And Then There Were Two

Cameron has kindly given me the editorial reins for this posting since he was not present for the birth of his little brother. Nathan James Kruepke was born on Tuesday, April 6th at 12:20pm. He weighed in at 6 lbs 15 oz (3 oz more than Cameron) and was 20 inches long (compared to Cameron's 19 inches).

**Note: I have divided this blog into two sections: labor & delivery and meet Nathan in case you do not care to read about the labor portion.

LABOR & DELIVERY

Nathan's delivery was also much easier than Cameron's. On Monday night, my contractions were already 8 mins apart, but they weren't very strong so I went to bed hoping to make it to my 8:30am doctor's appointment. Around 1am, I woke up and the contractions were now 5 mins apart. My doctor had advised to go to the hospital if they were 5-10 mins apart so I was already pushing it. But I still waited until 3 am before deciding to go in partly because they weren't strong so I didn't want to get sent home and also because I didn't want to have to get Cameron up unless I really had to, but by 3 am, I was a bit anxious and called the doctor who advised me to go in to be safe. I was officially admitted at 5 am after they determined it was active labor and not false labor (they had me walk around for an hour and then checked to see if that led to any progress and since it did, they admitted me). Cameron's Grandpa Jim and Grandma Barb came down and picked him up around 5am and took him back to West Bend where he stayed until Wednesday evening.

My doctor was on vacation this whole week so I had a different doctor, Dr. Taylor, in on the delivery. I really liked how laid back yet to the point he was as it fit my style well so I wasn't concerned about having a different doctor. I nicknamed him the Danny Gokey of doctors because he had really stylish eyeglasses and wore a different pair the day he delivered Nathan and the day he discharged me.

Because they had to break my water and that typically leads to stronger contractions and because I remember how painful my contractions were with Cameron, I ended up getting the epidural even though I wasn't experiencing any pain at the time. I'm glad I did because after they broke my water, I had to get pitocin since my progress had stalled and the pitocin is what really created the unbearable contractions with Cameron. Although I probably could have made it through without the epidural, for the sake of all in the room, I decided not to chance it knowing how low my pain tolerance is. I was not nervous or anxious at all about the labor or delivery process except for the epidural. I think because I didn't have any other anxieties and also because I wasn't in any pain when I got it (compared to Cameron's delivery where I was keeling over in pain by the time the anesthesiologist arrived), I really felt the epidural process and did not care for that.

The dose was perfect because I could still feel what was going on, but did not feel any pain through the entire process. In fact, a little after noon I told the nurse that I felt the need to push and sure enough I was fully dilated and ready to push. A few contractions and pushes late (and about 10 mins total time), Nathan was born. I had a slight tear, but nothing as painful as last time. In fact, I didn't feel any pain in the recovery process. The nurses kept asking if I wanted anything for pain, but I kept refusing since I didn't have any. The one exception was I had a headache (likely due to lack of sleep) Tuesday night. Other than that, I felt pretty darn good. I was walking the halls of the hospital the next day. The only challenge is that since I did feel so good, I think I have pushed myself a little too much these past few days. Without the pain, I easily forget that I am still recovering.

MEET NATHAN JAMES

Our little Nathan has quite the appetite, eating every 1 1/2-3 hours, depending on how tired he is. And he sleeps ALOT! Even when he is awake, he is pretty laid back yet still quite alert. We'll see if this is his true personality or just a result of his jaundice. Because his bilirubin levels were high, he has been on phototherapy since Friday. This entails him having a rubber pad up his shirt so it is against his back. The pad is attached to a hose of fiber optics that carry the special light that helps break down the bilirubin. Fortunately his levels are finally dropping after plateauing yesterday. We have had to go to the hospital every day since coming home to get blood draws to test his bilirubin levels. The brave little guy has been such a trooper and hardly makes a peep during the process. Hopefully tomorrow will be our last trip to the hospital for quite a while!

Cameron got to meet his new little brother on Wednesday evening and so far has adjusted pretty darn well. Thursday was a little trying as we came home from the hospital and Cameron didn't nap very well so that all added up to a needy, cranky Cameron. Since then, he has been a proud big brother, checking on Nathan when he makes noise, bringing me Nathan's hat to make sure his head stays warm, blowing kisses and saying "hi". We have been trying hard to make sure Cameron still gets some one-on-one time with each of us, but it has been a juggling act to do so. Fortunately he has had good one-on-one time with his grandparents, aunts and uncles, and his sitter to help supplement the smaller chunks of time he gets with us. I did take him to the beach at Pewaukee Lake yesterday for a short excursion since I was feeling extremely guilty about not being able to spend time with him. Though my recovery is going well, I'm trying to limit how much I carry Cameron, especially up and down stairs, so I have not been his primary caregiver these past several days and have not been able to do as much with him as I would like. That will change in a week or so when I can resume pretty much all day-to-day activities. Plus, with Nathan attached to his phototherapy machine 24/7, I can't really go places with the kids so we're stuck at home for at least another day or two.

We think Nathan looks more like his daddy. Cameron looked more like me than Nathan does. It will be interesting to see how his features develop and if he does continue to resemble Greg as he gets older. So that is our Nathan in a nutshell. Now Cameron seems so big (never thought I would say that about our first peanut) compared to Nathan. We are very blessed to have two healthy, wonderful boys and look forward to them growing up together.

Love,
Kristi, Greg, Cameron, Nathan & Jesse