5 Weeks Old

~It is so hard to believe Benjamin is already 5 weeks old. He has really changed in the last few weeks and is starting to pack on some chubs :) We were curious on his weight so I took him up to the clinic Friday and put him on the scales. He is now weighing in at 9#1 oz and is 23 inches long and is one handsome dude :) He is still eating every two hrs during the day and starting to spread out a little at night to 4hrs(which I really appreciate). I know I will look forward to the night he goes 5-6 hrs between feedings.

Santas Little Helper

Think he has a future job in the North Pole? I think he needs to grow into his pants first :)

Rub a Dub Dub.....Benjamin's in the tub

Last night was Benjamin's official first bath and he just loved every minute of it. I kept waiting for him to let out a cry but he just smiled, made the cutest little noises and then proceeded to pee everywhere. The stream was so strong that it bounced off the top cabinets and onto the coffee maker. We were laughing soooooo hard and Adam was very proud of the distance he made :)

Kids Christmas party

Today was the kids Christmas party for Adam's work so we loaded up Benjamin and headed over to the hanger to see Santa arrive in an F-16. His pilot was Rudolph and they made a very loud entrance. I think this was the coolest Santa I have ever seen!!

Guess who's 2wks Old

~Well Benjamin is 2 weeks old today and has already changed so much. He has more awake times now and has decided that it's time to party between 10pm and 1am(this is daddy's time)and is wide awake and ready to go. He went for his well baby check yesterday and everything looks good. His weight is now up to 6#3oz and we are hoping he will be back to birth weight by next Thursday(this is when we see the Dr again). The last two days he has wanted to do nothing but eat constantly and we are hoping he's going through a much needed growth spurt. Thank goodness we still have some formula around because after he nurses he still wants to eat. At this point all that matters is that he is growing and gaining weight.

Isn't he just the cutest thing!

Merry Christmas!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday season and a Happy New Year. We are looking forward to what the new year has ahead for us and our little miracle. Thanks to everyone for all the prayers and support throughout this whole process. i will continue to keep everyone updated on Benjamin's progress. Keep us in your prayers for his weight to increase and his jaundice to resolve and for my milk to start producing more. We have a busy next few days with Dr appointments Wed, Thurs and Friday.

God Bless!!

First visit with Santa and Mrs Clause

Well we headed over to the BX today for Benjamin to meet Santa for the first time. Everyone kept commenting on how tiny he was and just how cute he is. Of course we had to agree with them :) We are looking forward to Christmas with this little guy. GiGi, Pop Pop, and aunt Lauren are flying in on the 23rd to celebrate Christmas and meet him for the first time. We will have a full house for a few days but are looking forward to seeing family again.

Benjamin Has Arrived!!!

Our little bundle of joy decided to enter this world last Saturday Nov 24Th at 8:05 am. He weighed 6# 10oz and was 20 in long.

As some of you know I had been having some blood pressure issues for the last few weeks and after being monitored very closely by my Dr's and the hospital they put me on some meds to try and get it to come down. It seemed to be working for the first two days and then last Friday(black Friday) I woke up not feeling very well. I had a massive headache and went ahead and took my meds and some Tylenol and laid down. An hour later the headache was worse and my blood pressure was even higher. My head was pounding so hard I couldn't see clearly and was crying uncontrollably. After putting in a call to my Dr we were told he was not on and who we needed to call. I was told to come in immediately and so Adam and my mom loaded up all the stuff and we headed into town. By the time we arrived it had been 2 1/2 hrs since my b/p meds and when the got me all hooked up to the machines it was still critically high so they of course admitted me to start the induction.

Pitocin was started at 1:30pm on Friday and we had a loooooong night of laboring ahead. For some reason they would increase the pitocin every hr but I wasn't changing at all. I finally got my epidural at 1:00am Saturday and was able to rest for a few hrs. At 5AM I was still at 2cm so my nurse called the Dr to see about breaking my water. When he arrived at 5:30AM I was at 5-6cm. Things went very very fast after my water was broken. Carrie barely made it back in time for this little guys arrival. By the time she got back at 7AM I had already started to transition. I only remember bits and pieces of things from that point on. My epidural wasn't working completely even after being given more meds. For some reason it only numbed my legs so I had 100% sensation everywhere else(this sucked!!) the next thing I know my head is being thrown back and the oxygen mask it being put on and they are rolling me from one side to the other. Later I was told that my b/p had spiked to 178/127 and Benjamin's heart rate had dropped to 60 and the nurse started calling for backup because I was complete. I remember hearing a nurse yell, But I just checked the board and she was only at a 2, next thing I know they are having me push and then suddenly telling me to stop because I was pushing to well. The Dr literally cam in just to catch him. My nurses deserve all the credit!!!!

The whole process was very exhausting and painful and now i know why they call it Labor, but it was totally worth it. Even with all the extra pains and almost having to be taken to the OR because my placenta wouldn't release(it finally did almost an hr later)and they were going to remove it surgically. He is worth it all!!

Baby Shower

~So Saturday my Best friend Carrie threw me a beautiful baby shower at her house. It was a diaper shower so of course we received tons of diapers and some wipes. Adam couldn't believe how many packs we had and the bottom of Benjamin's closet is now full :) Thank you to everyone who was able to come, it meant the world to me. Benjamin will definitely know how loved he is when he meets all of you.

Getting ready for Nana!

Well we are counting down the days until my mom gets out here. She arrives in a week and I am definitely ready for her to get here. I feel like I still have so much to do before this little guy gets here and I just don't have the energy anymore(which sucks). I see the Dr on the 14th and am interested to see if this guy has dropped or not. I think he has a little bit due to the fact that I keep getting these sharp pains in my crotch :)

Adam is extremely busy with work lately and it's only getting worse(4 new projects starting) this is not a good time for him to be so busy!! and is kinda a crazy time for projects with the holiday season approaching. Hopefully things won't get to bad in the next 3 weeks or so. One of my fears right now is me not being able to get a hold of him during the day if I go into labor! Wouldn't it be funny to see me walking through all the security stuff in labor trying to find my husband so we can go to the hospital......You know I'll do it!!!!

Pregnancy Photos

So Adam and I went with our friend Carrie to the park today to do some Pregnancy photos and they turned out really really good! here are a few for now.

34 weeks

~So we finally took some belly pics tonight. It has been a while since the last ones were taken, but just haven't been in the mood to have myself photographed. I go back to the Dr Tuesday and then my weekly checks start after that. We are really getting close now! We took our tour of the Birthing Center and have registered. It was very emotional for me to see the nursery and the newborns, I told Adam I just couldn't look at the babies or I would start crying. I started packing a bag yesterday and just need to add a few more things to it. We can't wait for our little man to get here.

Smok from the fires

So today has been the first bad day for

us with the smoke from the fires. I have tried to stay in the house to keep from smelling it all but it has still worked it's way inside. These houses are so old that nothing is sealed off anymore. Thank goodness I love candles so much and have plenty to burn to reduce the lovely charred smell :) Hopefully it will clear out over the next few days and we will have our beautiful view of the mountains again.

napping with the girls

So! I caught Adam snoozing with the girls the other day while I was checking email. Darla and Jasmine know they are not allowed on our bed anymore because of the baby arriving soon so they just decided to go to the guest bed and Adam tagged along. Sorry mom! we'll kick them out when you get here so you have a place to sleep :)

Guess Benjamins birth weight?

~OK everyone so I thought it would be fun to play a little game and see who can come the closest to what his actual weight will be. As of our last ultrasound on the 19th he is right at 4#3oz. I am interesting to see what you all think, especially those of you who have had babies :)

Happy Guessing!!!

Our Little Thinker

So I had another ultrasound today to check the baby's size and see how my fluid levels are and everything looks to be right on schedule. He now weights 4.3 pounds which means he as gained a whole pound in just 2 weeks. I am curious to what the Dr says at my appointment tomorrow with his growth and size. Hopefully they will kinda know how big he will be at birth.

This is a pic of Benjamins intellectual side(the "Thinker" pose) as I like to call it.

Childbirth Class

Today we had our child birthing class at our OB's office and it was a long day ,5 1/2hrs but we really did learn a lot. The first half of the class was about what we have been feeling during our pregnancy and what is now considered normal. A big chunk of time was used to show Dad how to massage us moms and make us feel more comfortable now and during labor. I was really enjoying some of the techniques she showed and Adam has already been practicing them on me nightly :) I have had a lot of back pain these last few weeks and appreciate him constantly rubbing my back and neck. After we broke for lunch we came back and watched a birthing video and it wasn't that bad. Everyone had been so worried about Adam having to watch an actual baby being born and he didn't even squirm. On the way home he did tell me that he was glad I was the one giving birth and not him, that I have definitely been doing and will be doing all the work. I think the best thing about childbirth classes is that the fathers have a medical professional telling/showing them what the process in tales and they realizes it's not going to be fun, but it has a huge reward in the end and when we say something hurts, it really really hurts!

We didn't take the camera so there are no pics of the day, but my favorite exercises was when the dads had to hold cold packs in their non dominant hand and squeeze for 1min(like it was a contraction) then they immediately switched hands and did it again but this time the moms rubbed backs and they did the breathing exercise. They were all amazed at how much shorter the second one felt with just adding some breathing and back rubbing.

As for the rest of our week out here? Adam is flying a lot this week and I have a few parties to go to/host. We have another ultrasound Thursday am, then it's off to Tehachapi for some apple picking with the girls(Yum!). Friday is our next ob appointment and hopefully we will find out just how big they think he will be at birth. I am shooting for 7 1/2pds 21in long. Maybe I'll be close :) What does everyone else think? Currently they baby is almost 4pds, but will know more Thursday.

Ultrasound today

~ So the ultrasound shows everything was still normal and Benjamin is currently 3.3 pounds. I noticed when I got home and really looked at the pics that my name wasn't at the top so I gave them a ring and they said they had all the correct info for the Dr with the measuring and that the pics were my baby(DUH!) but they wanted me to have a set with my name on them so I get to go back on the 18th for another ultrasound. My next OB appointment is the following day so it stinks that I have to do the drive two days in a row again, but I really don't mind :P Here are the pics from today anyways. He is so stinking cute!!!! The first one is of his Wang(as Adam likes to put it) next to the arrow below his leg bone. Enjoy!!

Dr Visit

So I went this morning for my check-up and am now 30 weeks and have gained about 15 pounds total. I was concerned about the baby's position because he had been sideways for over 2 weeks and Monday night I had a horrible pain/burning go across my stomach and immediately had to lay down. The pain lasted at least 20min and I continued to feel the burning sensation until Tuesday night. At my visit the uterus was soft which was good and she didn't think he was sideways anymore and figured when he turned himself back around he hit a nerve or something. All I know is it hurt like Hell!!! I also am measuring 5 weeks large so she is having me go back tomorrow for another ultrasound. I will attach the pics when I get them, hopefully he is still a normal size and I am just measuring big consistently. And we know if he did indeed move and is hopefully now head down.

28 Weeks

Well I finally reached the 3rd trimester and went to see the doc today for my 28week check and everything looks to be right on schedule. I measured only 3 1/2 weeks larger this time which is a lot better than the 6 weeks I had been measuring. I told the Dr that I had noticed yesterday A.M that he had decided to lay sideways and I didn't think he had moved from that spot yet. Well he is sideways with his head on my right and his feet on the left and he has enjoyed punching my bladder all day today. My next appointment is Oct 3rd so I am now being seen every 2 weeks, if he hasn't moved by the next 2 visits then they said we should start to get concerned. I think he has just found himself a nice cozy place to lay and is all stretched out and doesn't want to move. Adam keeps joking that he is stuck in that position, which I don't find funny at all. I am gradually starting to gain weight every month and my doc is happy about that. I hate having to get on that scale every visit. I think all pregnant woman feels the same way about the scale :)