Sunday, November 28, 2010

Thanksgiving

The Wheaton family came up to visit us in Fort Worth. Bennett had a great time with his cousin, Natalia, and it gave us a much needed break from entertaining him. The kids got to watch the parade from Grammy and Pop Pop's hotel room, and then we went down into the street to see the giant Christmas tree lighting.







Friday, November 19, 2010

Truck World



Bennett loves trucks and got a chance to climb into a few last weekend in Dallas.

Three Halloweens

Bennett had fun this Halloween. It is becoming the favorite holiday in our house. Here are a few pics of Bennett in three different costumes.

Buzz Lightyear

PirateSuperman

Swingin'


Somewhere there is a pic of Bennett in this swing. They sure do look alike.

proof



Thursday, November 11, 2010

Lachlan's Birth Story

I was writing the story to some friends so I decided to copy and paste it here. By the way, Lachlan's bilirubin level is starting to go down, so we are in the clear. All is well.

And now to the delivery story:
Bennett came down with an ear infection about 4 am Thursday morning or at least he was complaining about his ear, so I wanted to get him into the doc immediately b/c I've been having contractions that have been getting stronger and stronger for the last couple of weeks and that morning I woke up and had some blood which signals cervical changes, so I was pretty sure Lachlan was coming in the next few days. I had a 9:15 midwife appt and sure enough, when the midwife checked me, I was 2-3 cm dilated and 60% effaced. My midwife said "I dont' think it will be this weekend, but probably next week sometime." Now, this was my first time being checked b/c the midwives didn't want to stir anything up and have me deliver too early. I talked to the midwife about how to know I was really in labor given my contractions up until this point and she said that she would want to see me having contractions about 5 min. apart for 2 hrs before I came to the hospital. Great. Bennett's birth took 16 hrs and I stayed home for the first 5 hrs waiting until my contractions were steady, so I knew the drill, or at least I thought I did.
Then, I ran back to work for about 45 min and I was starting to feel crampy, but that is pretty normal when you get checked b/c the midwife is feeling all on your cervix, so I didn't think anything. I picked Bennett up and took him to his 11:15 pediatrician appt and sure enough, an ear infection. He also had a fever, so the ped said I should bring him home for the afternoon and not send him back to school. I hadn't expected the fever, so I was expecting to go back into the office. I had some last minute things to tie up that day, like my time and attendance, so I figured I'd just swing by and finish up with Bennett in tow. At the ped's office, I was starting to have contractions that I could tell were actual contractions, but I was still walking around, talking through them, no problem, so I just thought they were like the ones I had been having for the past month.
Bennett and I ran into Jack in the Box, grabbed lunch, took it to my office, where I finished up and closed out. About 12:30, I called Arty and told him that these contractions were getting stronger, so I thought they now for real and that we would probably have a baby that evening or soon and could he come home with me (we carpool) so he could go get B's medicine. He agreed. We all left work at 1 pm. As I was in the car, I was starting to have some steady contractions that were about 6 min or so apart (Arty timed the 2 that I had in the car).
So, he dropped me and B off at home. We put B down for his nap and Arty left to go get the meds. I called my doula and told her that I thought that I was offically in labor and she said to relax and call her in about 2 hrs so we could evaluate where we were at and whether she should come over to the house b/c at this point, we were both still expecting I would labor at home for awhile. I got in the shower for awhile and then laid down on my bed. The contractions were strong, but nothing unmanageable. Then, Arty got home about 2 pm and there were some strange guys out front, so he called the police to report suspicious activity (we've had some break-ins in our neighborhood lately) and I was just laying down in the back. Then I decided I needed to pee (a full bladder can make the contractions hurt worse, so I knew I should empty my bladder). As I went to get off the bed, I had a really powerful contraction and I was like, WHOA--that was strong. Then, as I tried to pee, I had another and I was starting to feel the need to push which I didn't think was supposed to happen yet. Then, the contractions started to really pick up. I started talking to Arty and he decided to start trying to make arrangements to have Bennett picked up. In the meantime, B woke up and we had to have a little pep talk with him and hugs all around b/c he didn't like to see his mommy in pain and moaning (which was all very controlled and all--moaning, not unlike a cow in a low tone, is supposed to help with natural delivery...I had read up. LOL!) I also had Arty call my doula (which it had only been about 1.5 hrs since I had last spoken to her) and he told her about my need to push and she said get back in the shower to relax and she'd be here soon. As Arty is making all these phone calls, I start to realize that I think I'm in transition b/c the contractions are getting unmanageable where a woman starts shaking her head back and forth and thinking, "I can't do this anymore." I was having a harder time fighting the urge to bear down. I got the water in the shower going, stripped to just a cami, and stepped into the shower. As I stepped in, I suddenly had a massive contraction, my water broke (lucky for me, it was inside the shower), and I could NOT control my urge to bear down. I knew we were about to have the baby. I yelled for Arty to call 911 NOW! The 911 operator heard me contracting in the background and started to prepare Arty to deliver the baby (which freaked him out of course). They had me get out of the slippery shower and out into our bedroom. I was on all fours on a towel in our room and the paramedics and fire dept showed up, about 5 guys standing around, trying to talk me into getting on the stretcher, but I was having one contraction after another and pushing and I told them it wasn't happening. Then, the main paramedic started to get pushier with me and told me he couldn't deliver the baby like that, he couldn't see, etc and I HAD to get on my back. Yeah right...I've read enough (and delivered that way before) to know that that is NOT the easiest way to deliver a baby, so I told him no, people had babies like this all the time and he'd be OK. Arty stepped in and started talking to me, and finally my contractions abated for a few minutes so I could catch a breath and get onto the stretcher. The neighbor who Arty finally got ahold of to come get Bennett showed up as the paramedics are wheeling me out of the house and into the ambulance. The plan was for Arty to follow behind the ambulance b/c they wouldn't let him sit in the back anyway. He got into the car, but the ambulance didn't move, so he knew something was up. And he ran over and came into the ambulance just in time to see his son being born.
What happened inside the ambulance was that as soon as they got me in, I told them I was having another contraction. As the paramedic said, "I looked away for something and turned around and the head was coming out!" The next contraction I pushed the rest of Lachlan out (mind you, Bennett took 1 hr and 45 min to push out). They cut the cord and I held Lachlan as we drove to the hospital. We never even got a chance to leave the front drive. :-) Everyone was completely healthy. And THAT is the birth story. It basically took 3 hrs total from the start of me knowing I was having actual labor pains to delivery. Lachlan was born at 3:23 pm.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

The brothers



Mom with her boys


So far so good. Lachlan is sleeping more each day, but that doesn't keep Bennett from asking "why is he crying now" or "what's he doing". Bennett seems amazed.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Lachlan





Bennett's baby brother is here. Crazy story to come, but this is the paramedic that delivered him in the ambulance in front of the house.