And Cooper makes Four :-)

So, in case you hadn't heard, we have a new baby.  A beautiful baby boy we names Cooper Andrew Sykes.  His daddy is Andrew Sykes so that's where the "Andrew" came from and Cooper - well, we just liked it.  Here's a picture of the new guy:

So, getting him here was a bit of a mess.  So, if you get bored with birth stories, feel free to bail now, but I want to write it down somewhere before I forget it :-). 

First of all, I was HUGE this pregnancy and told that was because Cooper was huge and I had a ton of amniotic fluid.  They estimated Cooper at 11 lbs!  Luckily (I guess) he was only almost 10 lbs (9 lbs, 14.8 oz to be exact) and 22.25 inches long.  He was born at 10:58 am on April 12, 2012.  And here I thought I was going to have a March baby!

Cooper was due on April 4th and since Mack was 3 days early and supposedly second babies come earlier, I thought I was going to have a March baby.  But, nope, Cooper was not coming.  I was doing all the things they told you to do, walked, ate spicy food, put my husband to work, stripped membranes (uggh, hate that phrase!) and he wasn't coming. So, you know what worked?  Castor oil.  That's right.  I glugged some of that down at around 2 in the afternoon and I was in labor around 7 that night. 

I had been to the hospital so many times with contractions that would never go anywhere, I didn't believe it and I kept thinking they were going to stop.  But they didn't - they kept progressing.  And my doctor basically said they weren't going to let me go home until that baby was born - she was getting nervous since he was late and apparently my placenta had started deteriorating.  I was nervous too and just wanted to get my baby boy out already!

So I progressed and all that jazz to 8 cm.  And then I regressed to something like 6 cm - they said b/c his head was too big and kept banging on my cervix which was swelling (sorry if this is TMI, but I seem to have lost the judgment to determine what is TMI and what is not, so you'll have to bear with me :-)).  So anyways, we kept going for another 2-3 hours and no more progressing.  SO, they tell me that it looks like his head is too big and they worry that even if his head makes it out that they might have to break his shoulders to get those out.  At this point, I was so tired and the doctor said we needed to go ahead with a C-section - so I was like "let's just do it". 

So, they pumped me full of drugs which make you shiver like crazy and went to cut him out.  Honestly the whole thing freaked me out which surprised me - I normally don't freak out very easily.  I was crying - not sobbing - but quiet tears streaming down my face.  I was pretty bummed about having a C-section I guess.  And, apparently they cut me and tried to get him out, but he was too big for the cut, so she had to cut me vertically on the uterus as well (so I have a T shaped incision on my uterus).  So I guess if he was too big for even the normal C-section inscision, I should just be grateful I live in the age of modern medicine where he was able to be born healthy and I survived :-). 

So afterwards, for some reason they thought I might be hemoragging?  And here is where I wonder if things were worse than they told me, b/c they sure seemed nervous.  After sewing me up, they kept me in the surgery room for like 2 hours beating up my belly.  They kept pushing in on it a ton and seriously like two people would be on top of me pushing on my belly - I don't really understand how that helps you not to hemmorage, but apparently that is the way.  And then they told me I might have to have a blood transfusion and according to accounts I was deathly pale.  They wouldn't let me out of Labor and Delivery until like 7 pm that night so I would continue to be observed. 

It is interesting b/c I had a vaginal birth with Mack and it is interesting how it affects you differently.  Like I wanted to make sure Cooper was okay, but I wasn't like "oh, let me hold him" (of course, I did) the way I was with Mack.  I don't know if it was the medicine or what - but it was weird. 

Well, I stayed in the hopital for like 4 nights.  I was happy about that b/c it was so hard to move around after a C-section, I was terrified of going home and having to take care of him on my own.  Finally I was able to get up and down on my own and that made me feel like I would be able to manage.  Poor Cooper had jaundice so he had to do the light treatment for that.  But that was just one day and he got better.

So during all of this, my mom and sister had been keeping Mack.  So we got home that day and my mom and dad brought Mack back that night.  It was so good to see him.  Since we thought Cooper would be born near the 4th, he had been with them for 2 weeks and I missed him terribly.  So we got him back and it was so good to finally hold him.

But he had a nasty cough, and a mild fever, so we gave him some tylenol that night (to bring down the fever) and put him to bed to recover.  The next morning he still had the nasty cough and his fever seemed even worse.  So I made a Dr's appt and brought him to our pedi that afternoon.  He gave him a breathing treatment and told us to come back in a couple of hours.  We did, he gave him another breathing treatment, his breathing was still not improved and so he told us to go to the hospital directly from there!  Cooper is not even a week old at this point.  So the last place I wanted to bring a newborn was a hospital full of sick kids.  So long story short, Mack was in the hospital for almost a week with something like pneumonia.  It was awful.  One of us had to be there at all times and we were lucky to have Andy's mom, my mom and us all doing rotations of either caring for Mack or Cooper. 

Here is a picture of him the first night in the hospital :-(:

I wasn't going into the hospital b/c I was breastfeeding Cooper and didn't want to expose Cooper to this since in a baby I felt it could be deadly.  But no one told me, Mack kept saying "Mommy come soon?" - uggh.  They kept saying he was doing really well.   I can't believe I didn't go be with my boy.  They didn't tell me b/c they thought it was better if I stayed home with Cooper since I had just had a C-section and couldn't lift Mack and I shouldn't expose Cooper, yadda, yadda, yadda.

So anyways, my mom let it slip that he said that and it sounded like Mack wasn't getting any sleep, so I insisted on going in and being with him.  Cathy (Andy's mom) stayed with Cooper - she was amazing - so I could go and it felt so good to finally be back with my boy.  I hated seeing him like that - he looked so miserable.  Luckily, the following day he was released - praise God!  And we finally had our whole family home.

Of course, I worried Mack would really resent Cooper since not only had I abandoned him to his Meemaw and Aunt Evie for two weeks, but then he was stuck in a hospital for another week.  Poor baby.  But he was amazing with Cooper from the get go and really just loved him.  Here is a picture of him that first week back home.  Isn't it adorable?

So now we are 12 weeks in and they are just adorable with each other.  Cooper lights up every time he sees Mack and Mack loves his baby brother.  He always asks me when Cooper cries - "Baby brother all right?" and he'll go give him a hug.  He is so funny.  Occasionally he does say "put baby brother down.  Hold Mack" - but I think that is pretty good.  No complaints here.  Two is definitely more than one, but you also get double the rewards. 

Feel so blessed with this beautiful family.  Thank you Lord!

18 month check in :-)

Our little boy is 18 months old. Where has the time gone? I can't believe it. He is getting so big and learning so much.

So we went to the doctor and I'm happy to report that Mack went from 10% in weight to 15%. Yay! He now weighs 22 lbs and 15.8 oz. I was pretty stressed when at his 15 month appointment he went from 15% in weight to 10%. I mean he is already skinny - I don't want him getting skinnier. He still has a big head at 50 cm (96%) and he is 70% height at 32 3/4 in (wonder if he'll keep that up).

The doctor was very impressed with his development as well. Mack says a ton of words now. Probably over 50. He was talking away in the doctors office and she was like - "wow, he is quite a talker". Then she asked me if he was saying two word phrases. He isn't - but he's not supposed to until 2 years. He also has done almost everything on the development worksheet which goes up until 2 years. I think I am so happy about this because he didn't walk until 16 months - 16 months! I can't believe that was just two months ago. Now he runs around the house. It is so cute and adorable. I will have to post his walking video since I didn't blog about it.

His favorite words are "dog", "ball", "daddy", "duck", "snack" and "elmo". But he says lots of other things like "bubbles", "baba" (bottle), "ready", "light", "keys". "Mommy" is still getting the shaft. He can say it, but to hear it is rare and normally prompted by me. Whereas everytime the phone rings or he sees a phone - he's like "daddy?". He doesn't realize that anyone else calls us. Hahaha.

He loves animals and says"elephant" (sounds like "eh eh fen"), "monkey", "panda"... He also knows where his eyes, nose, mouth and ears are - and can say them too. His favorite song is "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" and it is so cute to see him try and point to his "eyes and ears and mouth and nose" while I sing it. (He's a little slow, but he gets them all right. :-)) He has also started doing the hand gestures for "itsy bitsy spider" and "twinkle twinkle little star".

He is OBSESSED with Elmo - that deserves its own post, so I will write about that later :-).

In any case, he continues to be the apple of our eye.

Love that boy!

Gushing

So, almost 10 months into this motherhood thing, you would think it would have become old hat by now.... that I wouldn't still get an amazing thrill everytime I go to get Mack when he wakes up and he has that beaming smile for me. But, no, my heart still jumps with joy and every day I thank God over and over for our amazing little boy and the love we have for each other. I still don't mind those rare nights he wakes up and I have to go to him, because part of me enjoys getting to see him :-).

I can't believe God blessed us with a baby boy who is so perfect, so happy and just so fun - and beautiful! Do all babies smile every time you look at them? His disposition is just so wonderful. I am trying to treasure this time - it is so magical. I always find myself saying, oh I can't wait until this... And it's true, I anticipate all these things and this life that we get to live with him - but I don't want to focus on the future so that I don't fully appreciate, taste, smell, enjoy the present with him.

I just love, love, love to hold him close and breath him in. It is so wonderful. He does the cutest thing now....he puts his forehead to mine and just kind nuzzles our heads together - it is so endearing. He has such winning ways - and we can't even take any credit for it, that's just how he was born :-).

Oh, Mack, I love you so much and pray for wisdom and guidance to raise you such that you will live up to your full potential. You are such a special spirit. I know God intends amazing things for you and your life.

Sykes Christmas Card 2010

Most Wonderful Time Christmas Card

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Breaking News - or teeth!

Newsflash: Mack's 2nd tooth just broke through - wow! Amazing how baby books are right about everything - they do indeed come in twos :-).

Mack's First Tooth

So, Monday I felt Mack's gums while he was gnawing on my fingers as he likes to do and......... I felt a tooth that had broken through! I don't know why I think this is something to celebrate, but I do - yay!

It is his bottom tooth on the left. I can't see it, but I can definitely feel it. It is actually pretty hard to get a good look with a baby as they don't really just open up and say "ahhhhhh".

I feel a bit bad, because this weekend I actually left Mack with Andy quite a bit - Saturday night I went with some girlfriends to this awesome consignment sale and Sunday I had to go to church for volunteer training for the nursery. Well, Mack wasn't in the best of moods and I guess now we know why. Poor Andy said that he was screaming his head off. I might have a harder time getting Andy to keep Mack - oops!

Anyways, I love to see Mack getting bigger and getting teeth ...... but, it also makes me sad that he is growing up so quickly. I can't believe he is already 6 months old. I sure do love our stinker!

The Sykes visit the Nation's Capital for the 4th

Can you tell I am catching up on blogging? So earlier this year (I think before we even had Mack) some of my college friends came up with the idea of getting together. I was pretty pumped about it because I had proposed something like that years ago as I had seen other friends of mine do it with their college friends and it had really helped them to keep in touch. But as with every friend group, there were several hold-outs and those finally got their gums in gear as most of us are married - and really, after weddings , what reasons do you have to get together with old friends unless you make a reason?

So, we all agreed to get together in DC over the 4th of July. Two of the group live in the D.C. area and another lives in NYC and three of us are in Texas (although one of the Texans couldn't make it anyways due to work).

So this was Mack's first airplane trip (see picture)! He did so well. He was really a pretty great baby and whenever he would get fussy, I would just feed him :-). Of course, I also realized another negative no one ever tells you about parenthood - say 'goodbye' to pleasure reading on a plane for the next 4 or 5 years :-). Small price to pay for such joy, eh?

In any case, it was so much fun to see everyone and to see the D.C. area over our nation's birthday. We spent the first day on the National Mall. We went to the spy museum which we have been wanting to do for quite a while and it was really good (top pic). It is private so it cost money, but it was worth it. We also visited the Air and Space museum which was great (and free!). We spent the actual 4th in Annapolis which was great. We saw the Navy band play, there was a parade, great fireworks and just a really cute town.

All in all, Mack's first airplane trip was very much a success. And it sounds like we are going to do something like this with my college friends a bit more frequently and so we are pretty doggone excited :-). I really love my college friends and love seeing them and catching up!