Welcome to Brotherhood

Zane is loving big brotherhood. I am loving watching these two boys getting to know each other. Zane is very concerned when Rowan cries, giving him pats on the head "it ok Rowan, shh, shh, shh." His step stool now is located in Rowan's room so he can "help" with diaper changes. His role in the diaper changing process is ever present comforter, giving out pats, kisses, and words of encouragement to his little brother. He makes sure he has his blanket, his pacifier, and always wants to help make his bottles. He gathers the empty bottles and takes them to the sink for us. He gets us his chair, and tells us when he is awake. 

He watches over him, sometimes literally, making sure he is sleeping peacefully.

 He kisses his head and goes back to his playing.

 And smells his toes! "Ooo they stinky."

 He likes to lay by him on the couch, pretending to go night night with him. Telling anyone who will listen, "this my baby brother, Rowan." 

 He reads him books at night, showing him pictures of dinosaurs that one day he too will know by name.

 Night night kisses and hugs before bed.

That sometimes may be taken a little to far, bordering on eating his face, but he is still working on this big brotherhood thing.

We can't wait to see these two grow together. Zane has so much to teach his little brother, and I know, being a little sister of a great big brother, that Rowan will think the world of Zane. He will be wiling to follow him off a cliff one day. They will share toys, secrets, and jokes. They will always have each other and that makes my soul smile! 

Ten On Tuesday

1. We are all adjusting here to our new life and new schedules. Rowan is probably adjusting the best to all the changes, sleeping through pretty much everything, except at night, obviously. Zach and I are tired, but doing well. Zane is doing well for the most part, though probably watching too much TV, if I'm being honest.

2. The funny thing about memory is it's a double edge sword. I don't remember much of the postpartum time with Zane, due to the sadness and the world falling apart around me, but on the flip side of that I also don't remember being in any pain or the recovery from giving birth being all that bad. Maybe the recovery from the second child is always worse, or maybe in the sadness I didn't feel pain. I am feeling pain this time and struggling to stay up with my pain control. In good news I am in no way depressed, actually I'm over the moon excited about our healthy baby.

3. As the swelling goes down on Rowan's face and he starts to look more like himself, it is becoming more clear that Rowan and Zane are borderline twins. All I can come up with is that Rowan's nose is slightly smaller, his lips are much smaller, the dimple in his chin isn't quite as pronounced, and his hair is ever so slightly darker than Zane's.

The above is Rowan, two days older than Zane in the picture below so his eyes are slightly more swollen. Take that binki out of Zane's mouth and they are the same person. In good news, the same super cute person.

 Here is the comparison of the "I'm done" face. The slightly paler one on top is Zane, the rosier one on bottom is Rowan. 

4. Have I mentioned Zane's love of washing his hands. I support it, what with the new baby and it being cold season. He can wash his hands independently now and knows which faucet is hot and which is cold. "Not that one mamma, it too hot." In an attempt to find a special trip for Zane and Zach to go on we came up with the idea of his own towel and hook in the bathroom. Here are Zane and daddy putting up his hook and he got to pick out his very own fish towel. I admit, it was a stretch, but he loved all of it!

5. Yesterday was Rowan's first doctor's visit. It took about five minutes, there were no tears from his parents, and he left with a clean bill of health, not having to go back for a month!!! This all seems normal to the rest of the world, but it was some of the best news I have ever gotten. I could have cried, but didn't, and went with being ecstatic instead. He is two ounces over his birth weight, eating great, overly red thanks to his perfect oxygenation, and I am loving my "normal" maternity leave thus far.

6. Rowan is having a little bit of pooping issue though. He has been up the past two nights, straining and crying, with no results. This led to a couple different things happening today. First of all Zach and Zane took a trip to the lazy boy store to buy a recliner. You really don't think you need one until it's the middle of the night and you are trying to sleep in a chair that doesn't recline. That problem will be taken care of Friday when your new recliner is delivered. Secondly, Rowan got his first suppository, which led to his first three diaper poop. Proud day for everyone involved and he is feeling much better.

7. Tomorrow Grandma Blakley arrives and not a moment too soon. Zane is in desperate need of a Grandma right now. Yesterday, while in time out for loosing his mind, throwing and kicking stuff while my friend was here meeting Rowan and no one was paying attention to him, he requested his Gama. Zane is fine when it's just Zach, Zane, Rowan, and I. He is overly emotional at times, needing some extra cuddles, and wants to "rest on the couch" a lot. But isn't loosing his mind for the most part. Some special Grandma play time should be very helpful for everyone involved.

8. I have officially decided I do not recommend having a baby in the winter. There is way too many layers of clothes to put on when you leave the house. That is if you ever leave the house, which you don't because it's freezing and you are terrified of your child getting sick. Also, the older sibling's stir craziness is made 100% worse because you can't even play in your yard. If there is another Korenak baby it will be born in the spring or summer because two crazy boys trapped inside would be too much to handle!

9. Ok I know what you really want to see are pictures so here are some of my favorites from the week. Zane stopping in on Rowan and I's cuddle for some cuddles and kisses of his own. Too bad neither of these boys look like me, that would be fun.

10. Here are some pictures of Rowan chilling on the couch today. We are loving our Aden and Anais muslin swaddle blankets Abbey sent us. They are perfect for all sorts of things, thanks Aunt Abbey!

 If you look closely you can make out a little dimple in his cheek!

 Staring at the couch was very entertaining for quite some time today. What a handsome little man if I do say so myself. 

Bringing Home Rowan

After a painfully long day of waiting around for doctors to sign off on Rowan and I, we finally were released around 6:30 Friday evening. Per, what is apparently tradition, after the going home outfit photo shoot, Rowan threw up on his cute outfit. We had to clean his new car seat, change all his clothes, wipe him down, then start the budding process all over again. Once all that was taken care of we were finally ready to head home. Zach went to get the car, while Rowan and I took the wheelchair ride downstairs. Here is Rowan in his going home outfit. An adorable little sweat suit, complete with hoodie, then quickly complete with vomit.

 The snow and ice had all been cleared, so no problems getting home. We knew Zane had been asking about when we were coming home for two days, so we were both nervous to see his reaction to his little brother. As soon as we pulled in the driveway we saw little Zane, jumping in the doorway, beyond excited that we were home. It was the best feeling in the world to finally get to hug my little man. I know that he had missed me terribly while I was gone and he covered me in hugs and kisses as soon as I walked in the door. Daddy wasn't far behind with baby Rowan.  Zane's reaction was priceless and exactly how you would imagine it. Love at first site for his baby brother.

"Hi Rowan!!!" "Ahh, he so cute."  

 Zane was extremely gentle, only touching Rowan's head and feet, a natural!

Once we got him out it was time to see big brother up and meet Grammi and Pappa.

 Love this picture!

Then it was time for his first bath at home, which he was in desperate need of.  He had his quick wash down after being born, but really needed a proper wash down and lotion, my personal favorite thing to do with tiny babies. Can't beat the smell of a clean newborn! Of course big brother needed to help with this process as well.

And that was our whirlwind first evening at home. Then it was time to try to calm down big brother for his bed time and get everyone down so mommy and daddy could head to bed as well. The first night at home went well. Rowan ate at around 10:30 then only got up at 1am and 4am. This was not the case with his second night at home, which was more like I remember newbornhood, being up all the time, slightly confused on days and nights. Rowan is sleeping in our room, in the craddle that Grandpa Blakley made when I was a baby. He seems to be doing well, though the nights are sure to be a struggle for awhile.

Rowan's Birth Story

Sorry in advance for the long post, but here is the story of Rowan's arrival, recorded for posterity.
Let's start on the Wednesday February 20th. Zane went to daycare while I stayed at home, resting, reading, and contemplating all that would be different the following day. I had been off work for a week at that point, with Zane going to daycare for at least part of day the Monday and Tuesday, so I could be well rested for the big event. I'm glad I took this time to sleep, pull my house together, paint my nails, and finish up all the last odds and ends that would have been forgotten had I thrown myself into labor while working.
I took about an hour nap that afternoon before getting Zane, the last sleep I would see for quite awhile.

Zane was excited when I picked him up, all smiles about Grammi and Pappa coming to visit and his impending big brotherhood. We snuggled on the couch watching Toy Story and eating snacks while waiting for Grammi and Pappa. Once they got there Zane had lots of things to show them and we played until daddy came home, just in time for a family dinner. I put Zane to sleep per usual, then had high hopes of laying down for some sleep myself. I was scheduled to be induced at 0100 Thursday morning. I'm not sure what my doctor's thinking was on this, and had initially planned to fight her on it, but with the big snow/ice storm coming I decided just to go ahead with this plan in hopes of beating the storm. 

I laid down around nine and promptly started having contractions around 9:30. In turn I didn't get any sleep and Zach got very little, interrupted by my tossing and turning next to him. By midnight, when we were up getting our things ready to go, the contractions were five minutes apart and very uncomfortable. We most likely would have been heading to the hospital either way that night. I was at the hospital and all hooked up to the monitors by about two and my contractions were two to three minutes apart, though I was technically there for an induction. The Pitocin was started by 2:45 and we were off to the races. As a side note here was how I had planned this whole situation to go. Show up, get Pitocin started, go through the two or so hours of contractions sans epidural, which are terrible, get the epidural by four or five, then sleep until about nine or ten in the morning, so I would have some rest going into the actual delivery. Needless to say this was not how things played out. 

Thanks to my body already being in labor it didn't require much Pitocin before things started to get highly uncomfortable. I probably waited a good forty five minutes to an hour too long to ask for the epidural, don't know what I was thinking, but not a good choice. The last hour was much more painful than I remember anything with Zane being. Turns out this was do to things progressing much quicker than last time, surprising everyone involved. I'm not sure why we were all surprised, it's my second child, it is pretty common for things to go quicker, but we all were taken a little off guard since I came in not effaced at all and dilated to maybe a two.

I had my epidural beautifully place by Dan, the anesthesiologist, being grateful yet again for not delivering at a teaching hospital. No one learning the anatomy of the spine on my back, thank you very much! This is the point where we went slightly over board with the pain medications. I had the epidural placed, pushed my extra pain medication button twice, and when I was till uncomfortable they gave me a bolus of pain meds as well. Turns out this was a little to much, resulting in me feeling very loopy/drowsy, numb from about the arms down, and my blood pressure was 90/48. This is too low for any adult, let a lone one that is also suppose to be supplying a baby with blood. I got about twenty minutes of, scarily peaceful, sleep during this time. Mean while Rowan's heart rate was dropping with contractions and I needed a little Ephedrine to get my pressures back up. I would probably have been freaking out about the situation, but as it was I was quite out of it. However, even in this confused state I knew that I was numb a little to far up and the next portion of the spine to be numb would be the respiratory centers, not good.

Everything corrected itself quickly after the medication and about two liters of fluids. My pressures came up, Rowan's heart rate stabilized, and he began to tolerate contractions much better. I slowly came out of the drowsy state, though my arms remained tingly for the rest of the epidural, which was a little odd. By seven thirty I was at a 8cm and my doctor was headed in, before the snow storm, to deliver our little man. I pushed for maybe five minutes and Rowan was welcomed into the world at 8:47. He didn't cry immediately and was very purple, but after a little oxygen, a little suctioning, and some stimulation he pinked up and was doing fine. He didn't weigh as much as everyone in the room thought, his chubby thighs were misleading.  He only weighed eight pounds four ounces and was twenty one inches long. Fun fact this is the exact size as my nephew Brendan when he was born, also on a snowy day.

As the nurses worked on "pinking him up" I could help but think how odd it was that my son with the major heart condition had gotten numerous compliments in the delivery room about his great color. I vividly remember my doctor saying "well he sure is nice and pink." He never even had the purple feet like a lot of babies have. I was also surprised that at no point during this process did I find myself concerned that anything was wrong with his heart. There had been a little meconium, they suctioned quite a bit of fluid from his lungs, then he was fine, and I was remained surprisingly calm. That's the grace of God if I do say so myself.

It's ab right world out here, isn't it little boy.

 My take away from this picture, I can put pulse ox probes on wrists, what a great idea for work!

 Finally getting to hold my precious little boy!

While we waiting for our postpartum room Rowan got his first bath, Zach and I got breakfast, and the exhaustion from being awake for twenty four hours began to sink in. We stayed in the delivery room until they  made sure my uterus was behaving itself and that Rowan could eat. Meaning we didn't get settled and able to take a nap until about noon. At that point we were both delirious and our wonderful nurse whisked Rowan away to the nursery so we could sleep a few hours. Turns out it's hard to turn your brain off after such a major event, but I rested, and then the afternoon was spent updating people, sending out emails, accepting well wishes via all forms of social media, watching the beautiful snow fall, and cuddling with our new little man. 

Zach and Rowan, who only had his eyes open for about two minutes after delivery, unlike Zane who was very awake and smiley after being born. Hoping this is because he is going to be such a calm boy.

 Surprisingly enough he took his pacifier right away, loved it!

 Nestled in his bassinet, where he is spending most of his time snoozing these days. 

We talked to Zane a few times during the day. He told us "Mommy and Daddy come home tomorrow with Rowan, ok?" He seemed to have a good day, minus the inevitable melt downs for mamma at nap time and night time. They played in the snow in the afternoon and looked at pictures of baby brother on the computer. He requested to hold Rowan when he saw his pictures, but from what I hear was mainly interested in pictures of his mamma, cue my heart breaking a little. 

Rowan spent the night in the nursery as Zach and I got much needed rest. Today we are waiting for my doctor to come see me and circumcise Rowan, but just got word that she is sick and will either be here late or tomorrow. We had been hoping to convince her to let us go this afternoon, but looks like it might be another night here. We are all ready to go home, though I am still quite soar and unsure how I'm going to explain to Zane that I can't really do any of the things he wants me to do with him right now. Zach might head home later to relieve his parents and help with bedtime routines. Rowan seems to be quite the chill baby and parenthood of the second child seems easier, now that we are confident we know what we are doing. He is taking bottles great, eating about an ounce and half every three hours or so, sleeping and pooping in between feeds. The pediatrician gave him a clean bill of health this morning, which also makes this go around much easier, so far.

Here are some new pictures from today. So far in the looks department we have determined he has Zach's chin, possibly with or without the famous Dotter dimple from my side of the family. The same miniature Zach nose as Zane, the round head, and the big mystery is where he got his itty bitty mouth. This is the beauty of marring someone who is adopted, who knows whose mouth that is, but it is pretty stinking cute.

Showing of his tiny mouth in his little OU hat. 

 I didn't quite get the camera back up in time to catch the whole smile, but it's the best I could do.

 Cute as a button!

Thanks again for all the love you have been sending our way! We hope to be home soon so Rowan can meet his big brother.

Ten on Tuesday

1. To answer the question on everyone's mind, yes I'm still pregnant, but only for two more days. Zane was ten days early, so I am officially more pregnant than I have ever been before. What fun!!!  I go for my induction at 1 am,Thursday morning. I don't really understand why I have to go in in the middle of the night. I had originally planned on trying to talk my doctor into letting me come in at 7 am, but apparently there is a big ice/snow storm that is suppose to start around 6 am Thursday, so this way we will just get there before the storm. The hospital did give me a courtesy call reminding me that I have to give birth Thursday, as though it was a hair appointment that I might forget about.

2. The cough got worse, per my predictions, so I am now on Z-pack number three for this pregnancy. We all are fighting the cough, so hopefully Rowan doesn't immediately get sick. Why did I have baby in February again? It is stressing me out, but that just can't happen, he will be fine.

3. I have been off work for a week now and am still having dreams with call lights going off and the even had the ultimate nurses nightmare the other night. It's kind of like the dreams when you are in college again and didn't know you were in a class until finals week or show up to class naked. Except in the nurse's nightmare it is about 3 pm before you realize you have a patient that you haven't taken care of all day. Well there is a worse nurse's nightmare, the one where you walk into your patient's room and they aren't alive, but that one happens far less often. Hopefully I can turn my work mind off soon.

4. On that same note this weekend I was feeling kind of bad for being on maternity leave without a baby and was thinking I should probably just have sucked it up and worked. Then we went to get groceries, as a little family, after maybe and hour or so of being on my feet I felt like I was going to die or literally have a baby fall out of me. Neither of those things happened, but I did feel better about the fact that there is no way I could be working currently.

5. Ok number five is going to be a little long, but so cute. Check out what Zach made for Zane last night in the basement, Zane's very own choo choo. It's made from Rowan's new car seat box and is tons of fun.

Here is Zane taking a choo choo ride around the basement!

 Daddy might have enjoyed it as much, if not more than, Zane.

 Zach and Zane with their new favorite toy!

 Putting some "smoke" a.k.a a drier sheets, into the smoke stack. 

 Then there was a little train wreck.

 Followed by some fixing.

 Just like daddy!

How cute is that situation!!!!

6. Why do I have feeling that I will never, not be tired, for about the next ten years. Surely this can't be true, but that's the feeling currently. Zane continues to randomly wake up crying during the night, which currently isn't a big deal, you go in, help him figure out where he is, lay him back down, and he is fine. However, if I have just gotten back to sleep after feeding a baby and that happens, not going to be cool. 

7. Our basement renovation is officially completed. Everything is painted, put back together, and the mess has been cleared. It looks wonderful and Zach has vowed to never under take anything of this magnitude again. I thoroughly support this and never want to have a 'fixer upper' home of any kind. This probably has something to do with growing up in a 100 year old house that was constantly being 'fixed up." I'm grateful I have such a handy husband, but also enjoy his sanity quite a bit as well. 

8. At bedtime this evening Zane told me "I go night night with Rowan" then got his blanket, laid his little head on my belly, and sang to his little brother. It was so cute and even cuter when Rowan proceeded to kick him in the head, to which Zane said "No kick me Rowan, it not nice." I'm sure this is sure to not be the last time I hear that statement. 

9. Zane continues to love the finger print overalls. He has worn them everyday since we introduced them to him, putting them on whenever he needs to "fix something." I wonder if he would enjoy regular overalls? He hated his overall shorts this summer, so I am going to guess no. However, I thoroughly enjoy his fixing outfit. I bet he would like some other dress up outfits. Currently we only have hats of varying types. 

10. Finally for baby weight, height, time, ect.. predictions. 

       - I am cautiously optimistic that Rowan is going to weigh less than Zane. This is based on the fact that I have gain about 10 pounds less with him, but there is the minor detail that Zane was born three days earlier and was my first child. Maybe I'm in denial. But here are my predictions

    - 8lb 5oz (this is only two ounces less than Zane, but it's smaller non the less)

     -20 inches long

    - Born February 21st, 2013 at 2:27pm, in the midst of a snowy day

Zach's predictions are as follows:

     -  9lb 3oz (Not nice Zach)

     - 21 inches (same as Zane)

     -  Born February 21st, 2013 at 1:30 pm on a not snowy day

Feel free to leave your predictions in the comments. We are playing by price is right rules, whoever is closest with out going over, wins my love and respect!  Able, there might be baby burritos involved if I could ever foresee getting back to Oklahoma in the near future.

Wish us luck!!!