Seth update

Doesn't it look like Cal's holding a doll??

The boys are watching the movie Cars and, not surprisingly, both sucking their thumbs :)


Seth went in for a weight check this past Monday (10 days old) and was up a half pound from last week!! He's now weighing in at 6lbs 9oz. I was pleasantly surprised. It's hard to tell that he's gained weight since he's SO small.

I realize I'm the mom that others love to hate when it comes to my children's sleep schedule. It's true, I have an almost 4 year old that naps for 3 hours nearly every day, Ben who will try to climb IN his crib to sleep, and now Seth who was the quickest of the 3 to transition and figure out his nights and days. For the past 3 or 4 nights now I've only gotten up once to feed him! I nurse him around 8-9pm and I'm in bed by 9:30pm. I then have to wake up around 1-2am to feed, diaper, feed (the other side), burp and put back to sleep. This process usually takes an hour and then I'm back to bed until wake up sometime between 6-7am. Not bad!! I'm logging in 7-8 hours per night and feeling great! Still worshipping Dr. Marc Weissbluth who wrote the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and who makes my life easier and LOTS of sleep possible for all :)

Our one teeny tiny problem started this Monday and I'm still praying it magically goes away...Seth has started spitting up after nursings. Ugh! Cal did this for his ENTIRE 13 months of nursing and it makes things...well....messy! I was SOOO happy when Ben didn't spit up once EVER and figured I was a first-time mom and just fed Cal too much. Well, the third time around, it's not making sense to me. I'm not over-feeding, he's burping, is it possible to just have a baby that spits up???!?!

Ben update

I'm happy to report that Ben's speech is coming along nicely! I have no idea if the therapy is actually helping or if he just needed extra time but either way he looks forward to Denise, his speech therapist, coming each week. He screams with excitement and bangs on the window when he sees her car pull in and then promptly plants himself on the floor where they play each week in anticipation of the new toys she's brought. Although he still jabbers unrecognizable words a lot, especially when he's excited, he now can imitate most words with good pronounciation when he does it slowly. We're working on annunciating ending sounds of words and getting him to say words on his own and not just in imitation which he does more and more frequently! He's just started to count 1 to 10 and sing his ABCs so he's catching up quickly!!!

First Day of School

I think these pictures speak for themselves. Ben was sad to have Cal go...he stood at the window crying, "Car too! Go too!"

The OC?!? - A note on naming

Yes, I watched that cheeseball show, The OC, to it's pathetic conclusion...so what does it have to do with naming my kids. Well, there was the grandfather, Caleb, who they often called Cal. Then there was Seth Cohen and this may be a stretch but the actor's name who played Ryan is Ben. Hmm...really I didn't mean to do that. If only I had a girl, I could've had a Kirsten, Summer, Julie, or Marissa!

On a more serious note, after I picked the name Seth, I looked up the meaning in a baby book and it means: "Appointed; the THIRD son of Adam". Funny, since it's MY third son too...Also, for those of you who don't know, Jackson is my maiden name. I'm the youngest of three children and my middle name is my mother's maiden name. So I found it appropriate, although I'm not partial to naming after anyone, for Seth to carry on the tradition and my namesake through his middle name.

Seth's Bris

Grammy & Grampie Gotlieb

Day of bris

Welcome Baruch Simcha

Explanation of the bris (circumcision): God said to Abraham, As far as you are concerned, you must keep My covenant - you and your offspring throughout their generations. This is My covenant between Me, and between you and your offspring that you must keep: You must circumcise every male. You shall be circumcised through the flesh of your foreskin. This shall be the mark of the covenant between Me and you. Throughout all generations, every male shall be circumcised when he is eight days old.

So we arranged to have a Jewish doctor that performs the bris and a Rabbi from the Dover temple come to our home on Seth's 8th day and circumcise him. THe proper blessings are said and a ceremony is done in which he received his Hebrew name which we chose - Baruch Simcha. It means Blessed Joy.

The bris started off a little tentatively. When we were greeting everyone, the doctor shook Eric's hand and as it swung down, Cal came up unexpectedly behind him, and got accidentally slapped in the face. Oy vey! He started crying and there we were. I held Seth for his shot of anesthetic and the boys didn't like being kept from the room during that. So now both boys are crying and Seth too from the shot. I thought Cal would be ok to watch the circumcision but that was NOT the case. He got scared when all the instruments came out and the doctor started, so Eric's mom had to take Cal in the other room to watch TV. Ben only wanted me to hold him so he stayed for the whole thing since he wouldn't let me put him down. The circumsicion itself went quickly and smoothly and soon we were "celebrating" and having lunch.

The only mishap was that later I forgot (and wasn't told) that I was supposed to leave the initial dressing on for the first 24 hours. So I pulled the gauze off after 3 hours and it immediately started bleeding! I freaked out but it stopped on it's own pretty quickly and we called the doctor right away. All is well though and healing perfectly :)

Cal funnies and first time out with 3!!

A few funny little things Cal has said in the last month or so:

1) "Mommy, is your tummy going to be broken after the baby is born?"

2) One day we "lost" Ben for a few minutes when he shut himself in the mudroom and we couldn't find him. When Eric got home I told him what happened and without missing a beat Cal jumped in and exclaimed, "Dad! He almost DIED!" I don't even know how he knows what that means?!

3) It's been a little hectic lately so I've been running around to make sure everyone's fed, diapered, etc. One day for lunch I had gone back and forth getting everyone everything and finally was standing near the table eating my own lunch when Cal said, "Just sit, mom, just SIT!"

4) After a feeble attempt at trying to explain Seth's bris and emphasizing just a little, TINY piece of Seth's penis was going to be cut, Cal said, "You mean they're going to cut his WHOLE penis off?" I guess Daddy and Grampie made one too many jokes...

Last Thursday (Seth was 6 days old) I had to venture out with all three boys. It was Cal's preschool orientation, it was only for an hour, and I felt sad thinking about him having to miss it so I decided to go. Eric already had patients scheduled for the whole morning so it was all three boys or bust. We decided not to tell Cal about it until everyone was strapped in the car ready to go in case we had any last minute snafus. Luckily, we made it. Cal taking his new seat in the way, way back of the van. We got there and I strapped Seth into the baby bjorn. Cal ran off and played as soon as we got there. He even took Ben by the hand and led him off to play but once I got swarmed by moms and teachers Ben ran back to cling to my leg. He seemed a little unsure of all the attention mom and Seth were getting. The hour went by quick. Seth tucked his little head down into the bjorn and fell asleep which was good to keep germs away. Ben warmed up after half an hour and played and Cal got to see his old friends and meet some new ones! I started "mommy shopping" again...could always use new friends :)

The L&D Story

Seth moments after birth

To give a little pre-labor background...After having what I would call a disappointing labor and delivery with Ben, I had decided that pain-free and anti-climatic was not the way to go for my third birthing experience. I definitely felt like I "missed out" on something with Ben and didn't want to feel that way again. I had also dumbly watched the cheesy documentary by Ricki Lake (yes, THAT Ricki Lake) called "The Business of Being Born" and was newly interested in a natural birth and the amazing experience that it can be. So that's all fine and good until you're actually IN labor but I decided I'd try to go epidural-free and adapt according to the circumstances.


So September 12th, my due date, rolls around and my OB had decided to induce me - he'd been in there long enough! Got to the hospital at 7:30am and proceeded to get jammed with a needle 3 times by a nurse trying to start my IV. She gave up and got another one after much fussing about and ritual and I don't know what, finally got the darn thing in on the fourth try. Hallelujah! Let's get rolling! Now I thought - induction = fast and furious labor = baby comes SOON....no no no, that was not the case for me. By the time Pitocen was started and things got going, it was probably 9am. I was thinking I would have the baby by 10am...haha...not even close. The nurse told me I have "a nice contraction pattern" and I should be progressing quickly. Well, dumbass nurse (sorry, but really) NOT SO. As my OB informed her when she came in and saw my "nice contraction pattern" that since I'm slender the machine is reading the contractions as monstrous when really they're not. So when I said my pain on a scale of 1 to 10 was a ZERO, I wasn't lying. I also had to have IV antibiotics because I was Group B Strep positive...umm, has anyone else had this? I don't know if it was just the strange position of where they finally got my IV in (which by the way, my arm now looks like I've been abused) or what but the nurse said that the antibiotics would burn a little. A little? It felt like someone was crushing my wrist! I was trying not to complain since I was about to have a baby which is obviously more painful but man! it hurt.


To make a long story short, after much TV watching, no pain, and upping my Pitocen on a regular basis, nothing was happening. I was 2 cm when I got to the hospital and I was 3cm at noon when my OB broke my water. I was thinking, "OK, here it comes, water is going to be broken, NOW fast and furious L&D". I braced myself. NOTHING. At 3pm, I'm now on a dose of around 23 Pitocen (30 is the highest they can go) and the nurse checks to see how far I'm dilated - 3 cm!! My heart sunk - ARE YOU KIDDING ME - 3cm!!! I've been sitting here in this hospital bed ALL DAY and I'm only 3 CM!!!! So now I'm disappointed and starting to get upset. Contractions are starting to hurt a little now - pain scale 2 - but I know that I cannot do this all night and am starting to fear that if I do get to 30 on the Pitocen and haven't started dilating that eventually they're going to tell me I need a c-section since I only have so long to deliver the baby now that my water has been broken. I'm getting nervous and more upset. I have this instinct that's telling me to get an epidural and things will move right along but I'm still holding out hope to do it without one. They up my Pitocen to 26 and although contractions are coupling now and really starting to be strong, they're also coming at further intervals apart.


So I sit and think about pros and cons for a good half hour. I know that I HAVE to make a decision on the epidural soon because soon I'm not going to be able to sit still to have one - pain scale now 4. At 3:30 I look at my new, younger nurse and say "I want the epidural. Get him in here." Luckily, the anesthesiologist is NOT my neighbor because that just would have been weird, but Dr. O'Neil is someone we've met before. He lives in "that other neighborhood" with the million dollar homes - Tucker's Cove. So as expected, sitting up on the edge of the bed is the worst possible position for me to be in when I have a contraction. I can't even think straight and want no one to touch me when I have one. We have to wait through was seems like a bazillion of them to finally get the epidural completed. AAAHH...when it is done though, I'm finally relaxed and instantaneously I feel the baby start to move and he's moving fast! I look at the nurse and tell her they need to get my OB there immediately. My OB was in her office 5 mins down the road. Within 15 mins I went from 3cm to fully dilated and ready to push! OB still not there but coming. They tell me to do everything I can NOT to push until she gets there. Okey Dokey. I pushed maybe 3 times and out came his head, she suctioned some stuff out of his mouth, got his shoulder out, and then I got to reach down and pull him up to my chest with my own hands! Very cool! Because it happened so fast the epidural didn't take full effect and I really got to feel the pressure of the pushing this time which was a different experience for me as well.


I got to hold Seth for less than 30 seconds before they whisked him away. Since he came out so fast, the fluid in his lungs didn't have time to be squeezed out by contractions and the birth canal, etc...so he still had some in there and was breathing really fast and shallow. He cried a good deal when he first came out which helped push it out but they had to take him away for the first hour to help release the fluid and slow his breathing. He came back to the room just in time for the arrival of his big brothers! Cal was ecstatic to see him. In fact, he had woken up the morning I went to the hospital singing "Happy Birthday" to the baby in his bed. How sweet! I guess he asked Grammy Pat all day "What was taking so long?!" He was very anxious to see his new brother. Ben was scared when he saw me in the hospital for the first time and didn't want anything to do with me. He was mildly interested in the baby at first but wasn't sure what to make of everything!

The Dust Settles

We came home from the hospital on Sunday around 4pm and had a rather tumultuous start. Dinner time grew frantic with both boys melting down, crying, and Ben clinging to my leg, head in my lap, sobbing "mommy, mooommmyyyy". Being that I JUST had a baby, I was an emotional wreck and started sobbing myself. Daddy, Grammy Pat, and Grampa Jim sprung into action and tried to soothe the boys. All calmed down until bedtime. Grammy Pat and Grampa Jim had to leave which sent Cal into a shrieking fit after having them here all weekend. I was crying again from all the stress and Cal sobbed in his bed for a whole half hour which then led Ben to cry in his crib and mommy to break down and cry in her room too. But the boys finally quieted down and went to sleep, daddy went off to frantically get the house in order, and mommy buckled down for the long night ahead. Long it was! Seth didn't like the switch from warm, cozy, quiet hospital to this weird place called home and barely slept at all. He'd only pooped once in the hospital and his system was apparently working overtime because he pooped FIVE times the first night we were home - no wonder he couldn't sleep. I had my first "Oh my god, I'm NEVER going to sleep" moment that we all have in those first delusional sleep-deprived days. But since I've done this before, I KNEW that wasn't really true. I just had to power through, sleep WAS at the end of the tunnel, right?!?

True to form days 3-8 have progressively gotten better. They boys are used to mommy being back at home now and realize baby Seth is here to stay! Seth is nicely transitioning his day/night wake and sleep schedule to sleep more at night and less during the day. After that first night at home I've gotten at least 6 hours of sleep per night (not all at once) and last night got a wonderful 7 hours in 3 hour and 4 hour blocks. LOVE IT!

My skinny, scrawny little man. Look at the chicken leg!

He's by far my littlest. Although Cal and Seth has the same birth weight - 6lb 11oz - Seth dropped down to 6lbs 1oz by 3 days old. I'm pretty sure Cal did not.

Ben enjoying his brother!

Self portrait :)

Mommy, stop taking pictures!! There are already 111, I don't feel deprived!

Oh Brother!

This is a still shot from the video - I realize Cal is dressed like a Christmas tree. He picks his outfits out on his own now. What can I do??

Yes, he's actually giving Ben a piggyback. Ben's feet were off the ground.

Video of them rolling around like goobers!

I cringe anytime someone tells me their waiting to have another child solely for their older child to "be out of diapers". That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard (my blog, my opinion). I think you're doing yourself a huge disservice for the parent and kid! I'd rather change umptine million diapers forever and forever and give my child the gift of having a sibling as close in age as possible. I never had this so I can't personally attest to it from experience, but I will say that it's the most extraordinary thing to watch Cal and Ben play together. They already have a bond and friendship that far surpasses what I can give them as a mother. They also seem to have welcomed Seth home nicely so far and have accepted him as part of the family! Can't wait for triple trouble in the future!!!

Don't try this at home...

This is my disclaimer after many months of saying "it can't be all that bad going from 2 to 3"...let's just say it's not for everyone. After a challenging night 3, also known as "the first night home from the hospital", lots of emotions and not much sleep!, I'll admit this is no piece of cake. Here's Seth at 7am this morning FINALLY freakin' sleeping BY HIMSELF. We didn't exactly find our groove last night and the only way to fit in 3 hours of sleep (1 hour and then 2 hours together) was to let him sleep on me. He's 2 days old, give me a break! I didn't think of the beanbag until this morning and it seems to do the trick - bye bye bassinet! haha...no I'll try that again eventually but right now we're going with what works.

Really though, he's very sweet and until last night, hadn't cried alot. I'm assuming Seth is also getting adjusted to the "newness" of home and the noise level of his brothers. The hospital was a little TOO quiet. Cal and Ben seem to like him. Cal wants to hold him constantly and Ben prefers to just be able to look and sometimes touch him (if Seth isn't crying). The older boys are having their moments and aren't quite sure where this baby is going to fit in yet but we're all doing the best we can for now!

More on labor and deliver and my attempt at no epidural soon....

Introducing...

SETH JACKSON GOTLIEB!!

He's already sucking his thumb! This was one hour after birth and he found it himself! He hasn't stopped since.

Born September 12, 2008 4:48pm

6lb 11oz 19.5 inches long

No time for details now. Baby and mom are healthy and happy....though very tired.

Pics

Oops! I forgot about these pictures. We took these at Sears a couple weeks ago. I also had some pics done of my pregnant belly with the boys but I'll spare you the cheesy ones. They were mostly for me to have images of my last pregnancy (sob sob!).

Baby Update

This isn't the best picture since Eric cut off the top of my head but the boys faces are so funny I couldn't resist posting it! (Pic taken today)

39 weeks and counting....my due date is next Friday. My appointment today was no help. I'm 2 cm dilated now and a little more effaced but that doesn't mean anything!!! So we'll keep waiting and willing him to come. Luckily, I've been sleeping magnificently and I'm not uncomfortable so I'm more just getting anxious to meet him now!!

All Day Cooking - Take 1, 2, & 3!?!

Ah yes, after seeing an empty cellar freezer I went into panic mode again and decided I must cook over Labor Day. So I picked my recipes, made my shopping list, and went to the grocery store on Saturday. Two hours, $287, 10 bags of frozen chopped onions, and some crazy looks from people at the grocery later I was set for cooking all day on Sunday. The bagger actually said to me, "Either you have a very large family or you own a restaurant". I said, "Nope, I just don't plan on cooking too much after this baby is born so I'm going to do it all now and freeze it!". Anyways, Eric did buy some fish the next day (story to come later) that was $63 for a grand total of $350 for this particular cooking extravaganza. I should have known right then I was a little over ambitious this time.

SUNDAY - Daddy planned an awesome day for the boys starting with the beach at New Castle which they LOVE! They got to go in the water (or fall in as Cal says), play in the sand, sit on the rocks and tell stories, and daddy says they talked to pretty much every single person ON the beach. Not surprising. They came home to get a quick bath, eat lunch, and take naps. Then it was up and off for a trip downtown to go in Cal's favorite stores and go out to dinner at The Rusty Hammer, just daddy and the boys. Again, big hit with the waitstaff. I'm told there were hugs and high-fives all around. Good to know they're occupied while I'm at home slaving away :)

Meanwhile, my cooking day started at 8am. Apparently, I grossly underestimated how long it was going to take to trim and cut SEVENTEEN pounds of chicken. It was FOREVER. I didn't do it all at once so I couldn't tell you exactly but long enough. The day went relatively well but it became apparent I was no where near finishing. I took an hour break for lunch and decided to call it quits at 6:30pm. I also needed to give my freezer a rest. I was a little alarmed that it was working overtime when I felt the outside of it and it was like 100 degrees. But I kept checking to make sure the stuff that was already frozen in it wasn't thawing and it wasn't so I figured it was fine. I then informed Eric that he'd have to take the kids again for the next morning and I'd hopefully by done by the time naps were over.

Also, on Sunday I had sent Eric off to buy the fish since I had forgotten to write down how much I needed the day before and couldn't buy it. The instructions were to buy 12 half-inch thick fish fillets. He came home with 6 GIGANTIC fillets of cod. Apparently, the fish guy was a little confused and no one knew that I wanted 12 fillets portioned for a person to eat! When I started cutting this fish up it was immediately apparent that there was WAY WAY too much fish. There was double what I needed!!! I contemplated taking some back but I'd already opened it all and I wasn't sure what went where anymore. Finally, we decided to call the store to see if the cod had been prefrozen. It hadn't so that meant I could freeze some of it without cooking it which is what I did. Honestly though, we have 4 fish dinners that I cooked for the recipe and now 3 dinners portioned out that haven't been cooked. Seven fish dinners of the SAME fish is enough to feed us for the freakin' year!!! I'm sure we'll never want to eat cod again after this :)

MONDAY (thank goodness for Labor Day!) - Although by this point, I never want to see raw chicken again (and I don't intend to for at least another 6 months) I get up and start hacking away at a chicken breast at 8am. Daddy gets kids ready, they play outside, and then head off to the new Children's Museum in Dover for a morning of fun. I worked like only a crazy pregnant lady with 11 days until her due date can and got MOST of my recipes done. By the end of day 2, I had made and frozen 28 meals but still had 3 recipes uncompleted and meat in the fridge that I didn't want to go bad. Oh, so here's the stats on the meat. I bought 17 lbs of chicken as previously noted, 4 lbs of round steak, 2 turkey tenderloins, 2.5 lbs ground turkey, 2 lbs cubed ham, 2.25 lbs pork tenderloin, and god only knows how many lbs of fish. Pretty crazy right? I bought so many frozen veggies that my empty freezer was almost full and I had to trade off using them in recipes and freezing the actual meal! This definitely requires major organization.

TUESDAY - Since Eric was back at work today (I know, so sad daddy can't be home ALL the time), I used naptime to finish up the remaining three recipes. Here are my stats: I made 13 different recipes making a total of 36 meals plus the 3 fish meals that I didn't cook. I'm including that since I included the cost of all the fish in my total groceries. So I spent $350 divided by a grand total of 39 meals equals a MERE $8.97 PER MEAL for a four-person family. That's totally insane if you ask me! Makes you want to do this, doesn't it?! I know - what ARE you waiting for? To tempt you further I'll include my list of meals :)

White & Green Lasagna (2) -The amount of cheese used for this is enough to make anyone vomit
Orange Curried Chicken (3)*
Chicken & Rice Stew (2)
Spaghetti & Meatballs (3)
Fish Fillet Dinner (4)
Cheesy Chicken Manicotti (3)
Italian Slow Cooker Chicken (3)
Chicken Pot Pie (2)
Wild Rice Meatloaf (4)
Cheesy Pasta & Ham (2)
Turkey Tenderloin with Blueberry Compote (2)
Swiss Steak (3)
Pork & Apricot Stir-fry (3)
Plus 3 extra meals of cod (3)

*Parentheses are how many meals it made