Welcome Elias

Elias William Charmatz is here! My c-section took place last Tuesday, May 17. Elias was born at 2:36pm, he weighed 6 lbs 13 oz, and was 17 3/4 inches. We had to arrive at the hospital at 9am and I had some blood taken. Then we were given a room and we just sat and waited until we were taken back for the surgery. The anesthesiologist and my OB did a fantastic job!

The funniest thing about the Cesar (what they call a c-section here) was when they lowered the curtain to show us Elias for the first time he peed on me! I could not believe he came out of the womb peeing! Then when the pediatrician took him examine him, he peed on the pediatrician too!

I was worried that I would be given too much medicine like Caleb's birth. But I was given the perfect amount. The day after the surgery I was out of the bed and walking around on my own. with Caleb I was not able to get out of bed for at least 2 days and I was not mobile on my own until the day before I left the hospital. This time once I was out of bed I was moving fine. It is amazing to me how well my body could recover when I only had the surgery and not the labor. My blood pressure has been high, which is odd for me, it is never something that I have struggled with. I also somehow hurt my shoulder. I am seeing a midwife tomorrow about the blood pressure, hopefully it has gone down!

Elias is wonderful. He is nursing really well which is such a blessing. Caleb did not nurse well until he was over 2 months old. For the most part Elias is sleeping well too, although he has a good amount of gas. So nights have been a bit of a struggle. Last night he was up from 3:30am-6:30am. Then of course he had a wonderful day. Hopefully tonight will be better!

Caleb and Brian visited us in the hospital twice a day. Elias gave Caleb a present each day he came. Caleb has taken to Elias very well! He loves to give him hugs and kisses. He gets upset when Elias cries, especially when I change his diaper. He says "no hurting". He also asks where Elias is when he does not see him. It is so sweet! I am hoping all the good feelings toward his brother will last!

My parents come in on Saturday, 5 days! I can't wait to see them!

Here is the last pic of me pregnant. The anesthesiologist told me I had quite a bump and the baby was bursting to get out! I agreed! Then one of our sweet Elias.

The night before

Tomorrow is the big day! After months of waiting and lots of conversations tomorrow we will meet our new baby boy, Elias! As I have written before I really struggled with wether to try for a v-bac or do a planned c-section. Last Tuesday Brian and I had a long talk with my OB about how the baby was looking and if the v-bac was a viable option. She wanted me to wait until 37 weeks to make a decision. She checked where the baby was and he was not in my pelvis anymore like he was the week before. It also looked like he is going to be at least as big as Caleb. So she said that realistically my chances of having a successful v-bac are slim. She said we could wait until I go into labor and see how it goes and then decide wether to do the c-section then. But my recovery from the c-section will be better if I just do the surgery without any labor. So Brian and I decided that the planned c-section was the best option for me. I go in at 9am and the baby will be out by 2:30! My OB has 2 c-sections for tomorrow and I don't know if I am first or second.

I have so many feelings about tomorrow. I am nervous about the surgery, I know the recovery will be tough. I am also nervous about Caleb's reaction to Elias. Will he be jealous of the time I will have to spend with Elias? Will he act out to get my attention? Or will he adapt to the new situation? Will I be a good mother to 2 kids? Will I manage time with my boys fairly? Do I remember how to care for a newborn? Will Elias have as many problems as Caleb did? And if he does, how can I deal with that and a 2 year old? But I am also so excited to meet Elias! I can't wait to see what his personality is going to be like. I wonder if he will be similar to Caleb or completely opposite. I am really looking forward to going through all the baby stages with a new baby! When will he roll over, stand, crawl walk, talk? I can't wait to find out!

I also can't wait to see my parents! They are coming in the 28th. It has been 10 months since I have seen them. We skype every week, but it is not the same as seeing them. I miss them terribly! I am so excited to spend 3 weeks with them!

Brian will be off work starting tomorrow for 2 weeks. I have stocked our fridge with leftovers from the last 2 nights of meals and the freezer with meals as well. I will be in hospital 5 days. So I think Brian and Caleb will be ok while I am there (at least as far as food is concerned). Our church is taking care of meals for us when I get out of hospital until my parents arrive. I am so grateful we have found such a caring church!

Well, here we go again! I hope Elias is ready!

a new perspective and Easter

I am 35 weeks now and I feel like the baby is coming so soon now! I feel enormous and the baby has dropped and it feels like he is sitting on my bladder. I also am starting to have some lower back pain when I walk or stand too much. I know it sounds like a lot of complaints but I am very happy and content that Elias is where he is! Over the past couple of weeks a few things have happened to us and friends that has given me a new perspective. One of my friends lost her baby, another gave birth to a preemie at 32 weeks, and we also found out officially that we will only be here in Australia for 2 years. These things have made me realize that my baby is exactly where he should be and he is growing the way he should (or he would not be giving me the pains he does). I have also tried harder to slow down and enjoy the experiences that I have here. I have made some wonderful, supportive friends here and I live in a beautiful country and now that it is fall going outside is stunning with all the fall colors!

Brian has a much deserved 5 day weekend now. The Australian government celebrates Good Friday, Easter Monday, and Anzac day (their version of veteran's day) this weekend. The last 2 months have been very busy for Brian at work. He has had a lot of extra work and had to work longer hours. So hopefully he can relax a good bit this weekend. That being said, we decided to use a lot of the time to get ready for Elias's arrival. We finished the nursery today, and did a couple loads of baby laundry. Tomorrow we are dropping off my car for some routine maintenance, so we don't have to worry about that later. We are also going to install the infant car seat and move more toys/organize the toys in the playroom. We are also going to try to go on a hospital tour tomorrow, they only run them when they have adequate nurse staff to spare. The last 2 weeks we have tried to go they said it was too busy and they could not do it. Hopefully it will be on tomorrow! It sounds like a lot of work but we have a bit of fun planned too, we are going to go bowling while the car is being worked on and Brian is going to watch Caleb while I get a pedicure one day this weekend too :)

This weekend more importantly is also Easter. We are having a family over from the embassy, "the girls" as Caleb calls them for Easter dinner. I am going to cook the traditional Easter ham with au gratin potatoes and whatever green vegetable looks good in the store this afternoon when I pick up the other stuff. I am happy to have a full house for Easter, it is such a joyful holiday! It does not seem to be a big celebration here. I asked the ladies in my Bible study how it is celebrated here and they did not really have an answer. They did say that they eat chocolate eggs and have Easter baskets. Also the stores have been selling hot cross buns for a couple of months now, which by the way are delicious! They have a lot of different flavors, raisin, chocolate, chocolate coffee, yum! It is not a big church holiday, they don't dye eggs or dress up. But they do get a 5 day weekend and school holidays are on now (they last 2 weeks) so a lot of people go away.

Have a wonderful Easter weekend, remember to celebrate the true meaning, the resurrection of our Savior!

Here are some pictures of the nursery. Elias will be in the pack and play for a month or so while Caleb still occupies the crib, but as you can see it has a bassinet, so it will work out fine. The decorations are all decals since we can't paint. Brian picked the theme this time :p

mothering confusion

These last few weeks have been tough in the Charmatz household. Brian has had a busy month at work, I have been on restrictions, and Caleb has picked up on the differences in the house.

Brian has been wonderful helping around the house when he can. He has done all the laundry and cleaning. He even took over Caleb's swim lessons for a couple of weeks. Caleb loves swimming with daddy! I have felt really bad for him, he has had a lot going on at work and then he has to come home and do extra work at home. But he has not complained once, he is amazing!

The restrictions have worked. I have not had any contractions since I was in the hospital, so it has been about 5 weeks now! I tried to hire a mother's helper to come in on Friday mornings, but I don't think it is going to work out, we can't seem to sync up our schedules. I have been able to keep up most of our activities since I can sit most places we go. So we still do playgroup on Mondays, Bible study on Tuesdays, and MOPS or library on Wednesday. I have another appointment tomorrow. At my last appointment the OB was very happy with how things were going and said that I should be off restrictions at 32 weeks. I will be 32 weeks Wednesday :)

Caleb unfortunately has felt the changes the most. Ever since I was in the hospital he has been very clingy. He does not want me out of his sight and when he is approached by new people he cries. The worst is at MOPS. He does not want me to leave him in the toddler room and will cry continually after I leave. The last 2 times he has come out and sat on my lap for the majority of the time. Last week has has started getting restless in the house and his new favorite activity is throwing his toys. He has also started screaming at me/Brian when he is angry. I know these are all phases, but it is tough to deal with. We are also having more potty confusion. But I won't go into that now. Hopefully as time goes on and things continue to calm down so will Caleb. Being a mother can be quite confusing!

On the positive side we finally have a name for the baby! We are going to name him Elias William. Elias is a variation on the name Elijah, meaning The Lord is my God. William is my Grandfather, Dad, and brother's middle name. Now that we have a name I have started ordering decorations for the baby's room. I am not ready for him to come yet, but I am getting closer! 8 more weeks!

Here are some recent pictures of the family. The first 2 are Brian and Caleb enjoying March madness (Brian has his hand up so he cannot see the score of the game, the video was on delay). Some people have asked for a bump picture, so here I am at 31 1/2 weeks. I am frightened that I will still get a lot bigger! eek!

26 week curse

So as many of you already know I was put into the hospital this week with contractions. On Thursday morning, while I was feeding Caleb breakfast I started to feel some cramping. I decided to pay closer attention and time the cramps and realized that they were coming every 5 minutes (so not cramps, contractions!). They also started to get stronger and I realized I had to start breathing through them. At that point I decided to call Brian and my OB. The OB said to come in and she would see me first thing. She checked the baby and everything was fine, but she did say that my cervix was soft. Since I have been seeing her all along she knows that our family is not in the area. So she called the hospital and had me admitted. She knew sending me home and telling me to go on bed rest was not going to happen. So Brian picked me and Caleb up and we went to the hospital. They gave me meds to stop the contractions and steroids for the baby's lungs just in case the baby was adamant about coming out. We called a friend and she came and picked up Caleb for a few hours while Bri and I got things sorted out at the hospital. After things started to settle down some Brian picked up Caleb and went home. The night did not go well, after the contractions stopped I started getting horrible constant abdominal pains. The nurses tried to give me meds to help but they did nothing. I only got about 3 hours of sleep. But the next morning I started to feel better. Gradually the abdominal pains went away. The nurses monitored the baby the whole time and he did not seem to realize anything was going on. They just kept commenting about how active he is. Friday early evening my OB came to the hospital to check on me and since my contractions and pains had gone she let me go home. She knew Brian would be home the next 2 days.

I am calling this the 26 week curse because the same thing happened with Caleb at the same time. After a very long work day I started contractions at 26 weeks with Caleb. My OB did not put me in the hospital, but I was put on the same meds to stop them. I was on them for 5 weeks and they made me sick. I was also on restricted activity, I had to teach from a chair, and I was not allowed to do any housework at home.

This time it is a bit harder. The system is a bit different here, they will only give you the meds in the hospital so they can monitor it. I have been put on restricted activity again, which makes sense. I am not allowed to carry Caleb any distance, but I can lift him into the crib, car, etc. I am allowed to cook, but that is about all the housework I can do. I am allowed to go to playgroup, MOPS, and Bible study. But no swim lessons for awhile.

Luckily Caleb decided to stay for a lot longer and ended up coming 4 days early. Hopefully this baby will do the same. I have come to the conclusion that since it has happened twice now at the exact same time I don't think it is the baby. I think for some reason my body decides that at 26 weeks it is done being pregnant and I need to remind it that we still have awhile longer.

Since I left the hospital I have continued to feel better. I have not had anymore contractions and am in no pain. If however they do come back, my OB said I will be back in the hospital.

Brian has been wonderful through all of this! He has fully taken over the housework. He took 2 days off work to be at home with Caleb while I was in the hospital. He has been playing with him so I can have time off my feet. He is such a great father and husband. I am so lucky to have him!

Thanks for all your prayers and support! 13 weeks to go!

Happy Birthday Caleb!

I love a busy week, so last week was wonderful for me! We kept up our normal routine and saw a lot of friends as well!

Wednesday evening my parent's next door neighbor, her daughter, and daughter's boyfriend came down to visit us and Canberra. They were here until Friday afternoon. It was a wonderful visit! Caleb loved all the extra attention he got, especially from another male who was willing to rough-house with him! We took them to Tidbinbilla on Thursday morning and Parliament house in the afternoon. I had not been there yet, it is really nice. We had to go after Caleb's nap, so we got there just before it closed. But they have tours all day long, so we will have to go back sometime. On Friday we went up the Telstra Tower. It was so nice to catch up with old friends!

On the weekend we started birthday celebrations for Caleb. He will be 2 on Thursday! This weekend coming up is President's Day, so we knew people would probably be going out of town. We are not sure if we are yet. On Saturday I baked and decorated my first birthday cake for Caleb. Last year, a really good friend of mine made the cake. She is extremely talented and did an amazing job. My cake did not compare to hers, but I was still proud of myself. I was surprised at how much I remembered from working at Cake's Plus in college!

On Sunday we had a small party for Caleb. We went to church in the morning and then had 2 families over for a bbq in the early evening. Brian grilled chicken and hamburgers. Our grill is very small, so he grilled for about 2 hours! He did a great job, the food was great! It was a really nice day, so we spent almost the whole party outside. The kids loved playing with the rugby ball and other outdoor toys and the parents sat around and talked. It was lovely! Then it was time for cake and presents. I think Caleb enjoyed his party!

Today our playgroup had a little party for Caleb as well! We made brownies, Caleb helped! He put in the ingredients (expect for the eggs, I did that part :) and stirred it all together. This was the first time we cooked together. He did a great job! The other mums brought muffins, fruit, cookies, and bread. One of the the mum's brought balloons, party hats, and noisemakers too! We played ring around the rosy and then the kids played with the balloons and other toys in the playhouse. It was so sweet that the mum's did this for him! My little boy is very loved!

I don't think we will do too much on his birthday. We have swim lessons in the morning and then we will have lunch with daddy at work. I also think we will skype with both sets of Grandparents that day too, so they can wish him a happy birthday.

MOPS starts this week. I am excited to go for the first time! I also have a 26 week appointment with my OB this week. After this week I start going every 2 weeks. It is crazy how fast this pregnancy is going. No news on the name front. It is driving me crazy! 3 months to go!

Finally February

We made it through the last week of nothing and we are looking forward to all that February has in store for us! We went to playgroup on Monday, had friends over on Tuesday, went to the library on Wednesday, swim lessons on Thursday, and Questacon on Friday.

This week I am starting prenatal yoga. I have never taken yoga before but I am excited to try. I am hoping it will help me become more flexible and get me ready for a v-bac. So I will have to get dinner ready early, but then I get 2 hours to be with other adults! Granted we will be talking about babies, but still, I will be with other women and I won't have to constantly looking over my shoulder for Caleb and I won't have to worry about him since he will be with his daddy.

On Wednesday, my childhood next door neighbor is coming to visit. I can't remember this family not living next door to me, I grew up with their kids playing in their house and yard. Their second daughter lives about 5 hours north of us, so I have not been able to see her since we have moved here. But her mom is here visiting and they thought they would come down and visit us! I am so excited! It will be so nice to see a piece of home!

I will be 25 weeks this week, getting toward the end of my second trimester! But as I get closer to the end I start to worry. With Caleb at 26 weeks I went into pre-term labor. I know every pregnancy is different, but I still worry about going into pre-term labor again. I keep telling myself I have a lot less stress during this pregnancy since I am not working and the labor started with Caleb after a 12 hour work day. But I know that there is no use in worrying and that God is in control of this pregnancy and loves this baby more that I could ever love him.

Caleb is a very big cheerleader right now and cheers for me, Brian, or whatever we say. So I will end with a Caleb cheer. Yaaaaay February!!!