A New Human - Introducing Dillon James

I abandoned my blog during the last part of my pregnancy with Baby Boy #2. It was pretty rough for me...very tired, too many shots of insulin, lots of pain. It was all I could do to keep up with laundry and dishes.

We were scheduled for induction on Friday...got there at 7:30 as requested...and were sent home. Oh my goodness that was so horrible. Obviously in the scheme of things it wasn't a big deal, but I was SO ready to be done. But obviously it wasn't God's will for Dillon to be born on Friday. So we called Saturday morning and were told to come on down.

As of Saturday night, the pregnancy is officially over and Dillon James arrived - on June 15 at 9:57 pm. He was 7 pounds 7 ounces and 20 inches long. In comparison, Marshal was 7 pounds and 4 ounces and 19 3/4 inches long. God blessed us with a very healthy little guy.

Marshal took a little longer to arrive than Dillon and I don't remember it being nearly as painful but it's been nearly four years so I'm sure I blocked out those memories. I only pushed with Dillon for four or five contractions and he arrived...could have been less than 30 minutes. Pretty sure Marshal took over an hour once I started pushing.

On the bright side - my recover, and Dillon's, was nearly textbook and NO ICU for baby!!! My blood sugars were great and my blood pressure didn't crash this time. I was actually able to stand up to get in the wheel chair to go to recovery this time. With Marshal they had to wheel me in on the bed.

Dillon James Casto - Newborn

When Marshal was born I tried so hard to breast feed and was adamant against using formula. Within a few hours of his birth his blood sugar had dropped so low that he was admitted to ICU. If I'd agreed to go with formula right away we probably would have avoided the ICU.

This time, I made up my mind ahead of time that I would try to breast feed but was not going to be stubborn about it if it didn't work. And not surprisingly, it didn't.

There are a few reasons why breast feeding doesn't work for me...that I won't go into online. They are mostly medical. I tried for over a month to breast feed with Marshal and it caused me nothing but pain, depression, and lack of bonding with my son. I've come to terms with not being able to breast feed my sons. And this time I was pretty glad for formula.

Dillon did not need to be admitted into ICU after his blood sugar started to drop because we started him on formula. I'm sure there are moms out there who will lecture me, say I didn't try hard enough, judge me...that's okay. Feel free. I'm okay with our decision and I know the ultimate reasons behind it.

Dillon - 1 1/2 days old at home

We came home less than 48 hours after birth with a super healthy baby boy - doctors and nurses said he was "perfect"...we'll see. :) No jaundice, hearing and cardiac tests passed, eating and blood sugar perfect.

I'll write more because I want to document our experience with our new boy...and Marshal too. This is kind of a diary for me.