4 months old

We are loving having a baby in the house, and Ben is a really good baby. The girls love taking care of him. They can both change his diaper all by themselves and they like to do it.

It seems easier having a baby in the house this time around. When Mary was 4 months old, I was pregnant with Sara. When Sara was 4 months old, I was chasing around Mary who was 17 months old. I feel like I have more one-on-one quality time with Ben than I had with the girls.

I forgot how awesome it is to watch a baby grow and learn. It almost makes me want to have another one (almost, but not quite).

9 Weeks Old

Kindergarten Graduation

Mary graduated from kindergarten yesterday. Her class did a graduation and slide show in the classroom and then all the kindergarten classes did a progam in the gym. She is very excited to be moving on to first grade.

HE'S FINALLY HERE!!!

Here are some pictures of Ben. He is so cute.
The girls have been so excited to have their baby brother here. The first thing Mary wanted to do was change his diaper. I don't have any pictures of Sara holding him yet, but I'm sure I'll get some soon.
So far, he has been a pretty good baby. He is alert and wants to look at everything.

This is a picture of him a just a few hours after he was born. His hair looks really light in this picture, but it is actually dark.

The hospital experience was not bad at all. I would prefer to have babies at home, but it was way better than I expected. Here's the story of baby Ben's birth:

I had an appointment with my midwife on Thursday at 10:00am. She put me on some fetal monitoring device because I was 8 day past my due date. She just wanted to make sure everything was okay. She didn't like the results because baby Ben's heart rate wasn't going up as much as it should be. She consulted with a doctor and he suggested that I either be induced or that I do more monitoring and a ultrasound.

I didn't want to pay for more monitoring or an ultrasound, so we decided to just go ahead and have the baby. She sent me over to the hospital. I got there at about noon and they told me that they didn't have any room for me and told me to go home and wait for their call in a "few" hours. I waited and waited, finally at about 5:30 pm the midwife called and said that they still didn't have room and I needed to wait a "couple" more hours. I waited some more, then at 9:00 pm they called and said they would have room for me at 10:00 pm.

We got there at 10:00 pm, and got all settled in. I didn't want any kind of medication, so the midwife broke my water at 11:30 to see if that would be enough to start labor. It was enough and by 1:00 am I was in full blown labor.

I was doing awesome for a few hours and then by about 5:00 am I was so tired that I decided to have an epidural. They told me it would be 20 minutes until the guy could come to give me one. I said okay, but by the time he got there, I was ready to push. I pushed for 6 minutes and Ben was born at 5:47 am. He was my smallest baby at 8 lbs. 8 oz. and 18 in. long.

Everything went great. I didn't need stitches, which surprised me because I needed them with both the girls. I was happy that I didn't end up having any medication before or during the birth. I did let them put me on Pitocin after he was born because they said it would help with the bleeding and I have a history of heavy bleeding after birth.

I was hoping to spend the least amount of time possible at the hospital. My goal was to be there less than 12 hours. We ended up staying a total of 14 hours, so I almost met my goal.

The nurses were very nice and understanding and didn't make a fuss about me doing things different than most people. I requested to not have baby Ben get any of the shots that they give most babies, and they didn't make a big deal out of it. They told me that usually people stay for 24 hours after the baby is born, but when I told them I wanted to get the heck out of there, they did all they could to make it happen.

All in all, everything worked out the best it could. So far, I feel great. This has been the easiest recovery out of all my deliveries, but it is only the second day. Hopefully, it continues that way!

I don't have any pictures to post, but I have a few minutes to update my blog. Ben is out and both girls are asleep and I don't want to clean the house.

Ben has gone back to framing, his boss kept bugging him to come back and offered him a raise that he couldn't resist. My sister, Stacie, has come to work with me. I now have enough kids in the daycare that I need help, especially since I now have to transport kids to and from school.

Mary is doing great in school. She got her first "report card" a few days ago and got the highest marks that she could (4 on a scale of 1-4) on almost everything. Her teacher wrote in the comment section "Mary is such a good girl, I'm so glad she is in my class". I'm proud of my little girl.

Sara is getting so big, I don't know why, but age 4 seems so much older than age 3. She is often the oldest kid in the daycare, which hasn't ever happened before this school year. She is a good helper and is so excited to be a big sister.

Baby Benjamin is getting big. So am I. I forgot how big I get when I get pregnant. With both other pregnancies, starting about 7 months along, strangers start making comments about how I look like I'm about to pop. When I would inform them that I still had 2 months left, they would then ask if I was having twins. This hasn't yet this time around, but I would be very surprised if it doesn't.

I also forgot how awesome it is to be pregnant. Feeling the baby move is one experience that I am very grateful for. Other than the couple weeks of severe chest pain, this pregnancy has been easy. I didn't have very much morning sickness, I have some of my energy back, and I have been sleeping good. I don't know how long it will last, but so far, so good!

WE ARE GOING TO HAVE ANOTHER....

Benjamin in our house 'cause we're having a baby boy and naming him Benjamin. We are so excited!!

I'm feeling better

I am feeling all better now. The doctor said it is most likely my gallbladder, but since I don't have insurance, they don't want to do x-rays or tests because it would be to expensive. He said if I just watch what I eat, I should be fine, so that is what I will do.

I think I just got a bad case of "woe is me, life is hard" syndrome and just needed to give myself a big dose of "stop crying baby, life is awesome". I have so much to be thankful for, I just forget sometimes, and it makes me sick.

Life really is awesome and I have everything a girl could ever want!