I’m back! I’m sure you all enjoyed my guest bloggers last week – I know I did.

I’ve been working on my birth story but still need to create a short, digestible version that I can put up on the blog, because the story I have written is long winded and would probably take you longer to read than it took me to have my baby. I just wanted to get every memory down before I construct the abridged version.

The capsule form of the story is this: on Thursday the 5th I was having painless, mild contractions all day that were 20 minutes apart. They stopped in the evening and I went to bed early. I woke up at 11:15 pm and was basically in transition already. Mike and Miles and I (and Dusti, separately) got to the hospital at 12:30 and Julius was born at 1:21 am! My Hypnobabies training was invaluable, as was having Dusti there as my doula.

Recovery has been great – I’ve had minimal pain aside from the normal soreness that comes from nursing a newborn. But breastfeeding is also going really really well, and I can’t tell you how grateful I am for that. Mike was able to get a few days off from work, which was much appreciated since I couldn’t get out of the hospital until Sunday.

Miles is doing pretty well. The most difficult times of day are naptime and bedtime – bedtime especially. Even if Mike is here, he really needs his mommy at bedtime. He wants to be close to me, he wants to be held, and he wants me to sit by him until he falls asleep. That all works out fine if we are lucky enough that Julius is snoozing, but often he is cluster feeding at that time of the evening. We’ve had some epic, rage-filled tantrums when I have to nurse Julius while putting Miles to bed. But doing our best. For most of the rest of the day Miles is coping very well.

I might still just be on the post-birth high, but I feel like handling Miles’s emotional needs is something I can do well right now. I was afraid I would be more impatient with him, but instead I’m feeling a lot of empathy. I’m happy that he is a child who is easily soothed by physical affection, because I can always give him extra hugs and kisses and that makes me feel good too. Other things I’m doing include narrating a lot – “Julius is crying, he wants more milk. Now I have to change his diaper” – and instead of urging Miles to be sweet to the baby I am pretending Julius is enamored of him - “Julius loves you so much! He wants to give you a kiss! Mwah!”

Julius is doing great, growing fast and eating well. He definitely likes to be held a lot, which is more challenging with a second baby than a first, but we’re working it out. So far he is going three hours between feedings at night which is pretty marvelous in my book.

And I am loving not being pregnant anymore! I feel like our little family is complete and we’re in a good place right now.