Abby’s Saturday // Two Hundred And Twenty-Nine

Highlight of the Week

In case you’ve been hiding under a “social media” rock for the last 5 days, we have a BIG highlight of the week!! Our baby boy was born!! Leander Roxas Abbey was born on Monday, December 3rd, 2018, at 2:13pm (yep, he arrived 11 days before his due date). He weighed 6lbs. 13oz. and was 19.5″ long.

A lot of people have been asking how we’re doing, so I thought this was the most central spot to give everyone a little bit of an update!

We are doing fantastic. Everything about this week has simply been incredible. God’s hands have certainly been evident in everything – from how I went into labor, to my sister Amy practically having the day off (which is totally weird, she works like crazy) & being able to watch Braelynn on Monday, to the entire experience at The Midwife Center, to coming home & spending our first few days as a family of FOUR, to our first pediatrician visit, our home visit from the midwives – I’m truly blown away at how wonderful everything has been!

This might kind of sound like a dumb statement, but Leander is a completely different baby than Braelynn was. I think some of that is simply because: he’s baby number 2, and believe it or not, we did learn some things from our baby number 1! But so much of the “ease” of these first few days has been because he’s an incredible nurser. I truly did not know what to expect with this little guy – but I vividly remember how hard life was with Brealynn for the first few weeks. It took us a solid 6 weeks (and the help of 3 different lactation consultants) to finally figure out breastfeeding. I literally did not sleep, I was in constant pain & my stress level has never been higher. And so, since that was the only thing I had to go off of, I was doing my best to mentally prepare for some rough first few weeks. Of course, I secretly hoped & prayed that Leander would be a champion nurser & we could skip all of those insane days, but I was doing my best to mentally prepare for a battle.

Let’s just say: these first 5 days have been nothing at all like our experience with Braelynn. Leander has been an incredible little hungry hippo from the moment he was born & he’s nursed like a CHAMP ever since. That’s not to say our week has been easy – I didn’t really realize but his latch was a bit shallow for the first 2ish days (and I just assumed because I could hear him sucking & swallowing that he was good to go), but that set me up for some pain & damage done. Thankfully, we’ve figured out a few tiny adjustments to make & just like that – we’re back on the right track!

We’ve even been sleeping! Can you believe it?! I’ve been getting between 4-5 hours of sleep a night (not consecutive hours, but as a whole). Like I said, with Braelynn I literally did not sleep for weeks, so getting at least some solid (small) chunks of sleep right off the bat has been absolutely magical.

And I credit all of that to my birth experience at The Midwife Center & being able to come home just 5 hours after giving birth! Being able to crawl into my own bed & sleep without all the beeps & lights & discomfort of a hospital was beyond amazing. It was one of the (many) reasons I was so passionate about wanting to labor & deliver at The Center, but now that we’re on the other side, I literally cannot imagine giving birth any other way.

Speaking of my labor & delivery & The Midwife Center – don’t worry! I’ll be writing out the whole story (including our decision to have our baby with the midwives instead of a traditional hospital this time around) and publishing it, just like I did with Braelynn. I know birth stories aren’t for everyone, but I also know just how helpful they can be to read & how vitally important they were in my own preparation for both Brealynn & Leander’s births! For now, I’ll leave it at this: the nurses & midwives at The Midwife Center were beyond incredible. Everything they did – from their bedside presence, to their suggestions, to the way they talked us through options, to the way they were so hands-on throughout my entire labor – I literally cannot say enough positive, wonderful things about them!

Derrick has pretty much taken over every detail of the running of our “house” this week – further giving this Mama plenty of rest & relaxation with her new little dude. He did work on Friday, but has still been taking care of cleaning up, cooking, and helping in any way he can (including lots of snuggles with his son!) Big sister Braelynn spent Monday & Tuesday at my Mom’s house (we had planned it out that way to mimic if we were in the hospital). She has been so good with her baby brother! She still is a little shy of touching him (and we’ve only got her to hold him once!) but she loves to talk to him, sing to him, give him toys, and be a big helper to Mommy & Daddy by grabbing diapers or other little things we need.

Thank you all so much for your thoughts & prayers & congratulations!! We are thrilled beyond words that he’s here & healthy & perfect in every way.

If you want to see lots of baby pictures (and big sister photos too) – the best place to follow us is on Instagram! I’ve been trying not to “clog” everyone’s Facebook feeds with photos, but I feel like I can kind of “unleash” in my Instagram stories!