{Ben: 2 Week Check-Up}

Ben is already 2 weeks old!  Well, actually 2 weeks and 2 days.  It is going by fast, but with the circles under my eyes, I sometimes wonder how it has only been 2 weeks.  We went to his 2 week check-up today and he got a great report from his pediatrician.  He was awake the whole appointment and acted very calm and content during the exam.  The only time he cried was when the nurse pricked his heal to get some blood towards the end, but he calmed right down quickly after that.  His current measurement stats are:

Weight: 10 lbs 7.8 oz (90%)

Length: 21.65" (80%)

Head Circumference: 14.57" (44%)

We have got another chunky monkey on our hands!  He is actually weighing almost a pound more than Luke was at the 2 week mark.  Ben was about 8 pounds 5 ounces when we left the hospital so he is gaining weight beautifully -- about 2 pounds in the those 2 weeks.  The doctor said no need wake him anymore to eat.  I then told her that I never do wake him -- he wakes up every hour and a half to eat at night :).  I keep hoping that he will start making some longer stretches at night.  At some point he has start sleeping better (let's hope he doesn't follow in Luke's footsteps).

Above is a picture I snapped of him on the exam table. I love how his little arms are flung up above his head - that startle reflex is a hoot and many times throughout the day you seem him just like this.   

{Visiting Santa...Luke's Day Out}

Last week Chat and I left Ben with my parents and had a little Luke/Mommy/Daddy time since getting home from the hospital.  I was aching to spend some time with Luke since it had been all about Ben/nursing since we came home.  We wanted Luke to visit Santa before Christmas since we started that tradition last year so we figured we would make a morning of it.  Remember last year?  At 10 months old, Luke seemed to be happy to be on the Big Guy's lap!

Well, this year Luke is 22 months and it was a bit different experience (and I pretty much knew what was going to happen).  Luke didn't really want to hang out with Santa this year...

But he loved the candy cane he got from Santa at the end!  We should have given it to him to start and maybe he would have done better.  Oh well, I still love the picture!  It shows his age and so I am glad we got the momento for this Christmas.  To make up for this, we headed to ride the train that was in the Galleria.  This was the highlight of Luke's day!  His obsession with trains is at an all-time high right now and we just knew he was going to love this.  I rode with him and Chat waited for us and took a few pictures from his phone...

Luke said "choo-choo" about 30 times on our quick ride and just had a ball.  After the train, we went to lunch for some hamburgers and then headed to my parent's house to pick up Ben.  Ben did great there -- he slept the whole time so my parents got some time to just hold him and get to know him a bit without Luke around. 

I can't wait for next Christmas when we can bring both Luke and Ben on this outting! 

{The Terrible, Horibble, No Good, Very Bad Day}

Well the title sums it up.  Today....err...more like last night was rough.  It was the essence of what makes having a newborn hard.  I did not sleep.  AT ALL.  It has been no secret that Luke was a terrible sleeper.  His first year was hard and lacked many hours of sleep, so much that sometimes you would find me in the fetal position on his rug in his nursery praying that he would go to bed.  So when we found out that we were expecting this time around, I first prayed for a healthy baby, then very quickly after that, I prayed for a sleeper.  Now I don't know many 9 day old babies that sleep all that well, but apparently that is what I was expecting.

Last night I fed Ben around 11:15, went to bed myself around 11:30 and hoped for the best.  The previous few nights were challenging with many wake-ups, but I was handling it well (or so I thought).  Last night, Ben woke up at 1:00 am.  Then at 2:00 am.  Then he stayed awake till 5:00 am or so.  That was a long 3 hours.  After finally falling asleep, he then woke again at 7:00 am.  And shuffled in those hours were challenges with nursing...mostly from me being engorged and Ben not having it and/or choking and just giving up with it.  When I woke up and realized how the night went, my hope for a sleeper flew out the window.  I took one extremely hard night (after several hard nights that totalled one tired mama) and immediately thought we were doomed.  That last night was going to be every night and I was never going to sleep again.

So today was hard.  There were many, many tears shed.  Some came out when I talked to my mom or sister wondering what I was doing wrong - that why both my boys could never make it to even 2 hours in the middle of the night.  Some tears came out as I sat on the bathroom floor alone trying not to let Luke and Chat see me. I was already feeling like a failure and I think it stems from my experience with Luke and that I was so afraid my infant experience was on repeat.  Why was I taking this so darn hard?

BUT...I am trying not to overthink this.  I am trying to not make assumptions based on one night.  And one night when Ben is only 9 days old.  I need to give it more time.  I need to get a few winks tonight and try to wake up on the right side of the bed and realize this is temporary.  TEMPORARY.  Ben is a sweet, beautiful baby who I just love and am enjoying so much.  Eventually he will make it to 2 to 3 hours before waking at night.  I need to focus on enjoying him, try to take a nap during the day and know that one day I will sleep again. 

{8 Days Old}

And on Ben's 8th day, he rolled over...twice!

{Chub}

The chubbiness has started...

{Cousin Love}

Ben and Molly

(Born exactly 8 weeks apart)

{Meet Ben}

Benjamin David

December 12, 2011

1:56 pm

8 lbs 13 oz

20 3/4 inches

{Monday}

Well, plans have changed once again!  I was scheduled for induction for this Thursday.  I would have been 39 weeks exactly.  But after having high blood pressure again on Friday, my doctor made me do bloodwork again and a 24 hr urine collection over the weekend.  I dropped it off at the hospital yesterday and really didn't think twice about it since I did this last weekend and all was well.  But this time was different and I got the call this morning.  It is never a good sign when your doctor (who is officially on maternity leave herself) calls you on a Sunday morning from her cell phone.  I officially have preeclampsia and going in to deliver tomorrow. 

Although it is only 3 or 4 days earlier than planned, this surprised me a bit.  Now that I am over the shock, I am very excited to meet our little guy tomorrow!  We are in the midst of trying to get everything done to get Luke squared away for his sleepover at his grandparents for the next 3 nights, get the dogs ready to go to doggie daycare and get us packed for the hospital.  Next time you hear from me I will be a mommy of two precious boys!  Yahoo!

{38 Week Update}

I went to my 38 week ultrasound today to check up on the baby's heart and weight with the high-risk OB.  Here are the highlights:

• Good news -- Baby's heart looks perfect and the arrhythmia is completely gone!  Woo hoo! 
• News that is a bit scary -- Baby is weighing in at 9 pounds and 11 ounces at 38 weeks.  Yes.  You read that correctly. 
• Induction news -- High-risk OB is recommending an induction at 39 weeks or sooner.  So that means baby boy will be here by next Thursday.

All this still needs to be discussed with my regular OB and we will do that tomorrow at my appointment.  I guess I need to be ready for next week if she has the same recommendations.  I am praying for an uncomplicated delivery and a healthy baby boy! 

{37 Weeks and Another Hiccup}

Well I reached 37 weeks on Thursday, so I am officially full term! I had a doctor's appointment on Friday and unfortunately I had zero progress since my last appointment. Other than that all went well until they did a blood pressure reading. Shocker...I had a bit of high blood pressure. They took it again about an hour later and it had lowered, but they are concerned enough to have me check it twice a day (which means about 20 times a day to me) and do a 24 hour urine collection to make sure. I don't think this is major, just another hiccup in a very eventful pregnancy. I went and got my dad's blood pressure machine and started readings yesterday evening. Most of them were good, but then around 9:30 last night they started getting high again. I am not sure what all this means, but plan to call on Monday (unless it gets dangerously high) and discuss what I truly should be looking for. The high number got above 140 (which is what they said is an issue) last night, but it is normal today. So I am not sure what to be concerned with - that it got high or if I shouldn't worry since it lowered again. Urine collection starts tomorrow morning...fun, fun!

{New Words & New Obsession!}

Luke is a few days over 21 months and I wanted to post another list of words that he has learned recently. This is mostly just for my knowledge! I realize I write nothing in his baby book and this blog is the only documentation I have of anything he does. He is still probably a bit behind other boys and girls his age as far as the number of words, but he is making lots of progress! Here are a few more things he has been saying lately...

Slide
Duck
Go
Shoes
Snack
Annie
Car
Stick
Night-Night
Choo Choo
Sissy

Milk

Apple

"moos" for cow

"rooooars" for lion

Where did it go?

It's stuck

Up

Toes

Nose

Eye

I know he says more, but some of the words I still can't quite figure out what he is saying. He will say the same thing over and over again, so I know it is something but just not quite sure what it is :). I am so proud at his new words and the fact that he learns new ones everyday!


The other new development is Luke's obsession with trains...and when I say obsession, I mean OBSESSION! This has developed over the past 4 weeks or so. He wants to play choo-choo all day long, every day. We have one small train track with a few trains and it keeps him busy for literally hours. He has never been as into a toy as he has with trains, so this is all very new and I just love watching him play, play, play. One day he played in his room by himself (wuh?!? it was heaven!) for almost an hour and a half. He says "choo-choo" probably 30 times a day. He is constantly bringing Chat and I one of his trains and then running to his room. So needless to say that he will be getting some new trains for Christmas!

{Cousin Love}

It has been no secret that Luke has not been the most friendly with his new cousin Molly. He doesn't do anything bad, but just has a scowl on his face whenever she is around and especially when I am holding her. When he first met her, he slammed my sister's interior french doors about 4 times and then ran into the hallway crying. Clearly we have our work cut out for us when baby brother arrives :). Since that first meeting, Luke has mostly ignored her. But yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family and Luke actually acted interested for a few moments. Luckily we caught it on Chat's camera phone because who knows when we will see this again!

{Christmas Tree Search}

Wow, can you believe it has been a year since last year's Christmas tree search. Luke has grown so much! We typically buy our Christmas tree the first weekend in December, however, this year since we know we have an impending arrival of baby boy and the fact that Chat works the next two weekends, we decided to go ahead and get it today! This is the earliest we have ever had a Christmas tree up in our house. We headed out early and had to try two different places before finding the best one...

Luke and Chat searching for the perfect tree.
Okay, Luke just following Chat and getting weirded out by all the trees poking him.

Luke's funny face amongst all the trees :)

And we found the winner!

{35 weeks 1 day}

Here is a picture of me at 35 weeks and 1 day. I went to my OB appointment today and things are looking good. I don't have any updates on the size of the baby this time, but the heart rate sounded good and I was 1 and 1/2 centimeteres dilated. That sure did make this seem MUCH more real!

{35 Weeks and Counting}

I thought I would give a quick update...

• I am 35 weeks today! Where has the time gone!?
• I went to my high-risk OB appointment last week to check on all the issues and the baby's heart arryhthmia had improved dramatically which is music to my ears! I am still off all stimulants. I haven't had anything with caffeine in 2 weeks and I am slightly missing my iced tea and chocolate. Although I have never fallen asleep as easy as I have, so this might be my new norm :). Staying asleep is a different story...
• I wake up between 2 and 5 times a night.
• The baby was measured again last week. At 34 weeks, he was estimated to weigh 7 pounds 1 ounce...with 6 weeks to go. This slightly terrifies me.
• My fingers are starting to swell which is new...I did not swell in the slightest with Luke. I can still wear my wedding band, but it is tight so I might be a single woman the rest of my pregnancy. My feet get a little puffy too as the day goes on and I am on my feet a lot.
• I feel the baby move in a very different way now. I will feel body parts protrude from my stomach and it feels so weird and so cool all at the same time.
• Baby boy is head down.
• When I wake up or stand up after sitting for long periods of time, my feet hurt so bad it feels like I am walking on pins and needles. This is new to me too since it never happened with Luke.
• Chat and I think we have decided on a name. I am ready to tell, but Chat all of a sudden has decided that we need to keep it under wraps until he is born.
• My back hurts in the exact same spot where it hurt when I was pregnant with Luke. I am fine unless I sit for long periods of time. It feels better if I am standing or laying down. The pain started later in the pregnancy this time than it did with Luke though for which I am thankful.
• We finished the nursery, although we are using most of the same stuff for Luke's nursery. Since we moved though, we needed to get it all out and pictures hung, etc. Since the room is significantly larger than Luke's room was in our old house, we did have to get a new rug. I got the same one -- just went from a 3x5 to and 8x10. It was back ordered for 2 months, so it finally arrived!
• I have had 3 Sprinkles for this baby and it has got us so excited about this new guy! It is nice to have a few new things special for this baby. I didn't realize how important that would be when agreeing to these, but so happy I did now!
• Luke still has zero clue what is going on. He still thinks my huge stomach is a platform to sit on or jump off of.
• As I was looking in the mirror on Monday as I was getting into the shower, I feel that my stomach is lower. I am not sure if this means he has dropped or not, but internally it feels the same so I am thinking probably not. Then a friend commented yesterday that she thinks I look like I dropped. Maybe this means he is getting ready???
• This is the first year in several years that we are not traveling for Thanksgiving.
• Dealing with getting ready for the new baby and getting ready for all the holidays is a little much for my brain to handle. I am overwhelmed to say the least.
• I am trying to make it to the birth without buying anymore maternity clothes. Which means if you see me, you probably will see me in one of the 3 shirts that still fit me. Please ignore my lack of anything fashion at the moment.
• I am trying to find a fun toy to have at home when we get home from the hospital as a possible distraction for Luke in case he is not welcoming of the baby. Any ideas?
• I started packing my hospital bag and it is so surreal to be doing this again. I think it is really different this time since I know what I am walking in to. I am getting very nervous but very excited!
• I just ate mashed potatoes for breakfast. They were delicious.
• Luke and I are off to music class! Hoping to post a belly picture by tomorrow!
  

{An Unexpected Day}

Today turned out quite different than what I expected. It's funny how life throws you a curve ball just as you are feeling comfortable with things.

I dropped Luke off at school and after a quick visit to see my sister and Molly, I headed to my regularly scheduled OB appointment. I got there about 5 minutes early and sat down but was quickly called back. I immediately thought "yay!" because typically I have to wait a bit and I had lunch plans with two friends and now I knew I was going to be able to get there with plenty of time to spare. I headed back and they took my blood pressure and weight and then I gave a urine sample. I then was brought to the examining room and the nurse checked the baby's heart rate. She looked puzzled as she tried to track it, but blamed it on the machine and left and said she would be back with a different doppler to get the heart rate. About a minute later, my doctor comes in with the doppler and she quickly says that the baby's heart rate is very high -- close to 200 (normal is 120 - 160). I laid there as she continues to track it and it remains steady at that number. At this point she says I need to head to the hospital for testing and observation and to go now.

I immediately rushed over to the hospital and they had me hooked up within about 5 minutes. Everything seemed great -- the baby's heart rate was back around 140 and no contractions. I laid there for quite some time and it seemed as though that this possibly was just a blip. Then the baby's heart rate started racing again, heading up to 190 and then 200. It maintained that for about 5 or 6 minutes and then went back to normal. Well, this happened several more times over the next hour. The nurse called my doctor and updated her and everything started going full-speed ahead.

At this point, I was signing admitting papers, changing into a hospital gown, given an IV, gave lots and lots of blood and was told that I would be having an ultrasound soon with a high-risk OB. At this point, I really started to get worried. Luckily when you are an OB patient and there is a problem with the baby, things happen very quickly. Within 20 or 30 minutes, I was up on the L&D floor getting an ultrasound with a doctor. The result?? They discovered the baby has a heart arryhthmia - both an irregular (extra or skip beats) heart beat and tachycardia (beating too fast) heart beat. My heart sunk.

But the more I learned from the doctor, the more comfortable I felt. He seemed concerned but very positive since there were not any other abnormalities. The good news is that most arryhthmias resolve themselves once the baby is born. I was discharged by late afternoon with strict orders to be back in his office within 5 to 7 days, to cut out all caffeine (which can aggrivate arryhthmias) and to montior the baby's movement. If there is any decrease in movement, I am supposed to go in to the doctor immediately. I will now see this high-risk OB to monitor the condition and hoping this is the last of surprises from this little guy.

Speaking of little guy....he is not so little. During the ultrasound, they measured him and he is measuring 3 weeks ahead. I am currently 33 weeks and 1 day and I was measuring closer to 36 weeks. They estimated him weighing 6 pounds and 3 ounces already which is very large for a baby at this gestational point. They seemed concerned about this too, but it will be something we will just continue to monitor as well.

This pregnancy has been very eventful. I am so ready for a few dull weeks with no news to report! Although I am nervous about being a mother of two, I am ready for this baby boy to be here so all of these worries can go away. I am ready to hold him in my arms and know in my heart he is ok. But for now, we are all doing well and hoping for a very boring Saturday!

{Halloween Exhaustion}

Wow...I am tired from the Halloween celebration we had yesterday! Luke was Mickey Mouse for Halloween this year -- although he never would put on the ears. Luckily I think you could kinda tell what he was by his shorts and yellow shoes. Oh well! Maybe we will have better luck with the next kiddo with this costume.

This year we met up with friends in the neighborhood for fajitas and drinks and then went trick-or-treating with the toddlers. I will let the following picture display how the night started out...

Luckily after this rough start, Luke perked up and got the hang of it and even enjoyed himself. A lollipp definitely helped change his mood :). He probably went to 20 or 25 houses (with the help of daddy) and did really well (thank goodness!).

I have to say our neighborhood celebration was incredible. Everyone was out on their porches, kids were everyone and it felt like a true community. There was a man on a tractor pulling hay bales for kids to jump on for a ride. There were haunted houses set up in front yards. Orange twinkle lights danced all over the streets. It was so fun and made me realize how fortunate to finally be in this neighborhood that we have wanting for so long.

After trick or treating, we headed to Luke's Papa and Hattie's house around 8:00 pm for their Halloween party. After about an hour, I was pooped (yes, I was -- not Luke!) and decided to call it a night. Luke went to bed around 9 or 9:15 pm and was covered in stickiness from the candy. He definitely had a bath this morning to wash it all off. Oh yes...candy. Luke loves it....can't you tell?!? I think it might become a problem...

{A Fun Little Wednesday}

The mosquitos have overtaken Houston recently and we are starting to feel like hostages in our own home. Since Luke is a kid that LOVES to be outside, the days have felt a little bit longer than they usually do :). So yesterday morning, Chat and I decided to take him to feed the ducks and ride the train at the Houston Zoo. We were just praying that they were spraying the mosquitos in the area and that we could spend a little time there and get Luke's energy out. Luckily, we had a great time with just a few mosquito bites to show for it!

One of Luke's first few words was "DUCK!" and boy did we hear it yesterday. He loved feeding them with Chat and also enjoyed snacking on the bread as well :). This kid is such an animal lover...

We then headed to the train to take a ride! Recently Luke has discovered trains and really has taken an interest. We hear "choo-choo" a lot from him and he loves watching trains on TV, reading about them in books (actually looking at the pictures and making the sound) and also playing with a few trains and a track that we have gotten him. Our little wiggle-worm has not always done so great on trains or anywhere where he has to sit for a long period of time. But he must be growing up or just really interested in trains now because he did great for the whole ride (minus a few wiggles towards the end)...

(starting to get restless...)

After the train, we decided to head into the zoo just for a bit since it was still early. We got to see the sea lions, the meerkats and the elephants before the mosquitos descended upon us and we decided it was time to head home....

(Love this one...they look so much alike)

{Luke's 2nd Haircut...}

...did not go so well. Luckily his hair is cut and there was a lollipop afterward to make it all better :).

{Molly Catherine}

Molly arrived Monday, October 17th at 7:48 pm! I was in the delivery room with my sister when she came into this world and it was such an amazing experience. Courtney did great and David was a wonderful coach. Molly is a doll and is perfect in every way!

{Another Prego Sister Picture}

No baby yet, but Courtney is in full labor! We hope to have a pink little girl sometime after 5 pm today. In the meantime, here is a picture of the two of us at her baby shower!