Mel is the easiest baby! Our first night home from the hospital with both Noah and Chloe were only barely survivable at best. You know those nights, with a newborn, that cause you to ask yourself, "Dear goodness! What have I done?!?!?" Luckily for us, both of them turned out to be great sleepers after that first night. Even more lucky (or blessed) for us, Melanie didn't have that awful first night! She put herself right to sleep and has been doing so ever since. She typically wakes up twice to eat, once in the middle of the night and once in the early morning. She's usually only up for 20-30 minutes (diaper change included) and then puts herself right back to sleep. She doesn't cry when she wakes up to eat, but just lays in her bed sucking on her fists, which she is remarkably good at breaking out of her swaddle. I guess you gotta do whatchya gotta do when hunger calls. She almost never fusses during the day either. Basically the only time she will is if she's poopie.
She came at 37 weeks, 1 day, due to pre-eclampsia, AGAIN! Gosh, how I hate that! However, she was my fastest and easiest labor. Eight and half hours and 3 pushes later we had a baby! (Don't comment on this and tell me about your 3 hour labor with one little push...8.5 hours and 3 pushes for her is down from 26 hours and 30 minutes of pushing with Noah. Let me have my moment). Being 3 weeks early, she slept CONSTANTLY and was not very alert for those first 3 weeks. On her due date (Jan. 3) it was as if her body suddenly realized she was supposed to be living life outside the womb. She suddenly became much more alert and started having 2 or 3 long awake periods every day. Apparently, she was quite aware of her rude awakening to the outside world and decided to do her best to ignore it until it was actually time for her to be here.
Noah and Chloe have adjusted very well to having another sibling. We sort of feared the fight for the princess crown between Chloe and Melanie, but Chloe just ADORES her and is such a great helper! Noah is so go-with-the-flow that he was incredibly excited to welcome Melanie, just as he was with Chloe. They both love to hold her, help with burping her, diaper changes, bouncing her in her bouncy seat, and spending time talking to her. It is going to be so fun to watch them grow together!
Even though having pre-eclampsia and being induced for the 3rd time wasn't high on my priority list, I was very excited to have a baby in my arms for the holidays! And, actually, I kind of like being induced...it's just the pre-eclampsia part I could do without. I'm glad Melanie's birthday has a little separation from the holidays. Hopefully she'll always feel celebrated and not like her birthday gets lumped in with Christmas.
My recovery has been quick and easy, just as it was with Chloe. I've been chomping at the bit to start working out again and could not stand waiting until 6 weeks postpartum, so I started slowly at 4 weeks. I'm now 5 weeks out and am feeling great! I'm excited to continue progressing toward being strong and having stamina again.
Adjusting to life as a family of 5 has been almost seamless. I still feel that the transition from 0 kids to 1 kid was the most challenging. Transitioning from 1 to 2 and 2 to 3 hasn't been bad at all! I'm grateful that the Lord has blessed with us 3 good eaters and sleepers. I think He knows I'm too much of a sissy to handle anything otherwise :) Sam and I are both grateful for His many, many blessings, the 3 biggest of which are our precious kids!
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