In Kelly’s Words – Welcome Nell!

It is a busy time in the household to say the least, so I apologize for a quick blog this month! This week includes a KBF Board Meeting, review of our Active Fund spring grant cycle applications, and the new addition to our family now 1 month old!

I really want to focus this blog on the new addition to our family, Nell Seaton Davisson, who was born on March 14. Since my last blog was about my pregnancy and I’m all consumed with a newborn now, I thought I’d follow up on how life as a family of 4 has been.

My delivery was pretty easy. I was induced at 39 weeks, mostly to make sure I didn’t go into labor and not know it (one of my biggest concerns because of my level of injury and the lack of feeling in the abdomen and below). The induction worked well (sometimes that isn’t the case and the body doesn’t respond to the medications that are supposed to cause contractions) and 9 hours after it started we had our beautiful baby girl! We were down to 2 names but hadn’t decided for sure until having her that her name would be Nell. Seaton is my mom’s maiden name and was my middle name before I got married (I then dropped Seaton and made Brush my middle name) so I was really excited to give Nell this middle name.

Nell has been a great kid so far. She is breastfeeding well which was one of my biggest concerns and anxieties (her older sister hadn’t been so good at that….). She is gaining weight wonderfully; we had her 1 month checkup recently and she’s up to 9 pounds (she was born at 6lb 10oz). She is sleeping about as well as we could hope for. She’s getting 3- or 4-hour stretches between feeding at night and then goes right back to sleep at night. She is more awake in the early morning (from about 5am on) and Zeke has been wonderful in taking her out of our room and letting me get a little extra sleep. I’m very thankful to have someone who is so supportive and helpful!

Parenting 2 kids from a wheelchair has had its challenges but generally has gone really well. One struggle we have had is when Dylan wants to come on my lap but Nell is already there. I use a boppy (a horseshoe shaped pillow) on my lap to hold Nell when I’m in our house, which allows me to use my arms to wheel but also carry her. But with this pillow there is not enough room for an almost 3 year old as well, which doesn’t always go over well. Thankfully Dylan has been generally great and when I explain why she can’t come on my lap or do some of the things she was used to doing before I had Nell she has been pretty agreeable. She also is very excited to see “her baby” always and wants to “check on her” constantly – for better or worse!

And just this week I did my first car trip alone with both girls. I was particularly anxious about this because in order to transfer into my car, breakdown my wheelchair, and pull it over me I need to recline the driver seat really far back. We moved Dylan’s carseat behind the driver’s set and turned it forward. Then I just need to talk Dylan through pulling up her feet while the chair is reclined back! Worked well the first time. I’ll try to get a video of this process so you can all see what goes into it.

All in all I’m feeling really good about where we are with having a second child. I’m loving being on maternity leave and spending this extra time with Nell. As she continues to get older I know we’ll have our challenges, but I’m so thankful to have a wonderful family around me that is so supportive and helpful!