Our family is now one teeny, tiny person bigger.
Breckin Grace Widler came into the world at 10:03 AM on February 9, 2017.
9 pounds. 13 ounces. 21 inches long.
I had good intentions of posting about our newest little girl closer to her arrival, but it just didn’t happen. I’m already off of maternity leave and back to work! But, for your enjoyment – or more likely, my desire to document our family life – I’ve got the scoop on little Breckin.
LABOR WITH BRECKIN
Collins was stubborn. She was 6 days late and came on her own almost exactly 1 hour after our scheduled inducement would have taken place. Breckin was only stubborn by the fact that she was relatively humongous. Didn’t you read the third line of this blog – 9 LBS 13 OZ people. Almost 10 pounds of baby – yeesh. Large for a newborn, but she is still teeny tiny. A perfect little thing that is fragile in every way. And I mean that. It takes laser supervision to make sure Collins doesn’t hurt her on a daily basis. Whether it’s on accident or with purpose changes from moment to moment, but I’ve still had to keep quite the watchful eye on them both. But, Collins is learning to be gentle. Slowly, but surely.
I started having contractions with Breckin around 3:30 AM the morning she was born. I’ll do the math real quick for you to spell out that I was only in labor for about 6 hours. It was SO fast! Anywho, my contractions began and were about 20 minutes apart. Then 10. Then 17. Then 12. Then 7. As they consistently started getting closer together I of course was rather uncomfortable and spent a lot of time whining in pain and walking to and from the bathroom, and back to bed. Finally, they were 5 minutes apart for about 3 rounds in a row and I woke Codee up and told him it was time to go to the hospital. Bless his heart he was willing to jump in the car without brushing his teeth, but I knew (felt?) we had enough time for that. Collins woke up right before we left of course – which made leaving much harder. I think she knew something big was about to happen. But I gave her my last “only child hugs” and lots of kisses and finally climbed into the car. FYI riding in a car during labor is about the worst part of the entire charade.
Everything went MUCH smoother this time at the hospital, compared to my experience with Collins. Yes, my baby was larger – that made the pushing part harder – but everything else was much easier. My epidural went well and worked properly. I dilated much quicker, and on my own. And everything after birth was easier and less hectic as well. No hemorrhaging, no threat of an emergency C-Section, no catheters, no uncontrollable bleeding, no forceps. I actually got to relax and take a bath! That was heaven.
The most stressful thing I dealt with after her arrival was choosing a name! Ha. Nope, we hadn’t decided on a name prior to coming to the hospital. We had a couple ideas (or rather I did, because Codee really was zero help in this department), but I was really tired of worrying about it my entire pregnancy. Finally, we landed on Breckin. Her middle name comes from one of my younger sisters -who will be her Godmother. And is also what Codee wanted to use as Collins’ middle name, so I gave it to him this time 😉
GOING HOME WITH BRECKIN
With Collins I was so ready to get out of the hospital. We spent 3 long days there and I was ready to be at home relaxing with my new baby. With Breckin, I was glad to be coming home, but I knew it really meant more work. Two babies to care for now!
Of course I have Codee to help me, and it has worked great so far when he is able to distract Collins while I care for Breckin. We are all just separate moving parts (especially Collins whose part runs about 10 times faster than ours) and getting us all in sync is a daily challenge!
COLLINS AND BRECKIN
Collins was a little mortified when she visited and met Breckin at the hospital for the first time, but since then she has shown zero jealousy which I am totally surprised by! She has always been a mama’s girl so I was expecting her to be very clingy with me and upset whenever I had to care for Breckin over her, but she has been great in regards to that. It’s teaching her to be gentle that we have struggled with so far. She likes to poke and pull and point out every body part on Breckin. We’re working on that – ha. She is getting better and loves holding and kissing her. She gives Breckin toys – only her own of course 😉 – and is USUALLY helpful if I ask her to get something for me or hand me an item (diaper, wipe, burpcloth, blanket, etc). She is a very good big sister!
I already love watching them interact and grow together. And having a little baby in the house again, although exhausting, is amazing. Codee and I are so blessed to have two healthy, beautiful girls.
Thanks for reading!
I’ll try not to stay away so long next time!
Lots of Love,
Katie
wildly widler 