It's been a long time...

Well it has been a long time since I posted and a lot has happened! The most exciting and important is the arrival of Spencer Jamie Bergen. He is my angel baby! He eats well (as is evident by his cubby cheeks and rolly polly body...just like his brother!) and he sleeps amazingly well too. Every time he puts himself to sleep I almost cry in amazement! Sleep is probably one of my favorite things...haha if I can get some good sleep I'm a happy camper and with an energetic 2 year old I am thankful to get some hours in a row at night! He consistently does 6 hours....PRAISE THE LORD!!!! And now he is starting to do longer stretches even!!! WOW!!! I'll take it!

Spencer's Birth Story

Spencer was born easter sunday, April 24th 2011. The day before I started to feel even more like this would be the day, although I had that feeling for WEEKS before it actually happened. We had spent the day as a family. We got sushi and went to the 'blue boat park' at mill lake to eat and play. It was perfect. Then we were off to "Pete's Party"...Opa had the idea that he would like to throw a party for all his friends and family at his favorite restaurant. After the party Linden went to sleep and I started having contractions. Mild and spread out. I slept for a bit but they were getting stronger and I was getting excited. This was baby 2 and of course it was going to be faster. I started timing them on my iphone and woke up james once they were stronger. We called Mom at around 2:00am so she could come and watch Linden. I think by the time we were at the hospital it was about 3:00am. I wasn't as far as I hoped to be so my midwife told me to walk around the hospital lobby (since it was empty!!! Well actually there was one man sitting watching a movie in a chair there...) We continued to time the contractions and they were getting stronger and closer. After an hour my midwife admitted me. "Active Labor" didn't start till 8:00am my midwife figures and things were just not progressing. Spencer was in an awkward position and would just not move. After hours of laboring...seemed like an eternity things were still only at 5cm and I felt like I needed to push...now I had that feeling for 2 hours with Linden and let me tell you they were hell....so my midwife said I could get some MILD painkillers (that she said don't do much more than laughing gas) OR I could get an epidural. I said let's do the epidural...STAT...well it was supposed to be 15mins but it took WAY longer as the anesthesiologist was in surgery. There was a doctor there who said that he was certified but didn't want to step on the other doctors territory. I said "you can have this territory...just do it!!!" James was about to lose it at this point...but he kept his cool. Once the epidural started working I remember looking at the anesthesiologist and saying "hi"...finally acknowledging her even though she'd been in the room a while. Then once it was really working I said "People must love you!" I was then able to rest and James zipped down to order the canucks game. Sadly a game they lost, but really I didn't care at that point! This rest and some rocking allowed Spencer to move and it was time to push a little after the game had finished. After 30mins or so of pushing he was out...didn't feel a thing!!!! Spencer's shoulder got stuck like Linden's but it wasn't half as bad. He seemed to just pop out once they pushed my tummy a little. He was a little blue and wasn't screaming right away. I remember saying "cry...just cry.." and then he did...BOY DID HE CRY. It was fantastic! James played him some music shortly after and he quieted down. He was 8 pounds 9 oz and just perfect. He looked a little like Linden but soon I could tell he had his own look to him.

It has been a joy to get to know this little angle. Finding out that really he likes to be on his own to sleep (unlike Linden), and only really likes to eat when he's hungry (unlike Linden), and likes his soother (like Linden) but not always (unlike Linden). Really he is just amazing and I am enjoying getting to know who he is!
Having a second baby is really amazing because you know so much the second time around (although you are still learning!!!!). But this previous experience allows you to enjoy things a lot more and not worry so much. Spencer has to wait sometimes if I'm busy with Linden...where as Linden get our attention all the time! There was nothing else to do! :)
May 30th I started to really notice Spencer smiling in response to me. Cooing and Gooing. He really makes my heart melt every time he smiles!! HE is just so adorable!!! sigh...I'm in love with my two boys and truly feel so blessed every day!

Linden is now adjusted to everything. He loves his baby brother! It was a learning experience for him too! Nursing was a new thing for him. He even tried to nurse his baby by pulling up his shirt! hhaha. Thankfully I have had James, my mom and Marian to help out big time with Linden so that he still got plenty of attention while I was recovering.

Something that started when I was pregnant was Marian coming over to watch Linden on Tuesdays when I went to my "baby doctor" appointments. Marian has continued this Tuesday visit and it has been wonderful!!! So nice for Linden to have that one on one time and do something super special and fun! And so nice for me to have the time to relax or clean or just bond with Spencer without Linden demanding the attention!

Hopefully I will post again before long...summer is here so I have a feeling more posts will be coming. I don't get to talk to James as much so this became my outlet last year! It is nice for us the season isn't here yet...but not great for the berries. They will be here soon and we will again loose James. We understand though, well I do...we will see how Linden does...