Chile- 1 month - gentle spirit

Well, here we are at 16 weeks (4 months by my calculations but Edwin says we have to wait until February 2nd. Chileshe is growing and developing so fast I can hardly keep track.Here are the month break downs. I hope I can remember everything!

1 month -
This time was spent getting to now her and basically just watching her while she slept. It is amazing how much time you can kill just staring at a newborns face. They make so many cute faces and little grunts and coo's that you just want to remember every minute.
Adjusting to two kids was not as difficult as I thought it would be. My main concern before having Chileshe was that I would not know how to love her like I LOVE Malaika. I new that I would love Chileshe but I had such a connection with Malaika, she has been my sidekick for three years!!
As soon as Chileshe arrived though, there is this little compartment in your heart that grows and contains all the love you need! It is amazing and such a cool experience to love two little people as much as I love my girls!


Chileshe is such an easy baby. As a very new newborn she just needed snuggles and food and diaper changes. If she

cried you knew that one of those things were needed. The rest of the time she was sleeping and could even sleep in

her cradle during the day! (WHAT!?) I was dedicated to

breastfeeding this time around and really wanted to give it

a try. For the first 2 weeks I did breast milk only. She had weekly check-ups at the doctor and by the first check-up she had already lost to much weight. We had to continue to go to appointments twice a week until she gained back to her birth weight. They said I had to give her formula as well as breast milk. I was sad but not overwhelmed like I was with Malaika. I just decided to do my best and after two weeks she was back to her birth weight. Thank you Similac!
Her sleep schedule was fairly easy.
sleep from 5-9 - wake up eat and changesleep from 10-2 - wake up eat and change
sleep from 3-7 - wake up eat and change
sleep 8-10 - usually sister would wake up and

start making noise =0)

This was the first 4 weeks and she was also fairly easy to get back to sleep. The one thing I really noticed about her is her gentle spirit. She is SOOOO happy and easy. She did not have long drawn out cries and basically just calm all the time. We even took her to Red Robin for Malaika's family birthday dinner and papa's pizza for her friend party and she never cried once. Just slept... it was weird LOL

She was sooo tiny and dainty and BEAUTIFUL!

Malaika has adjusted so well and LOVES being mommy's helper. She is even willing to help with diaper changes. She gives Chile lots of kisses and loves to touch her face. She is such a good big sister!
The biggest adjustment for us has been WHERE to sleep. Malaika still sleeps in our "big" bed sometimes and we had tried to adjust her to her toddler bed before Chile came.

The first night home she was NOT okay sleeping in her toddler bed. She wanted in on all the action and baby "fun". SO I ended up sleeping on the couch in the living room with Chile and Malaika and Edwin sleep in the bed. (uh hmm... she is 4 weeks old and I am still sleeping on the couch.... We are sooo not good at the independent sleep thing)

I dream of a day when Edwin and I can sleep in our gigantic bed all to ourselves and dream sweet un-interrupted dreams... HA!

Stay tuned for month two, hopefully before she is a year old.

Chileshe has arrived!!!

Chileshe’s Delivery (I know a little late)
We were scheduled to induce on the 2nd at 7:30 a.m. at Tuality Hospital. My doctor advised me when we set up the induction that she would most likely not deliver my baby unless the induction process was fat and I had the baby by 5 or 6 p.m. I was supposed to call the birthing center at 7 and let them know I was scheduled for 7:30 and they would let me know if there were any available beds. (This is the same thing we had to do for Malaika’s birth. ) I was prepared for them to tell me that there were no available beds and to call back around noon. That is exactly what happened. IMAGINE! Luckily I was prepared and did not have a freak out moment this time and I just hopped in the shower and went about my dad as usual. I knew they would get me in sooner or later. Around 11:30 we received a call and they asked if I could get in within the next 15 to 20 minutes. I loved it when the lady immediately said, “So I hear you want to have a baby today?” YES YES and YES!
Susanna had spent the night the night before so she could take care of Laika until my mom could get to the house. So we packed up the car and gave her hugs and kisses and off we went. Malaika was actually pushing us out the door. I think she was excited to have alone time with her favorite aunty.
We got to the hospital around noon and they admitted us into this HUGE suite. It was GIGANTIC! After all the paper work and blood tests and IV were put in the doctor came to talk about my options. At my last apt. (The day before) Dr. Bird had said I was measuring at a 3 almost a 4. That was exciting to me because I knew Pitocin would give me the kick I needed to start labor. BUT when I was checked by the nurse she said I was MAYBE a 2. (Oh, and for the record, I cannot stand nurses with little tiny hands. They were actually bracing themselves on the bed rail to check me. I had 3 different nurses come in because the two before said they could not “find” my cervix. UM? I know it didn’t walk away.)
They had called the doctor to check me and I thought they were going to send me home. But she checked and said I was a solid 3 and they needed to get started. (Take that small handed nurses! Haha Can you tell I felt victorious!)
They started the Pitocin around 1:30 and checked on me every hour or so. The contractions kept increasing. Around 7 they started noticing Chileshe’s heart rate dropping with each contraction. They were a little bit concerned so they started coming in every 20 minutes or so to check on us. The pain was increasing but I felt really good. I was dilated to about a 5 around 8 o’clock. (Oh and by the way I prayed that my night nurse would be gentle and have nice long fingers. The LORD absolutely loves me and sent me a long fingered angel of a nurse. She was so kind and GENTLE, no bracing herself and shoving her entire arm up my hoo ha. SHEESH! The constant checks from the day time nurses were almost as bad as the delivery itself!) The nurse advised me that Dr. Hendrickson, the Doctor on call was going to come in to break my water (If I wanted that) in about an hour. She said I could either have my epidural now or after the water was broke. I decided to have the epidural before the water breaking because with Malaika, as soon as my water broke she was on her way.
The anesthesiologist came in about 20 minutes later and inserted the epidural. I was actually really nervous about it. I always have these weird fears that if the epidural worked so well the first time (as far as side effects go) then it was bound to get me the second time. Well, the first epidural did not work. I felt no numbing of pain and well, I Felt everything! You are not supposed to if you have an epidural. She kept asking me if it was working and I kept thinking it would eventually kick in. So we waited … She left the room and I started crying, I told Edwin I could still feel everything but I felt bad asking her to come back and re-insert it. I was also scared to go through the procedure again. What if I annoyed the anesthesiologist and she comes in and does a hack job the second time? EEK! Edwin calmly told me that we were paying a TON of money for this epidural and if it was not working we needed to let them know. I of course wanted to get my money’s worth. LOL She came back in and re-inserted the tube and this time it was amazing!
About a half hour later the Doctor finally arrived to break my water and put things into motion. I knew as soon as my water broke delivery would be quick. With Malaika they broke my water around 6 and I had her by 8 (ish). It was now 10:00 and I was MORE than ready to have this baby. The Doctor said everything looked clear and fine and she would be back to check on me in a few hours. As soon as the doctor left I could feel pressure and some pain in my core. I tried to relax and watch some TV (Modern Family was on) BUT I could not concentrate at all. Around 11 I started shaking uncontrollably (just like Malaika’s delivery teeth chattering and all) GOSH I HATE the shakes! Edwin made fun of me after the delivery because I kept apologizing to everyone because I was shaking so much. I think I would win the award for the NICEST woman in delivery EVER! With each Contraction came a wave of shakes. I could feel her moving down and I told the nurse I was ready to push. She had me do a practice push (I don’t think she believed that I was really ready). I gave her one push and she said… “Uh, hold on I need to page the doctor. Do not push while I am gone!”
When she came back with the doctor she was surprised that it was time already. They set everything up and said I could start pushing. I remember looking at the clock at 11:40 and I was like, “Oh Edwin I think we will have this baby today on the 2nd. “ The Doctor dashed my hopes and said ; “Well, pushing takes a while so it will probably be a little longer.”
I showed her! I pushed her out in 3 rounds of 3 pushes each and at 11:51 pm on February the second Chileshe Amyra Mwango joined the Mwango clan (8 lbs. 7 oz. and 20 inches long)! She is AMAZING and beautiful and I could talk about her for hours! They put her right up on my chest and they actually left her up there for a while. They cleaned her and I was able to just look at her beautiful features. It is so rewarding after waiting for so long and all the hard work you put into labor to see such a beautiful face and know that this little baby is a part of you. I tear up thinking about what a blessing my kids have been to my life, they literally change you from the moment you look into their little face. You want to BE more for them and GIVE them everything you can. Your desire is no longer selfish but abundant. Nothing can compare!