Becoming a family of 4: Nolan's birth story

We always knew we wanted more than one child, As I've mention in the past we said "one of each and we'll stop at 4." What we didn't expect, after trying for a year to conceive Christian, was getting pregnant at just the mere "thought"  having another child 😉

After the shock had somewhat worn off and the reality of having two children started to sink in, we put our game faces on. Ok - what do we need? Another car seat, crib, double stroller...

We had this.
We were ready.

And then we weren't.

At our 20 week ultrasound when they check growth and development and can with more certainty know the sex of your baby,,, a hiccup in the plan. As the sonogram ticked on minute after minute, we noticed the sonographer seemed to be spending an awful long time looking at our baby boy's (Yes - we were expecting another son!!) head and brain.

We could sense something wasn't right, but of course when we asked if something was wrong were told "the doctor will go over everything with you." So unlike with Christian when we had been able to leave the office with our baby pictures in hand and smiles plastered on our faces, we were ushered back into a room where the nurse practitioner (my doctor wasn't there that day) explained what had been found on the ultrasound. Our baby boy had a choroid plexus cyst.




Although there didn't appear to be any other abnormalities that are typically present with Trisomy 18,  which is usually the concern associated with these, we were referred to a specialist and would have to get am additional ultrasound at 28 weeks. I immediately broke down. I didn't want to look at the pamphlets she handed me. I didn't want it to be real, Waiting those next eight weeks felt like an eternity, An eternity in which we cried. A lot. And prayed, A lot.

Finally we had made it to 28 weeks. I remember not even being able to bring myself to look at the monitors during the sonogram. I didn't look until the doctor conformed what we'd been praying for - a healthy boy! All thanks to God, the cyst had resolved on its own and our baby boy was HEALTHY!!

It was so awesome to finally be able to enjoy the rest of my pregnancy without constant worrying - to get our other son excited to welcome his brother - to prepare his room - to truly embrace being a family of four.

***

I had gone to work just like any other day and then on to the gym where I would proceed to walk on the treadmill for 45 minutes before coming home. At this point our baby was "overdue" and we more more than ready to welcome him! I came home, showered, ate dinner and put Christian to bed. I remember sitting on the couch watching TV with Justin and experiencing contractions. When they had been 5 minutes apart for an hour, Justin told me we needed to call my doctor. I so desperately didn't want to be sent home from the hospital saying I wasn't in labor, that I made Justin make the call to Dr. Peck.  He told us to come in! (I was already at a 6 when we got to the hospital and so I look back now and acknowledge the real possibility that if Justin hadn't made the call our little boy quite possibly could have been born at home!!) We called our amazing friends who watched Christian and asked if we could drop him off... I vividly remember that last picture we took on their front steps before heading to the hospital.


By the time we got to the hospital and got settled, it was late in the evening and just a few hours later in the calm, early morning hours of August 5th 2011 at 3:06am God blessed us with another son: Nolan Augustus Stuewe. Perfect delivery and a perfectly healthy boy.

Ironically as peaceful as his birth was, his personality turned out to be much different. He's incredibly stubborn, strong willed, passionate and SO different from his brother. This is the first lesson we came to learn about having two children - so close in age but different in so many ways. No matter how easy it is to compare them, don't. They are individuals with different strengths and talents and incredibly different birth stories which should have been out first clue :)

Going from one to two honestly wasn't hard. We could easily divide and conquer, although I'm sure I'm just blocking out all the hard days :) Having two boys back to back was also nice from the standpoint of sharing clothing, blankets, toys etc. We used what we could of Christian's but also made sure Nolan has things to call his own. But the best part of having a second child is all the loves that comes with them. Love for them, being loved by them and knowing the love of God is upon them.




Happy birthday to our incredibly stubborn, sweet passionate Nolan! You challenge us on a daily basis to be better parents and we love you more than you will ever know 💓