Saturday | Langston was born at 1:17am. We went to bed as soon as our birth team left and got a few hours of decent sleep until I woke up on schedule at 6:30am, haha. My mom graciously stayed overnight and brought Priscilla up to meet her brother. It was such a sweet moment, Cilla was excited but I could also tell she was taking it all in.
We ended up giving her a sweet gift from Langston of blocks, I had read that that is a good idea and she enjoyed playing with them while we all visited and woke up a bit after such an eventful morning. In classic Minnesota summer style, it thunder stormed briefly, which was a sweet reminder of Cilla’s birth in 2018 where it did the same.
{Hello onesie by Swanky Shank on Etsy}
My stepdad and dad came to visit us as well. It was great to see everyone and wish them both an early Father’s Day. My stepdad gave me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers like he did last time, so thoughtful of him. Cilla loved the extra attention and my mom graciously stayed another night so we could continue to rest and focus on healing and taking care of Langston.
He also had his first official photo shoot! My sweet friend Abby of Abby Jean Photography came by bearing gifts of candy and Advil {ah, how I missed it!} for me and brought her camera to do an impromptu Fresh 48 session. I will share more in another post, but I am just over the moon with these images. Here we are at Langston’s 15 hour mark of life. I cannot believe we’re a family of four!
Sunday | Our first official night with Langston was an adventure. He was up pretty often, every hour or every other hour. My milk still hadn’t come in, but he nursed pretty well. This was the hardest part for me of having Cilla, and I was dreading it, reminding myself that this too shall pass has been a good mental check in for me. Langston loves his bassinet, which is the same one we used for Cilla, and we are big fans of the Snuggle Me Organic, too.
I was able to take a bath and shower! I even used my amazing post partum herb tea mix my midwives made me for the tub as well as some incredibly beautiful bath salts Morgan gave to me. Nursing has been so much easier this go round, I feel more comfortable and Langston has a great latch already which is a relief.
Around 12pm our midwife Rebecca came by to do our one day home visit. We had Langston screened, weighed {still at his exact birth weight of 9lbs 8oz}, and his blood drawn. He did great throughout all of it and it was nice to see and process the birth more with Rebecca. I am so glad we had her as the head of our birth team. She, Aly, and Lexy were fantastic.
Since it was Father’s Day, I gave Seth a custom mug with a beautiful fish on it. He loved his gift, and I am so glad I planned ahead.
Our doula Anne also stopped by to drop off my placenta capsules. I am so glad I chose to do this again. I had a pretty healthy sized placenta, so I’m hoping these will last me a while. They were exactly the boost I need post Cilla, and I am already feeling great taking them.
Monday | The beginning of the week! I started to feel like my sense of time came back. We had a low key morning as my mom took Cilla Sunday-Tuesday. I am so grateful I set up help this time. I am not afraid to ask for it this go round. Seth has been so helpful already and brings me all my meals so I can keep healing and resting. By Saturday I’ll be able to go downstairs. I really want to be busy and “back to normal,” but I recognize and honor the importance of resting during this time.
I started working on my birth story and wrote in Langston’s baby book a bit. I wish those Instax photos were properly exposed, but it is what it is.
I got out of my pajamas finally, it felt good to put on some real clothes. By this day I was starting to feel really good, my bleeding was minimal, and my milk had started to come in. Hooray!
Like last time, I’m using an IKEA cart for all my post partum essentials. This has been great and made staying in bed so much easier.
Our chiropractors Anna and Monica over at Revival graciously came and did a home visit adjustment for Langston and I. My back was hurting quite a bit after labor, so I was so grateful that they were able to come to us. They even left us with a beautiful, thoughtful gift.
Tuesday | We had another pretty sleepless night, but Langston did another stretch of good sleep at the beginning of the am from 6-8am so that was so helpful. I know it will pass! We were excited to see Cilla again. I started feeling even better this day, taking another bath and getting dressed in regular clothes. I am excited for next week when I can get up and head downstairs, but am trying so hard to soak up these sweet, fleeting moments. I know they are so special and that I will long for them one day.
Our neighbor and friend Grace dropped by a delicious pasta salad and some pretty flowers. Our other neighbor Jenny gave Cilla two adorable books about being a big sister. I am so grateful to have them. Seth’s mom and dad are coming to visit this weekend, and I cannot wait for them to meet Langston.
This day Langston started to become more alert. He opened his eyes more and is really starting to take in the world {aka our bedroom, haha, more!}. Right now his eyes are a deep gray, very similar to Cilla’s before they turned brown.
Wednesday | Langston gave us some decent sleep Tuesday night so we started off on a great foot Wednesday! I’m so grateful that Seth is able to work from home and care for Cilla while I focus on Langston. It was cool enough for him to wear an adorable pajama outfit with sailboats. I love him in it! I had a chill morning, folded laundry, and eat a decent breakfast. For the first time in months I put on a pair of leggings, and am feel like the rest of my wardrobe is mine again. I remember after Cilla being so confused about what to wear as a nursing mom, this time I am feeling more confident in that and how to dress.
He was also quite a bit more sleepy, and more even tempered today. I’m hoping this doesn’t mean he’ll be up all night long!
Thursday | We had a great sixth day! I feel like Langston is really starting to look around more and has periods of being more alert, but like Wednesday, he was pretty sleepy. This made me nervous for nighttime, but he seems to have a pattern already with sleep which I appreciate. He is also taking a few longer naps during the day which is when I shower/take a bath and get dressed. Today was the first day I wore a regular nursing bra, not a tank top. It feels so good to get ready and dressed for the day!
I finally put him in his Juneteenth onesie, he is wearing newborn size, but I can tell he won’t be for long. We also had a phone visit with our midwives. I just continue to feel so good, grateful that this time has been easier!
I picked out two cute designs for a birth announcement and started working on them. I did this with Cilla and loved having everything ready to go before baby arrived.
Friday | Langston did his first almost 3 hour stretch of sleep Thursday night. We were up around the 5am hour so I was tired once Cilla got up, but we managed. Our neighbor Jenny came by to visit and it was great to chat with her.
I put Langston in my Solly for the first time, I also went downstairs for the first time since Saturday. It felt surreal and SO good. I am still focusing on healing and resting per my midwives orders, and I truly believe in this way of doing post partum, but it was great to feel “normal” for a few minutes.
Cilla has truly taken so well to LJ. She is very sweet, gentle, and loving with him. She seems to not be disrupted schedule wise by having a brother. I am just amazed at how well she’s handled the transition, and receiving care more from our sitter, Seth, and my mom compared to what is normal. I’m so proud of her!
Mara sent over our birth photos! Hooray! I cannot wait to share them along with our birth story. It was such a joy to look at them again. I still can’t believe Langston came as fast as he did.
Saturday | Friday was a rough night for sleep, but I just tried to manage during the day. I was able to lay down briefly twice, and I knew that I would need it as we were hosting Seth’s parents for the evening and night! We haven’t seen them since Feb which is a huge gap for us as we usually visit them once a month.
We started off our day with Langston’s first bath! I was so excited for this milestone and glad we had the camera nearby. He seemed to tolerate it, but did the usual screaming just like Cilla did 🙂
In the afternoon I was alone with both kids for the first time. Whew! It went really well honestly. We played in Langston’s room and then I was able to put him down for a nap before Cilla needed to rest.
In the afternoon my in-laws arrived, it was so great to see them! They were in love with Langston and Cilla was thrilled to visit with them in person. We ended up having a great porch dinner, and I had my first post pregnancy drink. Saturday night was Langston’s best night of sleep so far, he gave me a nearly four hour stretch as the beginning of the evening and I needed it after Friday night. It’s amazing how good almost four hours can feel after one and two hours!
