Tomorrow Zeke will be 2 weeks, but we went in for his check-up a day early because Thursdays are my doctor’s days off. I have been very intentional about nursing Zeke, but probably a little too intentional. I’ve gotten to the point to where I don’t let Zeke cry, and any time that he does I’ll nurse him. After what I went through with Hannah, still feeling like I starved my little girl for the first 3 weeks of her life, I don’t want to go down that path ever again. I really needed today’s doctor’s visit, and I am so thankful for our doctor and how understanding, caring, and helpful he is.

The check-up was great! Our goal was to have Zeke back up to his birth weight of 7lbs 9oz, and he weighed in at 8lbs 4oz! While in the hospital Zeke only lost 5oz which the doctor said was great, and it was due to my milk coming in on the second day from Zeke eating so much. Hearing that Zeke has gained a whole pound in the last 11 days since we left the hospital helped me relax a ton!

I talked to my doctor about how things are going with nursing, that they are going a whole lot better than it did with Hannah, but I that I have been struggling in the evenings because I have been nursing pretty much non stop from the early evening until around 11pm. That has been exhausting and frustrating because Zeke just had not seemed satisfied in the evening, and we even supplemented with formula 2 nights in a row. I started pumping for 5 minutes after my morning and afternoon feedings to get breastmilk supplements for Zeke right before my sleep time, which had seemed to help.

The biggest help my doctor told me was that with how much weight Zeke has gained I can relax and let him fuss in the evenings, and not have to feel like I should nurse him every time he fusses. I have rarely even let him wriggle around and find his fists because I don’t want my baby to be unhappy, and he would get a little fussy, so I would keep him swaddled. I’ve been doing the extreme opposite that I did with Hannah.

So this evening…

Zeke took a good nap after eating when we got home from the doctor’s appointment. He was a little fussy after eating, and just wanted to be held. I tried giving him a pacifier, which he has refused to take the last few days. He finally took it! And he wasn’t upset that it wasn’t mom! Then while heating up dinner and letting Hannah play Zeke ate again, and by the time Tim got home I laid him down for another nap, and he took his first evening nap for me so far! I’m so glad he is taking a pacifier now to give me a break, and help him sleep for me!

Zeke slept while Hannah and I got to play all evening and gave me time to get her in bed before it was time for Zeke’s next feeding, which went great and he fell right to sleep for the night! So now it’s my time to go to bed, and doing it without fighting my sweet little angel.

My biggest blessing from the evening was time to play with Hannah. I haven’t spent a whole lot of time with her lately since Zeke has been pretty much glued to me. I’ve been pretty hard on myself about not giving Hannah the time and attention she needs. Now if our days keep this up I’ll be able to read up a little more and start working on some good discipline and structure for Hannah so she doesn’t continue to get spoiled rotten like she has been for the past 2 months.

I signed up for Home Word’s daily devos while pregnant with Hannah, and read them all the time while adjusting to life as a mom. I’ve started reading them more often again since Zeke was born. This one stood out to me enough, I figured I’d share it.

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By Jim Liebelt

A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends.

Proverbs 16:28

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Once upon a time, there was a person who repeated gossip – some rumor about a neighbor. Soon, the whole community had heard the rumor. Later, the person who spread the gossip learned that the rumor was untrue. The person was very sorry and went to an elder in the community who had a reputation for great wisdom to seek advice. The elder told the person, “Go to your home and take a feather pillow outside. Rip it open and scatter the feathers, then return to me tomorrow.” The person did as the elder had instructed.

The next day, the person visited the elder. The elder said, “Go and collect the feathers you scattered yesterday and bring them back to me.” The person went home and searched for the feathers, but the wind had carried them all away. The person returned to the elder and said, “I could find none of the feathers I scattered yesterday.” “You see,” said the elder, “it’s easy to scatter the feathers but impossible to get them back.” So it is with gossip; it doesn’t take much to spread hurtful words, but once you do, you can never completely undo the damage.

Gossip is one of those areas of the Christian life that is so important for us to work to restrain—because of the potential damage it causes—but so difficult for so many of us to get under control. It is so easy for us within the Christian community to gossip about others, often within our own community of faith, because we do so under the guise of “sharing.” We “share” with others about a friend’s “problem” because we want others to pray for them. (Wink. Wink.) The reality is, however, that it’s just plain gossip. Gossip feels good. It feels good to know something about someone else and to share that something with another. Yet, even under the best of motives, “sharing” easily turns into “gossip” and we do damage that like the proverb points out—we can’t completely undo.

Nothing is more deadly to relationships than spreading false rumors and gossip. The wise person keeps their tongue in check. The next time you are tempted to gossip remember the proverb of the feathers—and how your words, once they do damage, may never be completely undone. Ask God to give you the wisdom and strength you need to resist the urge to gossip.

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GOING DEEPER:
1. Have you hurt someone recently by gossiping about them (even under the context of “sharing”)? If so, are you willing to ask for their forgiveness?

2. What can you do to help keep yourself from gossiping about others today?

FURTHER READING:

Leviticus 19:16, Psalm 15:2-4, Proverbs 10:19, James 3:1-12

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Ezekiel Ryan was born at 12:02am Thursday September 30, 2010. He weighed 7lbs, 9oz and was 20.25 inches long.

Wednesday afternoon (the due date) we had our last check up and I was dilated 3cm and 80% effaced, and my doctor went ahead and stripped my membranes. That was at 1:00pm.

2:30pm I started having some uncomfortable contractions and after a Wal-mart run I started timing my contractions right away to see if I was in actual labor or not. I called the Birth Place around 5:30pm because the longest time between my contractions was 6 minutes, which had only happened twice in the last hour, and some of them were coming as close as 2.5 minutes. The nurse told me to not come in yet, but soak in the tub and lay down and see what that would do for the contractions.

Tim had a junior high small group to lead from 6:30-8pm, so I sent Hannah with him to play in the nursery so I could labor at home. There was no way I’d be able to entertain and work with Hannah while trying to labor. I soaked in the tub for a good while, until I really couldn’t handle the pain any longer. Soaking seemed to make my contractions hurt worst, so I moved to the couch to watch the last half of Biggest Loser that I had started earlier during the day to hopefully get my mind off of the pain. While soaking and laying down my contractions hurt a lot worst, but they became more consistant coming about every 5 minutes and lasting almost a minute at that point. After the show was over I started walking around again to cope with the pain and the contractions jumped to coming every 2 or 3 minutes, but only lasting about 30 seconds.

When Tim and Hannah got home around 9:00pm I had him keep Hannah up as I called the Birth Place again to see if I could come in and see what was going on. The nurse didn’t sound convinced that it was true labor ’cause my contractions were getting sporadic again, but I decided to go in anyways because of the pain I was in. I called Robyn and arranged for her to come get Hannah for the night, and said bye to our hyper and excited little girl around 9:45pm.

We got to the hospital a little before 10:00pm. I had a contraction on the way in through the hospital door, got in the wheel chair to be taken to the Birth Place, and worked through a contraction on the way, and then had another one a couple minutes after getting to the room. They were all set to check me in a small room and send me home, but after that last contraction the nurse said they were going to move me since that sounded a little more serious than they were expecting. They checked me out at I was at 5cm and in full labor. Our nurse worked quickly at getting everything set for a fast delivery, saying she was expecting Zeke to come before 11:30pm when her shift was over. I asked if she was kidding, and she said no, things are moving along.

10:30 I was checked again and was dilated 8cm. My doctor was called in and she started talking options to deal with the pain because they weren’t sure the anesthesiologist would make it to the hospital in time. With my luck she walked in during the conversation! I was really hoping for an epidural after not getting one with Hannah and being completely sore afterwards because I couldn’t relax at all through her contractions, even after reading book after book on different relaxation tips and practicing. I didn’t get an epidural, but they did give me a spinal block that would last an hour, since apparently, that was all the time I needed. Labor slowed down a little bit, which was good, and at 11:45pm it was already time to push.

12:02am little Zeke was welcomed into our world!

With being born after midnight I had the option to stay until Saturday. I contemplated going home Friday because I was feeling pretty good, and my mom was in town by then, but our nurse Mary (A very sweet lady from our church.) at the time talked me in to taking advantage of one more night in the hospital, and I’m glad I did because I was feeling a lot more confident about going home after another night’s rest.

Zeke is doing great. Nursing is going way better with Zeke than it did with Hannah. Zeke lost 4 ounces after his first day of life, and only 1 ounce on his second, which made his doctor very happy to know especially after the difficulties I had nursing Hannah. This time I’m a lot more relaxed and was a lot more intentional about learning how to make sure I was nursing correctly. And this little man loves to eat!

Being home is nice. It’s going better than I expected. Hannah loves to give Zeke kisses and just look at him (or poke him). My mom is a huge help with chores around the house and keeping Hannah occupied while I take care of myself and Zeke. Hannah doesn’t seem to mind all the time I’m spending with Zeke instead of her since she has her daddy and grandma to give her lots of love and attention. We get our play time in, it’s just not as long right now.

Continue to pray for us through this transition. Pray for Tim as he is already back at work after the weekend. I know he would much rather be spending time at home with all of us and taking in these first few days of Zeke being in our arms. Pray for Zeke and I that nursing will continue to go well. We’re still on the learning curve, but making adjustments and figuring things out is going well being patient about it. Pray for my mom that she wont get worn out helping us, and my dad as he flies up tomorrow night. Pray for Hannah as her world doesn’t revolve around just her any more.