Saturday, December 12, 2009

nathan's arrival

nathan keehoon kim arrived on november 24th, 2009. his birthday is 4 days before older brother, caleb's bday. he weighed in at 7lbs. 14 oz. and measured 20 inches long. he was almost a pound heavier than caleb was at birth.

so for those who don't know by now...i gave birth at home. haha...yeah...
i gave birth in a birthing tub. i wanted to give the home experience a try without any meds. it was a great experience, but wow, super painful. thankfully, my labor was super duper short. i don't know if i would have been able to do it if it had been longer.

i was frustrated and uncomfortable with being overdue...i went to my doctor's appointment on tuesday at 4:30pm. i told the doctor to check me to see if i had dilated at all...i said that i had some minor cramping. little did i know...i had actually been in labor the whole week without even knowing it! she checked me and said...wow! you're already 8cm dilated! for those who don't know...10cm is when you are ready to push and give birth. she said that she's done 200 births and this has never happened before. so we hurried and met back at home by 5:30. we set up all the equipment and i began to feel the pain...i got in the tub and after the most intense hour and a half of my life, nathan was born at 7:15. jun got to experience catching the baby as he came out. after all the cleanup and newborn check, caleb and the grandparents came upstairs and met nathan for the first time. the best part is i got to stay in my bed and recover...
recovery has been much better this time, but i'm still in bed and taking things easy as of now thanks to my mother in law who watches caleb and prepares food for me. i am so thankful. all i really need to do is feed nathan, which is every 2-3 hours. what do i do once my dear mother in law leaves? oh my....

the hardest part of this whole experience is not being able to be with and interact with caleb to the degree i use to. he gets sad sometimes and so do i...but i think he's slowly adjusting. jun's been doing a lot of the things i use to do with caleb like all the bedtime routine stuff...they've definitely bonded even more through this experience.
having two is really crazy! i can't wait til things settle down!

i am so tired and still physically kind of weak...so i'm going to end here and get some rest before i need to feed nathan again. i'll end with this...i love my boys so much. they are so precious, including jun.

caleb's 2nd birthday. grandpa and daddy took him to chuck e cheese. i was so sad i couldn't be there.

caleb's birthday cake that he chose with daddy...
grandparents got to sing happy birthday to caleb
enjoying his cake
daddy napping with nathan
an outing with daddy and grandpa
before grandpa left for korea...they took a picture with their grandsons...
caleb loves blowing out candles and us singing the happy birthday song, so we did it again with his leftover cake.
caleb and nathan
daddy and nathan
daddy, grandma, and the boys...
grandma wanting to get a picture with nathan while his eyes were open...
grandma loving his grandsons...
caleb posing with his brother
daddy setting up the christmas tree
enjoying some family time...
caleb looking at nathan. he says his name very well now!
nathan doing what babies do best...sleep :)
wide awake!
brothers...
caleb was very happy that day...

caleb kisses nathan all the time!
my boys...
grandma spending time with caleb and nathan...
hello!
our little one...
i can't believe we are a family of four now.
caleb's christmas pjs...from grandpa.
reading before bedtime...
bye bye....til next time!

5 comments:

Shannon said...

Wow! Incredible birth story - great job Amber!! Your family is beautiful and Nathan is super sweet. Praying for you as you get lots of rest for all the adventures you will have with your little men! :)

Stella Kim said...

Amazing!!
That surprised me how you gave birth at your house! Wow =D
I want to see Nathan in person now!
He looks so cute =D and Caleb too, as always.
They do look alike and wow.
I am jus so amazed!
Well, take some rest and I will contact you maybe before i go back to Korea =D

Sardean said...

you gave birth at home?? wow! that's so cool. i'm too grossed out by everything coming out to do it at home. you are def brave. hope you're getting some rest! i know it's hard to come by but looks like you're getting great help for now :)

Anita Chen said...

Amber, I am so happy for you. You gave birth at home!! That is incredible! I want to see Nathan when you come back to Taipei! :) Best Wishes to you and Jun! Nathan and Caleb are so cute! I really want to hug them! Kisses!!

Anonymous said...

happy new years from our family to your family..sounds cheesy huh? =P i will be following up on your posts the coming year =)