Our Second Bundle of Joy!

Our second little peanut is two weeks and two days old. 

and he is absolutely perfect in every way. 

Phineas Harold Dana O'Connor was born on September 5, 2014.

Weighing in at 8 pounds 2 ounces 

and 20.5 inches long. 

When it came to picking a name,

Henry preferred Phineas.

(spelled with a P and not an F)

I preferred Finnegan.

so we met in the middle with the formal spelling of his name starting with a P

but his nickname spelled as Finn.

Henry and I over-prepared for him to be early.

After all, Bence showed up before I even had a chance to pack my bags.

but Finn was perfectly content to bake a little longer.

He decided to show up four days overdue.

Fashionably late. 

But he couldn't be more perfect.

we prayed my entire pregnancy for some very specific things.

and every one of those things has been (mercifully) granted.

Finn nurses like a champ. 

he hardly ever fusses.

and he goes right back to sleep as soon as he's finished eating. 

which is a blessing since bence still has a hate/hate relationship with naps and bedtime.

we love Bence so so much.

but I won't lie when I say that the first year of his life was incredibly exhausting.

I'd hazard to say it was more exhausting a first year than most first time parents experience. 

(he didn't do any of the things listed above.)

Bence was kind of "trial by fire." 

Colic, reflux, being pre-term...the poor kid was miserable the first year of his life. 

(at least during the night anyway)

so this second baby boy seems easy as pie. 

Of course, all the pictures I have are when he's sleeping.

(Which alone makes him perfect.)

but you can take it from me that he has big, beautiful dark eyes.

and quite the headful of hair. 

See that headful of hair?

jumping back a few weeks ago....

I was so surprised when I made it to 37 weeks.

and even more surprised when I parked the car at my 39 week appointment.

and then slightly flabbergasted when I waddled into my 40 week appointment. 

I kept telling myself I wouldn't complain if I went overdue, no matter how uncomfortable I was.

I would just be grateful that I was full term.

and that (hopefully) a full-term baby wouldn't need to be in the NICU like bence. 

When I went to the Doctor's office for my last appointment, I was only dilated to 3 cm.

which is what I had been riding at the last three weeks.

I had been having contractions off and on for the last week.

In fact, that morning before my appointment I almost thought I was going into labor.

I had pretty decent contractions for more than an hour;

but then they stopped. 

so the doctor stripped my membranes and sent me home with a warning to go to the hospital right away once I had contractions ten or fewer minutes apart. 

I spent the rest of that thursday and all Friday with contractions.

But it wasn't until Friday afternoon around 2 that I started timing them.

They were fairly regular....ten minutes apart, then 8, then ten again, then five. 

I thought I'd call my doctor's office and see what I should do.

Luckily my doctor was on call that day for delivery.

he told us to go ahead and make a trip to the hospital. 

Then he could at least see where we were. 

My mom had come down to stay the night before.

And she was able to stay with Bence, which was a huge blessing. 

I was so worried and guilt ridden over leaving him.

I've never been away from my baby for more than a few hours!

but he did great and barely missed us. 

somehow it still took an hour or so to leave the house.

I gathered our things and henry tied up a few loose ends at work.

but this time around our experience was totally different.

It was the middle of the afternoon,

(not the middle of the night)

I was showered and dressed and wearing real clothes, 

(instead of looking like a homeless woman with a bad hair day)

and neither Henry or I were stressed about the baby being okay. 

Yay for being full-term! (and then some.)

We got to the hospital and they took Henry and I to an exam room on the labor and delivery floor.

they said they wouldn't admit us until they were sure we were leaving with a baby.

At this point my contractions felt similar to the ones I had with bence around 5 or 6 cm. 

I couldn't believe it when the nurse said I was still sitting at 3. 

They were uncomfortable enough to take my breath away and hunch over a bit. 

That was probably around 3:30 or so in the afternoon.

The nurse periodically checked back over the next hour or two.

I was progressing, but not as quickly as I'd hoped. 

By 5:40 I was really uncomfortable. 

I told henry to call the nurse back in to check me. 

I was positive this baby was coming at that point.

When she checked me again I was at five centimeters, so she said she'd go ahead and admit us and call the doctor. 

I couldn't believe I wasn't already at 9.

I guess i'm a baby when it comes to pain.

But I didn't remember being nearly as uncomfortable with Bence and I made it to 8 cm before my epidural.

I walked down the hallway to the birthing room, which was way nicer than the exam room we had been in.

and since we weren't pre-registered they brought in all the paperwork we needed to fill out,

Eventually I told Henry to stop reading legalese to me.

It wasn't hearing it at that point. 

By the time I was around 6 or 7 cm the nurse said she'd send for the anesthesiologist if I wanted an epidural. 

But that man took forever to come! 

I decided to use the jetted tub while we waited and that was sort of helpful. 

I alternated between relief at sitting in the hot water

and then feeling like I was going to pass out because it was making me so hot and sweaty. 

It's funny how you want to move so badly to ease the contractions,

but when they hit you can't really move at because you're so uncomfortable. 

After a little while the hot water started to make me feel sick, so I had henry help me out of the tub and back into bed. 

my doctor was there at this point and cracking jokes with the nurses that were in the room.

(In hindsight, he made me laugh. he just hung out in our room for an hour or so while we waited for the baby to come. I've never had a doctor be so personable before.)

And then the anesthesiologist finally came.

I don't remember what time it was.

But I was already dilated to 9 cm. 

and my doctor had broken my water. 

this was my only complaint about my entire hospital experience.

That guy...

He didn't even wait until I was between contractions. 

(albeit I was really close to pushing...)

But he had me sit upright on the bed and stuck me while I was right smack dab in the middle of huffing and puffing. 

and then wiggled the catheter around while a second contraction hit. 

and ten minutes later when I felt the baby pressing and I couldn't help but start pushing, 

and I asked when the epidural should kick in, 

he told me he didn't numb me all the way.

He wanted me to feel enough pain that I would push well. 

I wanted to ask him what the point of an epidural was when I could still feel so much.

but I didn't.

It did take the edge off after a while. 

For which I'm grateful since we have big headed babies in this family. 

And Finn was no exception. 

a 14 inch head on that boy, believe it or not. 

After pushing for probably twenty minutes or half an hour

the baby's head started to crown. 

they decided to give me some pitocin since my contractions only lasted 30 seconds or so

and I was having to push a lot harder on my own.

after that kicked in 

it was only a few more pushes until his head and shoulder were finally out. 

and this beautiful boy was born.

Nothing compares to the feeling you have as a mother when they finally lay that sweet little body

on your chest for the first time. 

and you finally get to look at that sweet little face

and hear their little cries

and meet the person that has been growing inside of you for the last nine months. 

and you realize this is the little munchkin that has been kicking you in the ribs

and giving you constant heartburn

and making you pee around the clock. 

and despite the pain and discomfort you would do it all again in a heartbeat

because the love you feel for that perfect little person 

is so worth any sacrifice you have to make to bring them into this world. 

    Nothing has made me feel more beautiful than bringing two beautiful baby boys into this world. 

We feel so lucky to be parents to such perfect boys. 

and they are perfect, even when they're not. 

We love you Finn and we're so lucky to be your parents.