Marcus James

Marcus James, 8 lbs 7 oz, 19.5 inches long. He looks just like his daddy, which makes me love him even more. He even has a hair callac in the exact same spot on his head. I nicknamed him MJ for Marcus James / Mitch Junior. When he raised his eyebrows at me for the first time, I seriously laughed out loud because all I saw was Mitch and I love that he is his clone. (Apparently at least 90% of my genes are recessive, ha, ha.) Though I will say that Mitch was bald when he was born and I had tons of dark hair, so perhaps that is the 10% of my genes that Marcus inherited. Regardless, I hope MJ turns out to be as sweet and as smart as his daddy too.

So, MJ was originally due on June 3rd. I was planning to be induced one week early, on May 28th, partly because I was sick of being pregnant and partly because he was measuring big. Layla was 8 lbs 3 oz at 41 weeks, so I figured he would be at least 8 lbs. Well, my dr. was going to be out of town for Memorial Day, so he changed my due date and got me induced the week before. Love it. Marcus was just over 38 weeks gestation when I was induced, so I felt good about it and everything I researched made me feel like it would be okay to do. And boy am I glad I did because he could have easily been 10 lbs had I gone to 40 weeks!

Last preggo pic. 

So we called the hospital at 6 am on his planned bday, and they said we had to wait until around noon. That worked out nice because it gave me a chance to take a nap since I hardly slept a wink the night before. Finally they called back and said we could come on in! We waited for my mom to come stay with Layla (it's so nice that she can leave work at the drop of a hat if she has to) and then we were off.

Last pic as a family of 3.
This is right before we left to the hospital and Layla was so sad.
Thankfully she's doing a bit better with the whole change now.

We arrived at the hospital around noon and they started pitocin at 1 pm. I was dilated to a 3 at this point. I got an epidural and it worked wonderfully this time; it didn't wear off at the end like it did with Layla. Ahhh, the blessed epidural! I swear pitocin is awesome, but it makes for some doozy of contractions! Finally, just after 6 pm, my dr came and broke my water. I was only dilated to a 3.5 at that point, which was a huge disappointment, but once my water broke, I went from 3.5 to 10 in under an hour! It was pretty much the same way with Layla ... I guess my body doesn't know what to do until my water breaks. Anywho, I was ready to push, he was right.there. But my doctor wasn't. I had to wait a good half hour at least for my dr to come back. I pushed for less than 10 minutes and our sweet baby boy was born. It was such a better experience than with Layla; I was much more relaxed, the epidural actually worked to the end, and it was just a lot more enjoyable.

He was born at 7:45 pm. It took a while for them to clean him up and stitch me up and do all the other things they have to do right after giving birth. I then nursed him, which went okay, but he's a lot more of a lazy nurser than Layla was. After that it was nearly 9 pm and visiting hours ended at 9, but I really, really wanted to see Layla. Thankfully the nurses said they wouldn't kick our family out so Mitch's parents, my mom, Layla, and Katie and Brandon came to see us for a few minutes. Layla was pretty indifferent about Marcus, but she did tell me several times that she loved me, that she missed me, and that she was glad to see me. I think she felt a little separation anxiety or something. Her little world has changed so much, but for the better as she's starting to realize. We gave her a "big sister gift" with some new games, puzzles, and a crown that says "Big Sister" on it.

First pic as a family of 4.
Layla put her hair clips in all by herself to "look pretty for Baby Marcus."

Mitch went home with Layla that night. We felt that would be best for Layla and at least that way Mitch could be well rested to help take care of us. The next day we had more visitors, this time including my dad and Brock and Natalie.

I was so happy when the dr gave me the option to go home after just 24 hours. I hate the hospital. It's great for things like giving birth, emergencies, surgery, etc. but I hate staying there if I can avoid it. Right as we were being discharged we learned that Marcus has jaundice. This really took my by surprise. I know it's quite common, but Layla didn't have it and he wasn't yellow at all (though he is a little bit now). They said his bilirubin level wasn't too high and that we could come home on the condition that we take him to his pediatrician the next morning to check his bilirubin level. That was quite the experience. I couldn't handle hearing him cry, so Mitch has kindly taken him to get checked by himself every day since while I stay home with Layla. His levels went up to 16, so they sent out some lights yesterday.
 
The first time we hooked him up to the lights I cried. And cried. And then I cried some more. Ha, ha. I know jaundice is so minor compared to what could go wrong, but it still made me so sad. I feel a lot better about it now that his levels have started going down so much. He has been under them for 48 hours and we're hoping to be done with them today, depending on today's test results. The lights are a huge pain the butt because it's a new system where he lays on a bed of lights and then we have to strap another light around his chest, which of course always falls off and involves dealing with a huge cord that come unplugged very easily. It's extra hard to nurse with that thing on him! But, we have to do what's best and we really want him to get better. I slept next to him in his room last night and I will continue to do so until we're done with the lights. That way I can put the stupid strap light back on when it falls off. Hopefully we'll be done with this soon, but I am very grateful that this is the only health issue we have to deal with, especially considering all that can go wrong with a newborn. We are indeed very blessed!

I'm feeling pretty good, just the usual post pregnancy things: incredibly exhausted, pain from the episiotomy, soreness from breastfeeding, all the fun stuff no one ever talks about. But, it gets a little better each day and hopefully I'll be back to normal soon. One day at a time. Sometimes I feel like I have it all together and I can totally handle two kids, other times I feel like I'm going to die. Ha, ha. Pretty extreme, I know. I had to fill out a form at the dr the other day. All I had to do was print Marcus' name, my name, sign my name, and write the date. I managed to screw all four things up. Talk about exhaustion!

I am so thankful that Mitch has two weeks off! He is such a help: taking MJ to get his bilirubin checked, going grocery shopping, making me meals, taking care of Layla, and still managing to work in the yard. What a guy. I would have gone crazy without him the last few days.

We've also had several meals from ward members brought to us, which is very nice of them and they have all been really yummy too! Our parents have both brought us dinner and visited which was nice and fun to have them over. We are expecting more visitors this week too. We are very blessed with great family and friends. Even our home teacher has been awesome; checking up on us and the other day he was on a walk and saw Mitch working on the trampoline hole so he went home, got a shovel, came back and helped Mitch finish.

Layla calls Marcus "baby brother," and likes to look at him, bring me things for him, and talk to him. She has only held him a couple of times; she prefers more to just look for now. Yesterday she and Mitch were going to walk over to the school to play on the playground. As they were leaving she said, "I need to go see my baby brother for a minute." Then she ran in the room where he was and told him that she was going to the playground with her daddy and she would be back to see him later and that he should wait right there for her. Then she waved at him and said, "Bye bye, Baby Brother, I love you!" So sweet!

I think Layla is adjusting pretty well to the baby. But man, she is still having her rough moments. She is the.most.particular.child I have ever known. If you call something the "wrong thing" according to Layla, like the nightstand a table, or the stool a chair, she gets SO upset and corrects you and it usually involves her crying. It's so frustrating. It's the same thing with her routines and the way things have to be done or said. It's mentally exhausting. Mitch said it's like dating the prom queen. Ha, ha. Layla keeps telling Mitch, "You always say the wrong thing." Poor Daddy, but truth be told, she totally gets it from him. From what I understand, he was just like that as a child. Thank heavens he grew out of it so there's hope for Layla too. :)

Layla and I baking a pie together a few days before Marcus was born.

Random Layla story: 4 days after MJ was born we were eating lunch and Layla asked me, "Did Marcus come out of your belly?" I told her yes, he did, then she stared at my postpartum body as I stood by the counter and she asked, "Is your lunch making your belly big?" Awwww, and I was feeling pretty good about my post baby body ...

Random Marcus story: I was changing his poopy diaper when he started squirming a bit. I looked up at his little face and it was completely covered in his own pee! Somehow he managed to shoot it directly at his face, missing his chest, me, etc. I felt so bad for him, but it was so funny at the same time! I was totally expecting him to spray me before he ever sprayed himself.

My sweet boy.

As soon as he is off the lights I plan to take a lot more pictures! But for now my focus is on taking care of Marcus, sleeping, eating, and sleeping. :)