Maxwell - Year 1

One year ago today I gave birth to my second baby boy - Maxwell James Bravo.

You were born five days past your due date on May 25, 2016.  You weighed 8 lbs, 12 ounces, and were 21" long.

You looked so much and continue to look so much like your big brother.  You had brown hair and blue eyes.  I have no idea how I became so lucky to have two boys with such beautiful blue eyes!  In the first few months since you were born, I would like to send your Daddy pictures of you and your brother when he was a baby to see if he could tell who was who- that is how alike you looked.

A Little Bit About....

Me and You-
You love me so much!  There are moments when only I can soothe you and it makes my heart so happy when you run up and hug me with your giant smile!  I cherish every moment that I get to cuddle you and rock you to sleep - even though you keep me up even a year in.

You hate it when I work.  For a long time, if I took you into the office, you would become so upset because perhaps you knew that my attention would be divided.  It didn't matter how awesome of a play area I set up for you, you just wouldn't have it - so I would have to get most of my work done after you went to sleep at night or try to get it in during your nap time.

We like to go on walks together.  If it's a nice day out, I put you in the stroller and we just walk around the neighborhood.  You stay quiet and just like to take in the scenery and it gives us some nice peaceful time together.

You keep me entertained at the grocery store - and always on my toes!  You don't like to sit in the cart, you are a little daredevil.  You like to stand on the seat and watch where we are going.  You are impossible to strap down.  Most of the time, I am holding you by the waist and guiding the cart with my elbows.

You and Daddy-
Your daddy and I might be tied for second place as your favorite people.  You would love it when Daddy would strap you into the baby bjorn and walk around the house with you.  You say goodbye to him every morning and wave as he leaves.  When he comes home, we are normally outside waiting for him and when he opens his door, you lunge inside to give him a big hug.

When Daddy comes home, he likes to take you and brother upstairs while I work on dinner.  There are a lot of times that I'll be in the kitchen and hear crashes and thuds from upstairs and all of you laughing hysterically.  You guys are crazy.

Daddy also bathes you on most bath nights and has a hard time keeping you sitting in the tub. Any day now, we'll have to separate you and your brother just to keep most of the water in the tub!

On the occasions when I can't calm you down, Daddy has the magic touch.  You like to climb him, ride on his shoulders, and pull his hair.  You also like to play on the couch - you just run around on it while Daddy makes sure that you don't do anything too crazy!

You and Mason-
Mason wins first place for your favorite person ever!  When you first started laughing, you would only laugh for him!  He can almost always get a smile out of you and he loves to take care of you.  He gets upset when he can't give you a hug and a kiss and will even refuse to give me one if he hasn't given you one first.

There has not been one moment of jealousy between the two of you since we brought you home.  He loves to tell his friends about you and show you off at school.  He likes to help you get toys and cover you with blankets.

We already have to scold the two of you for playing too rough.  You guys wrestle and have fun - he can get too rough and you pull his hair.  I can't believe that I already have to talk to the both of you about how silly you are together!

You -
You love us so much.  You are an amazing little hugger - you hug with your whole body.  For the first few months of your life, you just loved to be held and you wanted to keep moving.  There were hours at a time, where whoever was holding you would have to walk laps around the house - if we stopped moving, you would immediately voice your disapproval!

You are a lot like your brother.  You wanted to hit all of the physical milestones early - sitting, pulling yourself up, crawling, and walking.  You did everything early.  You even started climbing the stairs way before we thought that we would have to even think about it.

You like to be outside.  If ever you are to a point of fussiness that we can't seem to calm you, we just take you outside.  The sun, the breeze, the grass - it all makes you happy and calm.  You can spend a limitless amount of time just pushing toys around in the driveway.

You have been an absolute treasure added to our family, making us feel a level of completeness that we didn't know was missing.  Maxwell James, we love you.  Happy 1st Birthday!

Maxwell's Birth Story

It's been a whole year since I gave birth to Maxwell, our second baby boy.  He is a total delight.  These past 52 weeks have flown by!  Which is why I am just getting around to writing his birth story!

This pregnancy was a lot different than my first.  Each was difficult in it's own way - I do not enjoy pregnancy and pregnancy does not seem to enjoy me.  This time around I didn't swell as much, I didn't gain as much weight, and I don't think that I cried as much this time.  However, I did get sick more and I had more pain early on which resulted in me wearing a support belt.  At times I would have to call in for back-up (of the Grandma variety) to help wrangle Mason because I just couldn't move (literally).  I even had to call Thomas one time because I was bent over unloading laundry and I couldn't stand straight up because I got some sort of a pinch nerve or something.  I had to crawl over to the couch and call Thomas at work, crying from the pain and laughing at the ridiculousness of it, telling him that he needed to come home because I was stuck and I had Mason to take care of.  Mason was very helpful throughout the pregnancy.  I was on bed rest for a couple of days somewhere around the middle because the pain was just too intense and I had mobility issues.

I thought that Maxwell was going to come early: 1) because of the pain, 2) because I had a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions throughout the pregnancy (which I didn't feel at all with Mason) and 3) because I had part of my mucus plug (sorry for TMI) fall out very early.  Alas, it was not meant to be.  I had said throughout my pregnancy that I needed to hold him in towards the end because his due date was less than three weeks from Mason's birthday.  Well, baby boy must have been listening - because we ended up having to evict him!

37 weeks

Around 38 weeks, I had started walking to get things moving.  I walked every day just doing circles around our block.  My neighbors would see me daily, "Still pregnant?"  Umm, yeah.  "How long are you going to do that?"  Until it works was my reply.  Well, it didn't.  We had an appointment set to get induced at 40w5d.  In the meantime, we were doing everything that we could to induce labor naturally.  But my tummy must have been just too cuddly for Maxwell, because he waited until our induction date.

During my weekly check-ups, I opted out of having my cervix checked because it was discouraging when I found out that I had not progressed from one week to the next with Mason.  Also, I figured that if a baby was about to come out of me, I didn't need to have my cervix checked to know it.  It wasn't until my 39 week appointment that I had them check me (I was 39w5d) because if something wasn't happening, then we needed to make a plan.  And since I knew when we conceived, I was comfortable knowing that he would be fully cooked.  On top of that, he was measuring about the same as Mason, and that is large!  When they checked me, I was only about 1cm dilated (pfft, that's nothing!) and about 50% effaced.  So, I allowed them to sweep my membranes to see if we could get something going within the next couple of days.  Spoiler alert: it didn't work.

In a way, being induced was nice since we had Mason to think of.  Grandma Sue came to stay with him and we were able to explain when we would be gone, what we would be doing, and when we would be back.

39 weeks

We checked in to the hospital at 6:30am.  A few hours later, after being checked by my doctor and still only being about 1cm dilated, they inserted citotech in order to soften my cervix.  They told me that I was having contractions before administering the citotech, but I hadn't felt them.  But after the medication was administered, I definitely could feel them!  I was more comfortable with my contractions standing, with Thomas to support me.  He helped me steady my breathing through the pain and being able to embrace my husband was just so much nicer than fighting through the discomfort on a bed.  After a while, we decided to watch some television shows to distract me from the pain and to help pass the time.  It was during this time that my water broke with a horrible gush- I started half-screaming, half-laughing, "Oh my gosh!!!  It's like I'm peeing!  It's still coming out!"  Thomas called for the nurse to let them know that my bag broke with me hollering in the background.  It was 11:30 a.m. now and I was dilated to 3cm.

Nurses kept coming in to see if I wanted an epidural, to which I always responded with a resounding "YES," but the anesthesiologist didn't come.  I swear that it took three times telling them that yes, I wanted the epidural before it was finally scheduled.  Two hours after my water broke, I finally had the epidural placed and I started to feel a lot more relaxed.  Problem was, since my water had already broken and the cushion of the fluid in my uterus had escaped, I was experiencing cord compression.  With every contraction, the cord was getting pinched between the walls of my uterus and Maxwell, which made his heart rate drop dramatically.  To help prevent this, I kept having to re-position myself.  But when I would move, so would the baby and the cord, and we would eventually have the same problem with each passing contraction.  To help alleviate this issue, an intrauterine monitor was placed and they attempted to put fluid back into me.  This did not work.

Not only did this not help with the variable deceleration in Maxwell's heart rate, but my constant re-positioning meant that my epidural was not being distributed appropriately.  One side of my body felt nothing, and the other side felt EVERYTHING!!  It was absolutely miserable.  I was in so much pain that I was shaking and having difficulty breathing.  They put me on oxygen and tried to get the anesthesiologist back in to see me and top me off with more medication.  Unfortunately, he was stuck in a surgery and couldn't get to me.  I waited almost two hours to get the relief that I desperately needed.  And it could not have come any later, because shortly thereafter, I was 10cm.

Pushing became a different kind of difficult.  Not because of the pain - but quite the opposite.  My second dose of medication for my epidural was so effective, that I felt nothing.  My lower half was completely and intensely numb.  My head felt a lot of pressure from my attempt to push and in between contractions (that I couldn't feel), I was getting ice chips and getting an oxygen mask put back on.  After a short period, I had to remove the mask and called for a bucket- I was going to be sick!!!  So here I was, pushing and vomiting the pathetic excuse of a lunch that I was given earlier (flavorless jello and hot water with a flavor packet).  It was terrible, but apparently not uncommon!  I couldn't feel if my body was responding to my brain telling it to push and I felt queasy from just having thrown up.  My head was pushing hard, but I didn't know if anything else was happening... but I guess something was!  After about 65 minutes of pushing, Maxwell James Bravo was born at 7:45 p.m. weighing 8 pounds, 12 ounces and 21 inches long.

Mason - Year 5

How am I the mother of a five year old boy?  Where, oh where, has my little boy gone?

In this past year, you have grown and changed so much.  First of all, you became a big brother.  And what an amazing brother you are.  You are Maxwell's absolute favorite person in the world!  You make him laugh more than anyone and I already have to scold the both of you for rough-housing even though he isn't even a year old yet!

You are remarkably smart - you are starting to read and do math that is beyond your age group. Gone are the days of board books, you are enjoying lengthy books and national geographic magazines that come for you in the mail.  You are even enjoying listening to Harry Potter on audio with Daddy.

You like writing letters and drawing pictures for your teachers, classmates, and family members.  You like to draw and our family room wall has several of your stick figure art pieces up on display.

You love Legos.  You can sit and finish a complicated lego kit mostly on your own.  You have a gigantic Star Wars kit completed in your bedroom that is meant for a 14 year old to build.  It is mind-boggling how smart and patient you can be.

You love classical music.  You keep asking if you can have a tuba, you like to play with Daddy's old trumpet, and frequently mimic the sounds of classical instruments.

You invented the "pillow game" where we take turns laying on the floor of your room and throw all the blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals from the top bunk of your bed.

You would eat quesadillas or hamburgers with fries every day.  You are becoming a picky eater when it comes to the things that I make for dinner even though it is mostly things that you have eaten and enjoyed in the past.

You still love the color orange, so much so that you insist that it is Maxwell's favorite color as well.

You still thrive on routine- some of the routines you come up with on your own.  Like having to say goodnight to Maxwell before anyone else, blowing me a kiss from across the hall when I drop you off at school, and doing the elaborate high-five routine that you do with Daddy when he leaves for work every morning.

I love you Mason.  I treasure every moment that you still let me cuddle you and smother you with my love.  I know that the day is fast approaching that you will be too old for me to carry you around, kiss you all over, and hug you for long stretches.  So, just as you recite to me from the book - I love you forever.  I like you for always.  As long I'm living, my baby you'll be.