Life with the Allens

Before (the night before, actually)

After

Well, while Carter's taking a nap on my lap and Ryan and Josh are gone to the ward party, I figured it was a good time to post.
Life has been crazy but great this past week. We went in to get induced last Friday morning, the 3rd, and had Carter at 6:40pm. I got an epidural around 10:30am and then we just played the waiting game until I was fully dilated. One interesting thing--I was given sugar the whole time. They had a line of sucrose going into my IV along with insulin, and then they regulate it by giving me small amounts of insulin to keep my blood sugar down and sugar just in case too much insulin is given. Well, I ate breakfast and gave insulin myself for that, and about two hours later my blood sugar went really low. They turned off the insulin and gave me sugar, and about an hour later, they had to give me more sugar and then more sugar, and then more sugar again. The nurses were looking pretty confused, considering the fact that I'm diabetic, but eventually they came to terms with my weird body and gave me sugar the whole day. The delivery went great, about 20 mins of pushing, and I loved the nurses. I was nervous about delivery and SI University Hospital because of what I'd heard from others, but for me, it was awesome.
The only complaint I have deals with the contractions I had afterwards (to shrink the uterus)--holy cow! A nurse told me that the contractions are the worst for babies #2 and #3, and I figured they'd be quick, but after 4.5 hours of pain I finally asked for some pain meds. Honestly, I don't know how people deliver these kids with out pain killers!A few days after we got home, we took Carter to his doctor's appointment and found out we had to readmit him because of jaundice. I was pretty upset (hormones anyone?) because we found out at night time which meant no sleep, and the next day was my birthday and no one wants their baby in the hospital on their birthday. Luckily Carter was able to leave at night on my birthday, so it turned out that I got a nice birthday present in the end.He's eating well, pooping all the time (once or twice a feeding, crazy), and sleeping just as much. I'm also more relaxed with him. With Josh I think I might have had the baby blues because I was really really anxious with him--of course he cried a bit more, didn't nurse well, and I was a new mom who didn't know what she was doing, but... you know. :) Josh still loves Carter to pieces. He likes to try and feed him crackers, read him a book, or give him his binky, and he loves it when Carter actually opens his eyes. Josh has struggled more with sleep, but all in all, I think the transition is going well.
Luckily I had my mom here to help with the first week. The first week is pretty rough--recovering from giving birth and trying to take care of kids at the same time isn't the easiest. Josh loves me to hold him, but of course I couldn't lift him up, so my mom did the major hauling and running around with Josh. She also cleaned my whole house, cooked us dinner, got up with Carter and I at night, and was much needed company--poor Ryan is so busy with school right now. Almost every day this week he was leaving early and getting home late and taking tests. Anyway, I'm missing my mom (and she's missing the little guys), but all good things most come to an end I guess. Thanks for all you did mom!Ryan, like I said, has been really busy, but he took a break this weekend, and it was great! Ryan played with Josh all day, and Josh couldn't get enough of his dad. Same for Carter and me....he's such a good guy. Love him.