Merry Christmas Eve!

So we have been home for over 3 weeks now, but a little behind on posting :) I'm sure you guys understand!

Here is proud mommy with her newest son!Mommy and her sweetest big boy!
He makes us laugh so much!
My sweet little boy, I love the gown and little hat!

Jett Benjamin

He's here! After being 6 days late and being told he weighed 8 lbs. Jett Benjamin arrived:

November 29, 2009
6 pounds 13 ounces
20 inches
5:14 a.m.

He looked so small. I did get my VBAC, and almost LOVED labor. We arrived at the hospital at 10:30 and was only 3 cm and 100% effaced they told me the effacing takes the longest time, the dilation goes quickly, and boy did it ever. From midnight to 4 am I went from a 4 to fully dilated! They came in and told me to take a few "practice" pushes... after the first push the nurse said "Call the doctor, the baby is in the birth canal". After about 6 contractions he was out. I'll hopefully give the long version later.



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Pool? or Poll?

I just wanted to set up a guessing game for our little one. Jett Benjamin is 2 weeks away from his due date. Here are a few facts to help you guess:

Truett (our firstborn) was born at 38.5 weeks.
Weighing 6.8 lbs. and 19 3/4 inches.
He was born via c-section at 10:50 p.m., January 25th, 2007.

We are trying for a spontaneous labor that we hope to be a vbac (vaginal birth after cesarean).
At 37.5 weeks he weighed (via ultrasound) 6.9 lbs. I haven't dilated much if any. So, there you have it. Now, make your guess as to when he will be born and measurements, any additional information is a bonus. I'll post my prediction as a comment.

Labor and Truett!

At 38 weeks and 3 days at 5:30 a.m. my water broke. I had no other indication that I was in labor. Well, besides the Braxton-Hicks contractions (or at least I thought that's what they were). Turns out they were REAL ones. I thought for sure this was it, but at 11 am there was no change. The contractions were still not painful. I called my OB at 11am and she, of course, wanted to see me. She said that it was definitely my bag of waters that broke and my contractions were about every 3-6 min. apart. She put me on a monitor and everything looked good so off I went to the mall to walk. After about 4-5 hours of walking we,Wayne and I, were to meet her at the hospital to see if I had progress or if I would need to be put on the pitocin drip.

I was only 2 cm and 60% effaced so they pit drip was put on and off I went. The contractions were stronger but still manageable. After 2 1/2 hours on the drip they couldn't pick up Truett's heartbeat on the external monitor because he was right over a main artery of mine and they said I was very vascular. The nurse and OB said they had never seen this (not what you want to hear while in labor). So, they recommended an internal monitor. They tried it 4 times before being able to get his heart rate. I was in so much pain after that due to the stress the internal exam that was being done each time. He had a lot of hair so they weren't able to get a good reading. Finally they got his heart rate, but after so much stress and pain on me they turned me on all fours and gave me oxygen and put a ultrasound monitor on me to check on Truett. Truett had thrown himself into arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) due to the stress I was under.

I was taken off the pit drip and was told it would be better if I had a c-section then instead of waiting until the morning to have one. I was then at about 5 cm. I was so disappointed but after they told me they thought they were going to have to do an emergency c-section (where I am asleep completely and Wayne couldn't be in the room), I knew I was going to have a section one way or another. All of this after I had such a detailed birth plan and was going natural even on the pitocin. UHHHH... I was in tears.

So, off to surgery we went. Truett was born on January 25th at 10:50 p.m. with the cord wrapped around his neck twice. He was 6 pounds 8 ounces, 19 3/4 inches and a loud cry. His apgar score was 8 after 1 minute and 9 after 5 minutes. He was monitored all night to check out his heart and we were told in the morning he had no arrhythmia episodes. When we left the hospital he weighed 6 pounds 1 ounce. At his 10 day checkup with his pediatrician he weighed 7 lbs. and 20 1/2 inches. He checked out great and we go back in April.

21 weeks!!

I'm in my 21st week and I'm feeling Truett every other minute it seems like. It is so amazing to feel him move and become so active. I wonder what his personality will be like: maybe strong-willed and loud or maybe soft spoken and shy.... either way I'm sure he'll liven up this home!! I found out yesterday that my sister who is expecting just a couple weeks after me is having a girl!! This will be the first grand daughter on my parents side... how exciting! I'm a little jealous, I wanted little girly dresses and cute outfits, and she wanted camaflouge and hunting gear....... God is so funny sometimes. I'm glad he sees the whole picture and doesn't give us what we want at the time we want it! I know when Truett and Kerigan arrive that we (my sister and I) will not be able to picture our lives without these two being exactly who they are.

I'm planning to have Truett au naturalle so I've been reading up on this for the last 5 months. I've read some really great information and if anyone else out there is going to go natural I highly recomend these 2 books:The Birth Book by William Sears,M.D & Martha Sears, R.N. AND Child Birth Without Fear by Grantly Dick-Read . Both are fabulous but if your looking for a week-by-week description of what you and wour baby are going through of course you will want to read What to Expect When Your Expecting but my favorite week-by-week- reading was Frankly Pregnant. I am about to read Husband-Coached Childbirth by Dr. Robert Bradley. My doctor tells me to read up on the natural labor subject, so I'm spending most of my time right now reading.