As
Kolbe is just over a month old now, my mom suggested that I do away with any pretense of writing and just state that he is...
The Eighth Child.
That should pretty much sum up everything for everyone.
Maybe, I'll just tell a little about the birth day so that he won't look back and wonder why no one ever took pictures or wrote memories about him. It will save on the therapy bills later, hopefully.
After a quick induction, Kolbe was born on Friday morning. Dr Thein gave a little prayer of thanksgiving that he was fine as the umbilical cord was unwrapped four times from around his small neck. It also had a true knot in it, so everyone was relieved that we had not pushed off the delivery any longer. Although he was quite blue, he pinked up and started crying. All was wonderful.
We noted that he had a small extra growth on one ear, one kidney that was slightly enlarged, and a very low heart rate. Fortunately, after a few tests and visits from different doctors, everyone pronounced him healthy and ready to go home. Thanks be to God!
While Kolbe was doing great and adjusting to the flood of love the poured down upon him from all of his siblings, I was stuck lying flat in bed from a wicked spinal headache. My epidural had gone awry and I ended up numb and tingly from my eyebrows to my toes. While frustrating in the moment, the longer outcome was the eternal migraine that prevented me from even looking down at my sweet baby while he nursed. I was so blessed by my husband, family, friends, and nurses who took over all of his care while we were at the hospital.
After a blood patch, I was finally able to get up and about without shaking like a leaf from the painful effort. Oh, I was so relieved! I finally took some pictures and readied to leave with all of my beautiful babies.
After an entertaining parade down the hallway and out of the hospital, we headed home,
blessed abundantly!
But, Kolbe's babymoon was not to be quite as I had planned. Do you see that picture of me above with my hand pressed to my forehead? Yes, the headache came back with a vengeance. The next two weeks were spent in bed, flat on my back. Stephen was downright saintly as he took care of the entire household. Week three had him back at work, so I drank a lot of caffeine, medicated as needed, and napped a lot, but we made it! My big kids were awesome.
Kolbe failed to regain weight which was probably due to all the medication I was taking. He was content to just sleep and nurse lazily. After three weeks, we gave him a bottle and promptly found out that he has a dairy allergy. (Of course, I just had to laugh at that because I already have one that is gf and another with a peanut allergy.) By week four he was thriving on breastfeeding with an occasional bottle of goat's milk.
So, here we are five weeks after his birth posting his pictures. I have healed, Kolbe is gaining weight, the younger children kiss him constantly while crying at me, the house is a mess, and homeschooling is a little spotty. All is as it should be. Life is good. We are blessed.
