My Beautiful Babies

Week two of being a family of four.  Yesterday marked Ben's 1-week birthday, and his first trip to the pediatrician.  He passed with flying colors!  My little chow hound weighed in at 8 lbs 7.5 oz, or 1.5 oz over his birth weight, which (I guess) is a big deal at a week old to already have surpassed birth weight.  They also measured his height at 21 1/4 inches (or 1/2 inch over birth height).  The way height is measured is about the most unscientific measurement in the world, so I'm doubtful that he grew 1/2 inch in a week, but I guess stranger things have occurred.  

Eric also went back to work yesterday, which left me alone with both babies.  After quickly realizing that getting what I wanted to get done for the day wasn't going to happen, we regrouped, made a bigger mess with toys, and took some pictures to commemorate our survival of day 1 all alone.

one week old

begging me to let her take the pictures

I challenge you to find a sweeter pair of faces

I think she's wondering why all he does is sleep and eat

but then quickly discovered that sleeping Ben makes a good ottoman

Welcome, Benjamin Brig!

What a whirlwind of a week already...

Monday afternoon I went in for another doctor's appointment to find out that I was 3cm dilated.  I was disappointed to even be at the doctor to be truthful, because I had been feeling so lousy for so long that I just could not wrap my head around the fact that the baby had not been born yet.  Anyway, the doctor scheduled me to be induced the next day at 7:00am.  Finally.  A plan.

I drove home feeling a little strange.  Partly I guess I was trying to plan what we would need to get ready, when we would need to leave, etc.  A vastly different experience when you have something in a calendar versus having no idea when labor is going to happen.

By the time I got home I was already feeling really badly, increasing non-painful but much stronger contractions, though nothing consistent, and horrible lower back pain.  Additionally, Natalie took the opportunity to be a real monster most of the day on Monday.  I'm not sure what her deal was, but she made her last 24 hours as an only child less than pleasurable for me.  I felt so bad, in fact, that I put Eric in charge, and tried to lay down for a little while.  I felt somewhat better after resting, but couldn't eat dinner.  I was able to get myself through Nat's bedtime routine and could not wait to get into bed myself.  At 9:15 I had a painful contraction, 3 minutes later another one, and so it went.  After 5 in a row, I called the doctor.  The contractions weren't the same as with Natalie, so I was hesitant to call at all (boy am I glad I did, read on...).

The doctor suggested that we go ahead and leave for the hospital.  I called in our childcare to take over for Natalie, brushed my teeth and hair, went to the bathroom, and by 9:50 we were heading out the door. We got to the hospital at about 10:40, went through nurse triage (where they let me know that I wasn't being admitted yet, just evaluated to "RULE OUT" labor, um...what?), and finally I landed in a hospital bed.  At some point, our doctor had been called, then they called her again to find out she was in the parking garage.  Neither I, nor the baby cared, as he was born about 5 minutes after she got to our room.

Without further ado, Eric, myself, and Natalie are so proud to introduce you to...

Benjamin Brig 

10/15/2012

11:36pm

8 lbs 6 oz

20 3/4 inches

That was arguably the craziest 3 hours of my life--not in labor, in labor, baby in arms

Grandpa came to the hospital in the middle of the night

the next morning...

Ben had quite a bit of bruising on his face and one ear,

apparently this is coming in very fast labors.  Happily, this is all gone by now.

Grandma & Grandpa were our first visitors the next day, all the way from WI

Natalie meets her little brother

I sort of wish this moment had gone a little differently.  There were so many people in the room, I think she was a little out of sorts.  Either way, now that he's home, she is very happy to "help" when she can and even said tonight that we should keep him.  I'm sure I'll have to remind her of that plenty of times over the years.

Grandma finally gets a turn

my two babies

You know, it's strange.  You know how much you love your first baby, and you think that you cannot possibly love someone more than that, and you worry that you might not have enough love to give another child.  But somehow, you can and do.  My heart was so happy in this moment.

Aunt Beth

(infinitely cooler than Mama)

suited up to go home!

There have been a lot of adjustments already, and many more to come, I'm sure.  We were discussing tonight that it seems hard to remember that this time last week we didn't have Ben, and how he already fits into our little family as if he's always been here.  

Fall Fun

We've been busy filling our weekends with fall activities....last weekend we had visitors, and beautiful weather, and made a trip to the pumpkin patch!

All business

We came to this same pumpkin patch when I was little.  We could always pick out any pumpkin we wanted as long as we could carry it.  Natalie had lofty goals, but couldn't manage this one on her own.

with Nana and Papa

our favorite little guy, Jack, came along

Aunt Beth and the babies

Though it is early for cleaning and carving, we wanted to make sure we had a chance to do it and figured it would be a lot easier before the baby than after.  

Nat loved it!

Somebody got a little jealous of mama drawing faces on pumpkins to be carved, so she got to draw a face of her own.  My carving skills couldn't live up to her intricate design, so this is how it's on display...

Trying to mimic the face dada carved on his pumpkin

Our pumpkins lit later that night

Big Kid Room

As promised, here are pictures of Natalie's big kid room...

This was our blank canvas once we moved out the guest bedroom furniture

two big windows equals lots of nice light!

Freshly painted in "cheese puff" orange--

 I was going to go for green similar to the nursery, but Nat had input and selected orange

Colorful and "girly" without being too nauseatingly pink, right?

(don't be fooled, she's awake, just being a stinker about having pictures of her room taken)

Nat painted that picture hanging on the wall as a gift for me this Mother's Day,

happens that it went perfectly with her new decor!

"bubbaflies" as Natalie calls them

Nat received this growth chart as a birthday present.  It was in her nursery closet until I moved everything over, and discovered that it matches perfectly.  She has one measurement recorded...

My first completed Pinterest project.  I have one more to make in purple.

Close up of the quilt I labored over forever.  Definitely made with love (and frustration).

All in all, I am thrilled with the way the room turned out.  I was originally lacking a little inspiration and couldn't decide which way I wanted to go with colors and decorations, and ultimately could find nothing as far as bedding goes that I wanted to spend money on, which is how it ended up that I sewed this quilt.  Nat's not into Disney really, though she does LOVE her Minnie Mouse, or any other characters since she doesn't watch TV.  What she really likes are books, music, outside, and animals.  So, I tried to make a bright, colorful room that incorporated those things.  It took awhile to piece together the furniture and decorations, to paint, make the bedding, and the chair, but the kid loves it, and that's really all that matters.

A Peek Inside

Fact: still pregnant.

This was an eventful week for us on the baby front.  Probably the most bizarre and "out of the ordinary" that I have experienced in two full-term pregnancies.  And, for that I am extremely thankful.  I say that because the weird day we had Thursday was so far from being anything serious.  Here's what happened...

I went in for my normal appointment Thursday (by the way, a whole lot of nothing is going on.  drat.).  Everything checked out per usual.  Then the doctor came in and did her measurement, and said, "hmm....you're measuring really small today."  I almost laughed out loud at that.  At this stage in the game, I FEEL anything but small.  But, joking aside, my measurements had been spot on and consistent, then this week dropped off.  The doc decided that this could mean any of three things: 1. The baby is laying in such a way that the it was throwing off the measurements, 2. the baby's size was actually much smaller than they anticipated, or 3. the amniotic fluid levels had dropped too low.  So, I was quickly scheduled for an ultrasound to check things out....4 hours later.

I came home, rushed through all the things I could get done to prepare for our weekend guests, fit in some mama and Nat time (just in case we had to go to the hospital that afternoon), and rechecked my hospital bag, which I did take to the ultrasound in case they sent me to the hospital either for fluids or to have a baby.

The ultrasound proved that the baby is not small.  With 2 weeks to go, they estimated he weighs 7 pounds 12 ounces already.  Also, it showed that he is surrounded by plenty of fluid and happy as a clam just hanging out.  Fantastic.  I'm glad I can provide such a hospitable environment, but it's nice out here, too!  The conclusion is that my height and the baby's extraordinarily low position was causing the measurement to be skewed.  So I was sent back home with another appointment next week.

The upshot (besides the baby being just fine) is that I got to see his sweet little face in 3D!

In case you can't see it (because some people who have viewed it haven't been able to), this is a face from the front, in 3D.  The stinker wouldn't move his hands down, so you'll see that his right eye is covered with a little hand.  I was shocked at how much he looks like Natalie did whens he was born.  Come out, we all want to meet you!

The Past Week

The past week has been a little bit crazy.  To say that I've felt rotten is pretty much an understatement.  Honestly, I am a little surprised to STILL be pregnant given how weird and puny I have felt the past couple of days.  Despite that, we've been trying to carry on.  To play, do our chores, and keep busy, because feeling rotten feels less rotten if you aren't sitting around on your thumbs, right?

Here's what we've been up to:

My two girls: Nat and Cici

We had to do some pruning in our landscaping. 

 Nat was more than happy to help because it meant she got to wear 

her work gloves to haul off the rose bush clippings.

We desperately needed groceries, and a few other things, so we had a day of shopping...

here's my helper.

Staying hydrated is important for shopping

Shop 'til you drop

(don't be fooled, she's not actually sleeping!)

She's such a ham, I can't stand it.

see!

Tomorrow it's back to the doctor for another check.  We are actually hoping that maybe the baby holds off a few days because we are really excited for our weekend company....lots of house guests headed our way!  Nana and Papa and some good friends that we haven't seen in a year.  A year!