Welcome To the World, Joshua Paul!

After the longest break from blogging that I've ever taken, I am back today writing a blog post, holding my newborn son in my arms as I type. I treasure every moment with my children and there is something so special about cuddling a newborn baby. They grow so quickly and I want to make sure to value this time and not take it for granted.

Joshua Paul was born on November 9th at 12:39 pm. Just like the birth of Nathaniel, the memory of hearing our second son's first cry and then having him placed in our arms will always be one of the most cherished memories that my husband and I got to share and will forever cherish.

We are so excited and overjoyed to welcome another little boy into our family.

My pregnancy was high risk and since I struggled with dehydration, low electrolytes, malnutrition and weight loss, I wasn't able to gain any weight throughout the pregnancy. Because of this, the baby was born very small and weighed only 5 pounds. For the first few days, he also had low blood sugar, because he was so skinny it was a challenge for him to retain a normal blood glucose level. He was in the NICU for 10 days before we finally brought him home.

Thankfully, he didn't have any health issues and when he was able to keep his blood sugar at a normal level and eat enough to gain some weight, we brought him home.

It's so wonderful to be home again and to enjoy spending time with family.

My parents were able to take the time to come and stay with us and take care of Nathaniel while we were in the hospital. They were such a huge help not only with Nathaniel, but also during my recovery and helping out with cooking, grocery shopping, and other things around the house, like laundry and cleaning. I have no idea what we would have done without them. It was also so nice to be able to share our new baby with them too.

It is so sweet to watch Nathaniel with Joshua. He is still very young, so it's hard to tell what he's really thinking and experiencing, but he's not showing any signs of jealousy, for which we are very thankful. He loves his little brother and is constantly hugging him, touching his hands, feet and hair, and tries to rock him in the bouncer and is just so cute with him. I am really looking forward to watching them grow up together and become best buddies.

Recovery for me hasn't been easy either. I am still receiving IV electrolytes through my PICC line every day and am working hard on gaining weight back and getting strong again. I am so thankful for my doctors but most of all for my parents and my husband, who are so supportive, encouraging and helpful during this time of recovery. I've had so many abdominal surgeries and in addition to that, this was my third c-section, so I am still experiencing a lot of pain because of the massive amounts of adhesion and scars that the surgeons had to get through to be able to deliver the baby. We were reminded once again what a miracle it is that I was able to get pregnant with both of our boys. How humbling it is to see God's mighty hand at work. Every day brings me closer to getting stronger once again and getting back to our "normal" life.

We are so thrilled for the gift of another precious son. Every day we experience so much happiness as a family of four and are so  grateful for God's goodness in the life of our family.