What a week!

Along with Liam's early arrival, by an unexpected method, our week was studded with other "surprises." On the day I was to come home, John was about to drop Charlie off at daycare when Charlie vomited in the car. Unable to take him in, and fearing the worst, he drove him home and made an appointment with the pediatrician. I had to call another friend, Teresa, to come pick me and the baby up from the hospital. As it turns out, Charlie was fine-- no fever, no other symptoms, and flu was not suspected. He went home and took a long nap and appeared to be feeling much better by the time Liam and I arrived home.

Later that evening, I was running water in the kitchen sink to wash out some parts to my breast pump, when I discovered that we had no hot water. The gas line maintenance that we had been warned about a week or two earlier had apparently happened the day before, and our gas had been off ever since. We had to call to have it turned back on and the appliances re-lit.

Halloween was not as expected, since we had two kids, not one. But Charlie had a great time nonetheless. And I got to have a glass of wine while handing out candy!

I think the distraction of Halloween has helped Charlie with the transition to being a big brother. He seems interested in the baby, and is being no more difficult than he has been lately. I could easily attribute most of his acting out to just being his age and wanting to be independent. He's no more defiant than he was a week ago.

We've had several visitors already. My parents arrive this evening to spend the week. It's hard to believe that under our original plan, I would have been taking vacation today to clean the house and make final baby preparations. Instead, I was trying to rest between feedings and diapers while John went in to work for a while.

We've been doing pretty well, considering we were only half prepared for what has happened. The verdict is still out as far as whether my recovery will be easier from this delivery than the last one. It certainly is different-- I will say that for sure!