Either Sunday or Monday... don't remember which it was now... Gregg started feeling a virus of some sort.  Painful throat and slight congestion.  We tried to contain the ick and keep it from the kids, but sure enough, Rozz has been cranky for a few hours now.  I just took his temperature and it's 102.5.  Ibuprofen.
And now I get to watch Phoenix for fever too.  Not looking forward to this.  Under three months of age, fevers can be dangerous.  Anything over 100 needs to be seen by a doc.  Rozzy almost never gets a fever under 101.5.  Here's to hoping I have antibodies in the boob milk that will get her by this without incident.

And I really need to find a way to get Gregg as cautious about germs as I am.  I get eyes rolled at me for my constant use of hand sanitizer, but then, I can't remember the last time I brought home a virus to share with the family.  I douse my hands with sanitizer every time I leave a store or have touched a public door handle, etc.  I pretty much assume that any public surface or object I touch has been touched by some inconsiderate, sick person.

The good news is, if this is the same thing Gregg had, it ran it's course pretty quick.  Yesterday evening, he swore he was over it.  So, it follows this should only last a few days.  Again, that's assuming this is the same thing Gregg had.  He didn't notice any fever, but these things can present differently in small people.

Crossed fingers, please.

An adorable two and a half year old + a three week old + a camera.
Yeah... I'm a Mom... you do the math.  I'm destined to be picture posting happy. 
I hereby promise to cut if I post more than five pictures.

Raziel and Phoenix


Miss. Peach - Six days old


So, we call her Phoenix and sometimes Nixy or Pixy even, but overwhelmingly, her nickname seems to be Peach or Miss. Peach.  You can see in the first picture how different her skin complexion is from Rozzy's.  He has gorgeous, milk-white skin while she has a peachy-rose tone to her.  Plus, her little cheeks are round like a peach.  And you meet her and she just has this mellow, peachy personality.  Miss. Peach.

Rozz is getting better with her.  He loves holding her hand and spending time with her and he's getting the hang of being gentle.  Phoenix is adjusting to life too.  The last couple nights she's only woken up once to eat and get changed.  That makes me glad.  It does mean that she spends huge amounts of time eating during the day.  Which is good and fair.

Gregg returns to work tomorrow, so I'll be on my own.  I think I'll be able to manage.  I have to admit that two kids at a time with only me still has me a bit intimidated, but I think it's just nerves.  After the first day, I'll get my confidence and all will be well.
Our cleaning ladies start this Friday, which should be a big help with family peace and harmony.

My list of inedible foods is growing rapidly.
Cabbage
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Cauliflower
Mexican food (specifically, something in the burrito I ate)

So far, these are the foods that lead to a day of vomiting for Phoenix if I eat them.  Haven't tried Chinese food yet, but that was a sure fire way to get Raziel barfing.  I've been trying to stick to a rather bland diet... which is... bland.

Question for those who have done boob feedings for their kiddos...
What foods made your kids puke?

Moving along... at the strong urging of family/Gregg/friends we've been looking into hiring someone to come by once a week to do some basic cleaning.  I've been somewhat loathe to give in, but I know that having a clean space is vital to Gregg's happiness and if I'm being honest with myself, when faced with spending time with my kids or cleaning the house, I'm going to pick my kids at least 50% of the time.  Which means with two, there's a good chance house keeping is going to suffer.  So, I've been getting quotes from people. 
So far, I'm leaning toward a couple of nice Russian women, Tatiana and... crap... forgot her name.  Nice and had a good, honest feel.  I'll probably talk with one other girl tomorrow and make a decision.
Keeping things tidy will still be our domain, as will laundry and dishes, trash, etc.  But floors, counter tops, kitchen appliances, bathroom stuff, windowsills, and the like... those will probably soon be out of our hands.
It'll be a change, but one for the best I hope.

Miss. Phoenix had her well-baby, two week check up today.
The assistant got her weight and measurements and stuck them in the chart.
A few minutes later, the doctor comes in, reads the chart and gives me the best line of the day:
"Wow!  You must be making Super Milk!"
Her last appointment was one week ago when she measured 20 inches and weighed 7 lbs 2 oz.  Today she's at 21 inches long and weighs 8 lbs. 5 oz.  An inch of growth and over a pound in only a week.  For weight and head size, she's in the 50th percentile.  She's in the 70th for height.
Doc says she's doing great.  And my milk is amazing.
So, three cheers for Nixy and my boobs.

Oh, and for anyone who plans on having kids, but hasn't decided between breast or bottle feeding...
I've been keeping track of my weight for the past week, just to get back in the habit of being aware of my eating habits, etc.  I'm down a bit over 10 lbs in one week.  I don't expect to keep on at that rate, but I'll take it as long as it lasts.  From what I understand, you really only see that kind of weight drop post pregnancy if you're breast feeding.
Again... all hail the mighty boob.

Something cool...
Miss. Phoenix has been here for two weeks now and still, Raziel shows no sign of regression on the potty training front.  In fact, he's getting better about having pants on and remembering to use the potty.  Pre-Phoenix, he needed to be nekid on the bottom half to remember.  Not so much anymore.
So proud of my little guy.
Rozz seems to be adjusting well to the new family structure.  He's still not perfect about being gentle.  Sometimes, he wants to be too close to Phoenix and hug her too tight, but otherwise, his interactions with her are great.  He talks to her and takes pride in getting her to stop crying when we're in the car.
That's all for now.

First, a bit of Phoenix personality for those interested.  May be TMI for some.  Boob talk.

To set the scene... I'm a good milk producer.  I really should have had twins for the quantity of milk I've got going.  This means that I end up leaky and as a result, soggy, many times a day.  I'll then either 'air dry' or just put on a clean shirt.  If this happens and I try to feed Phoenix, this is what happens.

Phoenix tries to latch on, draws back and makes a "That tastes terrible!!!" face.  Seriously... wrinkled brow and eeew gross tongue movements.
She'll try a second time then pull back again in disgust.
The third time she 'tastes', she pulls back, makes the "Ewww, gross" face then gags and won't try again until I've cleaned my nipples completely.  There can be no dried milk taste on the boobs if she's going to eat.
Nine days old and Phoenix has a great handle on the whole Diva thing.

Also a bit odd about her... most babies are happiest when their limbs are tightly swaddled, especially at sleeping time.  It's comforting, as it reminds them of the womb environment.  Someone forgot to mention this info to Phoenix.  She's happy to be swaddled tight, but her arms must be free or she'll struggle and wake up as soon as you lay her down.
Oh, and she's lifting her head really well and this evening managed to inch up my chest using her legs to push her along.

Raziel.  He's adjusting fairly well to the new situation.  He no longer freaks out when Phoenix cries, just comments on it to me.  He seems to find her little squeaky noises to be amusing.  Every day he wants to spend time holding her, only, he hasn't quite got a handle of what's appropriate to do with her.  He wants to hug her (his squeezes are too strong) and touch her face (eyes especially) and lick her.  In general, he's just too rough in his interactions with her.  But then, he's never been a particularly gentle kid.
The good news is, Gregg and I have equipped him with a great ability to communicate and he knows that's a powerful tool when he needs something.  He knows that if he needs attention, all he has to do is let someone know.  And he has.  On a number of occasions he has come up to me and asked that I hand Phoenix to someone else so he can hold me.  I've been trying to make certain to spend time talking with him about how he's feeling and get an idea of what he needs so we can make this transition as easy as possible on him.
I can tell he's not totally in love with this new sister thing, but he's also not resentful or obviously upset.  A good start.

A couple Phoenix things...

Yesterday, I took her into the pediatrician to have her checked for jaundice, as she was still a smidge yellow... and... Daddy was concerned.  And frankly, as I'm so accustomed to being the paranoid parent, having Gregg be the concerned one... I wasn't about to argue.  I guess there was even the part of me that thought it was all adorable beyond words... the whole Daddy being protective of his little girl thing.
Anyhow... Dr. Fong said she looked great and the bit of yellow was nothing to be concerned about.
The cool thing... yesterday, her one week birthday, she was already back up to birth weight.  For those not savvy of the new baby thing, it's not uncommon for babies to loose 10% of their birth weight while Mom's milk is coming in and they're adjusting to life outside the womb.  The fact that she dropped weight and is already back up to birth weight already is a fab thing.  And a testament to my milk making abilities.

Moo.

The other thing... having Phoenix here is so odd.
There's all the adoration and love, same as Rozz... but this is like a big surprise.
While  was pregnant with Raziel, I thought about being pregnant and what being a Mom was going to be like and how our lives were going to change and simply thought about him every hour of every day.  So, when he arrived, it was no surprise.
This time around, already being a busy Mom... of a two year old no less... I wasn't really braced for it.  I suppose it sounds odd... I mean, I was swelling up with baby, my hormones were all crazy and I knew (obviously) that a new kid was on the way, but there was a disconnect somewhere.  I think I'm only now getting over the shock of "Oh my gawd... I have a baby... how did that happen?!"
I don't think I could put it into words really.  It's all very strange.
Good though.  Don't get me wrong... I'm thrilled.  She's wonderful.  And really, a great, mellow little baby.  And I love her completely... everything about her.  The waking up every hour.  The diaper changing.  The memorizing the pattern her hair grows in.  It's all just glorious.
Just, somehow, a surprise I wasn't braced for.

I'm not sure how much of this I'll get down tonight before I crash and go to sleep, but I owe it to myself to get this down and documented, so we'll see how far I get.
So... Saturday. 
We arrived at the hospital bright and early to be induced.  We ended up waiting for quite a bit, as Dr. Kamalani was running a bit late.  I spent Saturday on Cervidil, which was supposed to make my very closed cervix 'favorable' or willing to contract and get the baby out.  Didn't work.  We had contractions, but they did nothing.
Also worth noting at this point, I expressed my concerns to the staff about being in labor with the flu and the possibility of the sick family passing the virus onto Phoenix once she was here.  They convinced me that because I'd had the virus in my system, all of the anti-bodies I had built up had passed through the placenta to Phoenix and there was almost zero chance of her catching it.  Made me feel much better.  We just saw our pediatrician who I told about this info.  Turns out, this was something the labor and delivery staff said to calm me and make me feel better and not really based in any fact according to the pediatrician.  Color me annoyed.
Sunday I spent on Pitocin, which is supposed to start contractions.  Again, contractions, but nothing that made any  change in my cervix.  Sunday night, they tried me on Misoprostil.  Regular contractions, but even 'lighter' than the Pitocin or Cervidil contractions.  These, I could barely feel.
Monday morning, Dr . Mumm came by.

::pause in the story for a doctor catch-up::
Sunday, while I was in the hospital, I saw nothing of my OBGYN, Dr. Kamalani, as she had been admitted to the hospital herself for pre-term labor.  This is her second pregnancy and her second bout with pre-term labor.  So I saw other doctors from the office (Taylor and Mumm).  They stopped the labor and Dr. K is on bed rest now for the duration of her pregnancy.

Back to the story... Dr. Mumm wanted to break my bag of waters...
Another segue... when did they start calling it the 'Bag of Waters'?  When I was growing up, it was the amniotic sac.  Bag of Waters sounds so... hippy.
Oh well.  So, he wanted to pop the bag and put me on more Pitocin.  I expressed my concerns about the water breaking thing, as I didn't want to open up the possibility of infection and therefore a c-section.  He made me feel better about the chances of that being the case, so I agreed.
After everything, I was barely 1.5 cm dilated and hardly effaced at all.  At nine am, Dr. Mumm broke my water and within two or three contractions, I could feel them getting quite a bit stronger.  At ten am they re-started me on the Pitocin.  The contractions were rapidly getting more and more painful.
At about 12:45 I'd had about enough of the pain and requested intervention.  They checked my cervix and found I was 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced.  They suggested an IV pain killer to start out to which I agreed.  While waiting for the drugs to show up, things started getting really ugly in terms of pain.  I asked Gregg to find someone, and tell them nevermind on the drugs, I wanted an epidural.  As he was leaving the room, the drugs arrived.  The nurse assured me it would help... would feel like ten margaritas hitting my system at once.  In as much as the stuff made me crazy dizzy, yeah, that was accurate.  Sadly, it did nothing for the pain.  The epidural was ordered and in place by 1:15.
Oh... and what's the deal with handsome anesthesiologists?  The two I've had so far... holy cow. 
About halfway through the process of getting the epidural, I began to notice pressure.  As soon as the procedure was done, I mentioned it to the nurse who said that often, as soon as the pain starts to go away, women feel pressure that was always there, but overshadowed by the pain. 
Yeah... I don't think so.  She agreed to check me as soon as the pain was really gone, and sure enough... her head was right there.
Basically, I got my epidural in place just in time to push.  No pain killers (that did anything) during the actual dilation part.
I pushed through three contractions and Phoenix was born at 1:33 pm.
Looking at this, I went from 1.5 cm to her being born in four and a half hours.  Heck, beyond that, I went from 3 cm to fully dilated and Phoenix descended in the birth canal between 12:45 and 1:15... that's half an hour.  Seven cm in half an hour.  That was pain like I've never experienced before.  No time to cope or adjust to the sensation... just grab something, hold on and try to breathe through the nerve grinding, muscles clenched and every fiber of your being trembling pain.

Phoenix Laurel Bloom arrived on April 14, 2008 weighing in at 7 pounds 2.1 ounces, measuring 19 inches long and had a head 13.75 inches around (but no tearing this time!).  My labor support group was Gregg, Mom and Violet.  Oh... and I had two of the most fabulous nurses in the world this time.  On Saturday night, there was Kim.  Funny, cute, smart and just the brightest ray of sunshine.  She came into the room and you seriously couldn't help but smile.  Also, there was Pam, who took such a genuine interest that she tracked down my file from Raziel's labor so she could read that history and better help this labor.  I couldn't imagine a more professional, helpful or supportive nurse.
Hopefully, I'll have some much more lovely pictures to share soon, but 'till then, the new little girl:

Earlier this week, you'll remember I had to do a 24 hour test to check my protein levels.  Found out today that they're much higher than doctor lady would like them to be so...
Tomorrow I am to report to the hospital to be induced.
I'm not the happiest camper about this.  I'm not convinced that the household is distanced enough from the flu we've had that Phoenix won't end up catching it once here.  While some places claim that you can pass the flu along for up to a week after symptoms show up, other sites, like the CDC, who would top my list as knowledgeable on the topic say you're contagious from a day before you develop symptoms until five days after symptoms show up.  However, they all agree that young children (like Rozz) and people with weakened immune systems (like pregnant people) can be contagious for much longer.  The numbers lean toward the two week mark for contagiousness.

So, yeah.  Not happy about being induced.
If Phoenix ends up with the flu I'm going to be Mad As Hell.

I'd love to be all nervous about normal things at the moment, like, say, the fact that' I'll likely be in labor tomorrow, but no... I've got to be worried about my newborn being exposed to a virus that could be deeply damaging to her.
Ugh.

I'm hoping I'm wrong here, but I think tonight's going to be a tough one.
Up 'till this afternoon, Rozz's temperature was being manged well by the Tylenol and Ibuprofen.
I was slipping though... felt like ice picks were being shoved into my ear canals and could barely keep my eyes open from sheer exhaustion.  Still, the highest my temp has gone is 99.9.  Anyhow, Gregg offered to man Rozz while I rested.
They sat down and watched "Cars".  He'd been dosed with Ibuprofen earlier at 12:30.  Rozz fell asleep on Dad's lap watching the movie.  At about 5:40 he had woken, and came in to lay next to me which woke me.  He felt warm to me and I found his temp was up to 103.5.  Still too soon for a dose of Ibuprofen (safe every 6-8 hours), so I went for Tylenol (safe every 4 hours) then popped him into a tepid bath.  His temperature peeked at 104.2 before the bath and Tylenol started to do anything.
I wish this sort of thing wasn't normal for him, but it is.  When his temp goes up, it doesn't creep, it sprints.  Thus the checking every 10-15 minutes.
That dose of Tylenol never really got him below 101.5.  I'd love to hold off 'till 9:40 before we do another Ibuprofen, but I don't think his temp is going to hold out for me that long.

So... yeah.  I'm not expecting tonight to go smoothly.
My child does fevers like no other.