared that we have really been able to overcome some challenging days. Have there been tears and feelings of hopelessness at times? Yes, but I feel like this time around I have such a different perspective that this is such a fleeting time and to just enjoy Wade at every moment. Even in the middle of the night when I wish I was asleep. 

In the middle of all of that we blessed Wade at Church on July 7th. It was a really good day and we had everyone in our families come plus some friends. Wade wore Sam's blessing outfit from when he was blessed and it was so adorable. Sam gave a beautiful blessing and I actually remembered to record it this time (unlike with Gavin's). We had a nice lunch after and despite the heat and the wind, everything turned out. 

 (Photos by Torrie Lynn Photography)

Wade has grown and developed so much over the last few weeks. He started really smiling and reacting to us about the time of his blessing. I just love seeing my kids grow and develop and I love that his little personality is coming out. Wade loves to go to sleep at night. He really gets fussy in the evening and that's when you know he is ready for bed. For as hard as it is for him to eat sometimes he sure eats a lot. He is growing so fast! Wade loves to be snuggled by all his aunts and grandmas. He is finding his hands and sucks on his hands and fingers a lot. He is getting so strong and can almost hold up his head on his own. He has started smiling a lot more and it melts my heart every time. He is a little bit more of a serious baby and is kind of emotional. He definitely lets you know how he feels when he is feeling it.

4th of July at my parent's house. They live right along the parade route for the Centerville Parade so we have a tradition of going to that on the 4th.

Gavin took this one all by himself. He is very into taking very flattering pictures of me... not.

  

Patriotic Baby

The picture that describes my true life.

Gavin went to his very first friend birthday party and he loved it. 

The next weekend he went to his cousin Daniel's birthday party and he loved that one too!

The beginning of the never ending pink eye, it only got worse after this picture.

Sam is really happy about me posting these pictures of him... But I thought one day we would laugh at how much of a mess we all were this week, literally. Look at that spit up.

To top it off Gavin got bit by a hornet and now is hyper aware of any bee outside and is very worried about being stung again. I can't say I blame him.

We managed a few evening walks when it wasn't blazing hot outside. I am really looking forward to cooler evenings so we can go on more walks.

For the 24th we went to the Bountiful Parade. This is the only picture I took because it was so hot and Wade was not loving the parade that I really didn't have a chance to take any more. It was fun but we have learned that Wade does not like being out in the heat, load parades, or being out late. 

Happy Two Months to Wade! His smiles melt me every time!

Wade is seriously a little sweetie. He is just so cuddly and squishy and we just love to kiss his cheeks. We are still figuring out how to manage our new family of four and to figure out this feeding thing but other than those challenges, we really can't complain. I am learning that I need to change my expectations for what I thought Wade would be as a baby. The more I accept things the way they really are the more I am able to just enjoy Wade. We are so happy he is a part of our family. I feel like the first two months are always going to just be survival mode and so to get to this mile stone feels so good. Happy two months Wade! We love you!

Wade's Birth Story

Wade Samuel Prusse 

Born May 22, 2019 at 6:14 pm, weighing 9 pounds 15 ounces, 22 inches long

(Wade's newborn photo session was taken by Torrie Lynn Photography)

I didn't write a lot or post much on social media about being pregnant with Wade. I probably only took a handful of "pregnancy" photos as well. This pregnancy flew by until my 3rd trimester when I started having pretty severe back pain and could barely move. I kept thinking, man it feels like I have a 12 pound watermelon inside me, but little did I know I basically did! Overall it was a pretty normal pregnancy without any complications (unlike with Gavin) but by the time I was about 35 weeks I was so anxious to have this baby just so I could move again. Since I did have some elevated liver enzymes again this time around my doctor decided it would be best to induce me at 39 weeks. I had wanted to go "naturally" into labor on my own, but looking back I am very grateful that I didn't.

A few weeks ahead of time May 22 was picked as my induction date, but I still was worried I would have complications up until my last OB appointment at 38 weeks. My ante partum hospital stay with Gavin definitely gave me some worries about that. I was told I would get a call as early as 6 am in the morning so the night before we set our alarms nice and early and tried to have everything ready as much as possible. I was so glad we did because at 5:45 labor and delivery called me and asked if we could be there at 7 am and that I was the first one on their list. So we quickly packed up the car and off we went! We live about an hour from the hospital so we had to hurry and drop a sleepy Gavin off at my parents and quickly get to IMC. I definitely was nervous but I felt a lot more confident this time around.

To be honest the day went super smoothly and would be boring to go into too much detail about, until the pushing started. I opted to get an epidural right after my water was broken. At first the epidural didn't block any feeling and I was worried I would have problems with it like I did with Gavin's labor, but the doctor came in again and just told me to push the little button that released more medicine and that did the trick. It was seriously the most perfect epidural. I could still feel and move my legs so I didn't feel like a beached whale the whole time. But I was numb enough to barely feel my contractions all day and not be in any discomfort. After my epidural my sister Rebekah showed up and she and Sam just kept me company as we waited for labor to progress.

My labor actually progressed pretty slowly because of the epidural. My nurse, who was awesome, kept being surprised I wasn't more far along every time she checked me. But I wasn't super worried because it still went a few hours faster than my first labor experience. About an hour before I was ready to push (about 5pm) I started feeling really weak and sick to my stomach. I remember getting very nauseous before I pushed with Gavin so I assumed this meant I was about ready to push, and I was right! They let me sip on a little soda and some crackers to help boost my blood sugar to help give me a little energy to push and settle my stomach. After that, my doctor showed up and we were ready to go!

It was so different than Gavin's labor because my doctor only showed up for the last 10 minutes of pushing but this time around she was there right from the start and it gave me hope that things would be a lot faster. I started pushing around 5:45 pm. It was going really well and after about 25 minutes of pushing I delivered the baby's head but after that is when the quiet uneventful day got very stressful. You could tell there was a sudden shift in the room when my doctors voice changed and she became very urgent for me to push even harder than before. The baby's shoulders had become stuck inside my pelvic bone, which finding out later can be very serious for the baby. If your baby because stuck this way they could break a collar bone, have their airways restricted for too long, and could have long term side affects because of these things. Of course me being on the other end of things, I had no idea any of this was happening. My doctor quickly asked if I was okay with her doing an episiotomy and so of course I said yes. In the moment I felt like something must be wrong and I actually felt like a big failure because I was hoping to not tare at all this time around. I felt like, what is wrong with me? Why can't I push this baby out? With Gavin once the head was out he popped out so fast the doctor could barely catch him. My doctor performed the episiotomy and then things got even more intense. Sam said he was shocked at how hard everyone was pulling on the baby and pulling on me. My sister was coaching me to push while my doctor pulled on the baby and my nurse was pushing pretty intensely on my stomach. Even the nurse who was there for Wade came over to help. I heard my doctor say "call the NICU right away" and my heart just sank. Moments later Wade was born and they laid him on my chest, but he was pretty blue and wasn't making any sound. I patted his back and felt pretty panicked that he was so silent. Maybe 20 seconds later my doctor grabbed him off my chest, clipped the cord herself, and got him to his little warmer. After what felt like forever (but probably all happened in about 1 minute) I heard those amazing cries and his little body became pink and flushed. It was the most relieving feeling.   

While they were working on Wade and my doctor was working on me, everyone kept saying, wow he is a big baby! Once they weighed him he turned out to be a half and ounce shy of 10 pounds. My doctor was shocked because for weeks she had been telling me that she thought he might even be on the small side. I hadn't been measuring any bigger than normal and he didn't feel extra large inside me. It was no wonder I was so uncomfortable for so long, I had such a big baby inside me. My doctor said it was good I agreed to be induced because who knows when I would have gone into labor on my own and by then he would have been so big I probably would have needed a C-Section. After that I felt a lot better about needing an episiotomy. I felt pretty amazing for birthing a 10 pound baby and only having 2nd degree episiotomy in the end. 

After all the excitement calmed down we were able to just spend some quiet time with Wade. He was so sweet and nursed from me right away. I was so grateful everything went as well as it did and that he didn't have to go to the NICU after all. I was so grateful for my amazing nurse and doctor and for all that they did to keep both of us safe.

That night my mom brought Gavin to meet Wade even though it was pretty late at night. It was very sweet. Gavin was in love right away but also his usual crazy self in the hospital room trying to push buttons and pull on my IV cord. So needless to say they didn't stay too long. My sister Rachel also visited us and brought us some much needed food to eat. 

That night we decided on the name Wade Samuel Prusse. I had a few other names in mind but from the moment he was born I kept calling him Wade in my head and so I figured that was the right name for him. One of the nurses really wanted us to name him Hank so we could call him Hank the Tank, and while cute, I declined on Hank.

The first night we managed to get a little sleep. Over all this hospital stay and my whole labor experience was so much easier and better than with Gavin. It made me realized that Gavin's labor and everything that came with it after was a lot harder than I thought it was. The nurses were so amazing and helped us get stretches of sleep. Wade did a great job nursing in the hospital and passed all his blood sugar tests that he had to have because of his size. Maybe it was just from being a mom already but I felt more confident and that everyone at the hospital treated me with more confidence all around, but it made the whole stay very pleasant.

Wade's first bath. He screamed pretty much the whole time until the nurse washed his hair.

Our first photo as a family of four!

After two nights we decided we had stayed long enough and were anxious to go home. I thought it was funny because the nurses and doctor's kept asking how long we wanted to stay and kept saying we could stay a whole other day if we wanted. The hospital must not have been that busy because when Gavin was born I felt like they were trying to get me out of there as fast as possible to free up our room. But we were ready to go home and so after a quick morning of discharge paperwork we were on our way!

After picking up Gavin from my sister's we headed home and the first thing we all did was take naps. It was a good omen to me. Honestly, Wade is such a good baby. We have had some bumps along the way but that seems normal for any baby. We are so happy to have him in our family and I am so grateful that he was safe and healthy when he was born. We love you Wade! Welcome to the world!

Here are a few of my favorite of Wade's newborn photos by Torrie Lynn Photography