The arrival of our second child is a little different than the arrival of our first. We are all, of course, very excited about our impending new arrival, but it’s a different excitement than with Sophia. When we were expecting Sophia, we didn’t really know what to expect. With the arrival of our son, not only do we know “what we’re getting into”, but we also already have many of the tools-of-the-trades first-time parents lack. The knowledge of how amazing Sophia has made the last 2o months of our lives fills us with an excitement we could not have comprehended before.
The (expected) details of his arrival:
- C-Section scheduled for the morning of Monday, Feb. 15. (For those of you thinking, “that’s just like Michele, planning it out”, you should know that Michele was really looking forward to the spontaneous, natural experience. But sometimes even that is not something you can control.)
- As with Sophia, we will be delivering at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, NC.
- We have AWESOME friends that have agreed to watch Sophia while we are in the hospital. Though at least we learned she can visit. Yay!
Because Michele will be recovering from surgery, we ask that if you want to meet the new addition, please introduce yourself to him when we get back home. The amazing love and support we received in the hospital when Sophia arrived was both amazing and literally overwhelming.
So, how exactly is it different this time around beyond the obvious gender difference?
- Not as much free time to prep. So the prepping is not as peppy.
Crib and dresser from "his" room
For a perfect example, one only need look at his room. For “long time readers”, you may recall the post describing her nursery. To prep for this post, I ran upstairs, moved boxes out of the frame, and snapped some pix. We simply have not been able to dedicate the same level of energy and time to his room that we did for Sophia’s. Nevertheless, he does have a bigger room, brand new furniture, and just as many hand me downs and amazing sales acquisitions as Sophia did.
- One huge difference is the amount of combined time we’ll be taking off. With Sophia, Michele stayed at home 4 months. Dave began his 3 month leave after that. When all was said and done, Sophia did not start day care until she was 7 1/2 months old. Her brother will only have mom home for the first 3 months. It will be interesting to see how that difference plays out. Dave will be out a total of 6 weeks, though the last 3-4 weeks will be staggered as part time. (Big shout out to my boss Kevin for supporting this flexible schedule! Here’s an unsolicited plug for his site about all things Durham.)
- Lastly, it will be….interesting to see just how different the two kids are. We, of course, think Sophia is the perfect child. So, of course, karma would dictate that he will be….different. We know it’s just being silly and superstitious, but we can’t help it. I remember a story my mother shared about when she was expecting her second child, my brother Michael. She was concerned she could not possibly love anyone as much as she loved her firstborn, my sister Elizabeth. (She was genuinely concerned about this.) But then, as soon as he was born, she knew she loved him just as much. I’m sure the same will be true for us.
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