Lena Hikari Bohman

Lena is now 10 days old! My, how the time really does fly by so quickly. I am learning that more and more as Lillian gets older and I look at her and see how much she is growing in body and spirit. The same goes for our little Lena!

The induction went well. Haha, it went more than just well, it was actually a superb experience. I was so anxious and stressed about it before, and I was afraid that this time around would end up like Lillian's birth. But this is how the story goes:

I was supposed to call on Wednesday to see if there was availibilty for me, but they called me instead, around 4:30, and asked if I would like to come in then. I was like, "Well, our babysitter isn't going to be here till 7:30, is it ok to come sometime shortly after?" Which, this was all true, but with a little side motive: I wanted a steak dinner and Daniel was going to take me out. :) I got my steak dinner, oh so yummy. The sitter came and we left for the hospital.

I got all checked in and they checked me out to see how far I was, and since I was only at 3cm, they decided to just start me on a small drip of piticon. They gave us all the paper work and whole nine-yards on the possibilty of death before the good stuff started to happen. The epidural guy came in and said, "do it sooner than later." I was thinking to myself that it was going to be a long night so I could hold out. That all started around 10pm....after a couple of hours of piticon, I asked to give me something to sleep. It was fabulous, but then the contractions were getting pretty painful, and when they checked me again and I was still at 3cm, I said, "Epidural it up." Of course, that was a process to adminiter, but when it was all kicked in, I felt relaxed and ready to snooze. Daniel was in and out of conciousness before, but after the epidural, he was out cold even when the docs came rushing in cause the baby's hr dropped. I was listening to my favorite music (Sigur Ros) and enjoying the relaxation I felt. I had been on my side for about an hour and I started feeling heavy pressure down there. I didn't know if it was normal or not because the first time around all I felt was intense pain. Pressure I could handle, so I just kept calm and breathed through each contraction. When the docs rushed in they quickly put me on oxygen and got me off my side. Baby's heart rate went back up, so they decided to check me again. To all of our surprise, I was dilated to 8cm. The doc said, "Well, looks like you're going to have this baby really soon." I was so shocked. I had no idea I had progressed that quickly. I was amazed at how calm and ready I felt. They stayed in the room for another hour...woke Daniel up, and got all the doctors in. Since Walter Reed is a learning hospital, there were 3 residents, a staff, 2 nurses, and a corpsman. I was kinda overwhelmed with that many people at first, but when I was checked again and at a full 10cm, they all huddled around me and became my personal cheering squad. They were all so enthusiastic and supportive. They really made me feel like I was doing great. And then she came, after 15 mins of pushing. Lena blessed our lives by being born at 5:06 am on October 3, 2013. She was 7 lbs 6 oz, and 21 1/4 inches long. It was all so surreal and beautiful. I am so grateful that she is in our family.
Once we were in recovery, everything was going smoothly, so they said if all goes well we could be discharged by 24 hours. Good thing too, since we had a to have a family sleep-over that night cause we had a cancellation on the babysitter. It all worked out in the end and Lily was so excited to meet her sister. And, we got to go home by 24 hours, Yippie! I was ready to leave.

Since we have been home, we have had a great transition back, and my recovery has gone really well. I am still amazed at how different this time around has been. I'm healing faster and my body is adjusting to breastfeeding quicker. Lena is a great baby and she sleeps a lot. She wakes up like clock-work every 3 hours. Sometimes she'll stay up for a bit and bat those beautiful little eyes, but she typically falls back asleep while nursing or someone holding her. I'm afraid we have another cuddle monster on our hands. She loves to be held and loves to sleep on your chest. Unfortunately, she is going through the same reflux issue that Lillian had, so we are having to keep her upright a lot. either in our arms or in a swing or bouncer. It seems to be helping, but I hate seeing her uncomfortable. She does not like sleeping on her back (another Lily thing too), so the bassinet has remained unoccupied. She pretty much stays with us in bed...oh well.

Lillian loves being a big sister and is loving and gentle around Lena. She has already accidently  hit Lena on the head a couple of times, but Lily's idea of giving the baby space and being careful must not be ours...also, when she gives Lena kisses and hugs, she prefers that Lena does not have a blanket over her and that Lily must put all of her body weight on her sister. But, she is learning and she is very helpful. She puts Lena's dirty clothes away, gets diapers, and checks on her all the time. Lena

Last steak dinner as a family of 3!

Welcome to the world, Lena

despite being in a new place, Lily had a great time that night.

Her present from Lena was Happy Feet 2, and a nose syringe of course.

Daddy and his daughters

I'm terrible at swaddling.

We have a similar picture of Lily in this position.

Look at those two!

is the first thing she wants to see in the morning. Normally, when she wakes up, Lily calls for me or Daniel. The first day back home she was calling for Lena. "Lena, I want Lena." So cute. She also calls her "Nina," which is funny cause the more she says it I start to call her that too. She'll eventually get the "L" down.

Lena has a lot of qualities that Lily had as a newborn. They looked very similar at first, but now her own unique features are starting to come out. She does have her daddy's nose. :) She may just have a widow's peak like her momma, and she has a head full of dark hair. She has the cutest facial expressions and she makes all kinds of squeaks and grunts, especially when she is nursing. She is actually pretty patient until she just can't take it anymore. Since I had given away most of our newborn stuff, I have to do a lot of laundry. She likes to pee while having a diaper change and she likes to spit up on everything ( a result of the reflux). She is really petite and has tiny hands and fingers. She is doing great on neck support, and she loves to hear her sister's screams....I mean voice. :)

We absolutely love being a family of four! WE have been so blessed.