Delivery Story

I said I would post about the delivery of Bennett. Really, I couldn't have asked for things to go any smoother. Once he decided to come, he came pretty fast.
11:30 pm Sunday night- I started having contractions that lasted all night. They were about 8-9 minutes apart and they hurt.
8:00 am Monday morning- For some reason my contractions stopped. I would have one every once in a while but nothing regular.
1:00 pm- The contractions come back and are very strong. They were coming about every 12-13 minutes.
5:00 pm- The contractions suddenly start coming every 5 minutes and they are REALLY painful. I'm thinking it's time to go to the hospital, but Bryan doesn't think it's time yet. He made me lay down on the couch to see if the contractions keep coming. We were sent home with both girls so Bryan doesn't want that to happen again!
6:00 pm- I can't take it anymore and I call the Dr. while Bryan is in the shower. I tell her my contractions are coming every 3-5 minutes. She asked me if I had been dilated at my last appointment and I tell her I was 3 cm at my appointment a week ago. She said, "Yes, come in now."
6:20 pm- We load the girls in the car and take them to my friend Bethany's house.
7:00 pm- We arrive at the hospital. By now I am in a lot of pain and I know it's time to have a baby.
7:30 pm- They check me after getting settled in and I am dilated 7 cm. Not wanting to miss the window, I request my epidural. The nurses and doctors were trying to talk me out of it because I was so close to a 10. I am not afraid to admit that I didn't want to feel anything, I like to enjoy my deliveries and not feel much pain. Someone invented the epidural so that I could use it!!!
8:00ish pm- The epidural is in on the first try! That has never happened to me before, it usually takes them a few tries. I was a happy woman.
8:20 pm or so- I feel my water break- very weird feeling and I tell the Dr., "Uh, I think my water just broke!" She checked me and I was 9 cm dilated.
8:55 pm- I felt pressure. It was time to push!!
9:02 pm- After pushing through three contractions, Bennett Charles was born. It was such a great moment. This is my favorite part, of course. There is nothing better than looking down and seeing that new baby you have been waiting for all those months.
It's so great to have him here. It feels like he has been in our family forever. He is so good. He slept four straight hours last night and he only cries when he is hungry, he's a little oinker. He had his two day check-up today and he weighs the same as he did at birth. His little features are starting to show now that the swelling and bruising in his face is going down. I think he looks like Niah did when she was a newborn and he is definitely Bryan's son. They look a lot alike in baby pictures. Here are some pictures from our day today.

We love our little boy. He really is so sweet and we love him to death!

Our Baby Boy

Bennett Charles Mason was born on Monday July 20, 2009 at 9:02 pm. He weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs. 4.5 ozs. and measured 19.5 inches. We are so happy to have him here! We arrived at the hospital at 7:00 pm and he was born two hours later- he came fast! (More details to come.) Everything went smoothly and he and mom are doing very well. He is so mellow and calm, he doesn't cry unless he is starving! Here are just a few pics of him.
Here he is before leaving the hospital. He looks like a little old man in those shorts, they are a little big!

Mom and baby. Do I look tired to you?!!

We have three kids- ahhhh! The girls are so proud of their baby brother. They love him to death.

Niah is already a huge helper. She loves Bennett and has to tell everyone that she has a new baby brother named Bennett Charles Mason.

This is right after he was born.

Look at that proud papa! I think Bennett looks a lot like B.

When Chloe got to the hospital to meet him for the first time, she walked in the room, hopped up on the bed and said, "I hode im!" She loves him so much.

He looks a little scary in this photo, but it was the first one we got of him. I think he's so cute!!

We are so happy to have him here. We're grateful that he is healthy and well. More pictures to come when I have a free minute!!

Losing It

You know it's time to be done being pregnant when you realize at the END of church that your dress is on backwards! Luckily, no one noticed and the front and back are pretty much the same. If I only had a brain!!

Isn't She Lovely?

In the past few weeks, I have realized that I don't have much time left with just my girls. Our family is about to change, so I have been trying to give my girls lots of attention and just be grateful for the sweet girls they are. Sometimes they can be little pills, but they really are the cutest and funniest kids.
Since Niah loves having her picture taken and playing dress-up, I decided to let her dress up in my Grandma's dress that she wore to the Kentucky Derby and we took some pictures of her in it for my mom for Mother's Day. Niah is so photogenic. I can't get over how beautiful she is! Here are a few of my favorites...

Niah is getting so big and I wonder all the time where the time has gone. She is so smart, sometimes too smart for her own good. She loves her little sister and is going to be a huge help when this baby comes. I have a feeling that constant supervision is going to be necessary! I took both girls to get a pedicure with me a couple days ago and you should have seen them! They loved it. Niah felt so special and Chloe couldn't stop smiling, she still gets a huge grin on her face when she looks at her purple toes. While laying in bed that night, Niah said to me, "Thanks for letting me get a pedicure, Mom. My toes are so pretty. Can we go back when the paint and flowers comes off?" It made my whole day to see how much fun they had.

I'm so glad that I have my two little buddies. (If Chloe would let me take a cute picture of her then there would be some of her too! I'll keep trying.) They are so sweet and I love them to death. It will be fun to see them with their new baby brother.

4th Of July

We had a nice, relaxing 4th of July this year. We decided to do our own thing since we weren't sure how I would be feeling. Friday night we braved the crowds and headed to the waterfront to watch the Burlington fireworks. Besides the rain and cold, it was a blast! I'm glad we took the girls, they loved the fireworks. Chloe kept saying, "Mom they go boom, boom, boom, down, down, down (as she motioned her hand downward)!" Niah kept her ears covered the whole time even though I think she really loved the noise and lights.
Saturday morning we went to the Colchester parade. There were lots of firetrucks, bands, and not much candy. The girls had fun waving their star wands we made and they got a few free frisbies. Here's B and the girls. Don't we all look so patriotic in our red, white, and blue?! Bryan even wore his patriotic socks, I was impressed.

Saturday night we did sparklers as a family. It wasn't that dark outside yet, but I wanted to get the kids in bed after a late night Friday. They had fun anyway, they didn't seem to care.

It was fun to celebrate the 4th as our own little family, but we did miss the big family BBQs that we are used to. As my dad always says, "May the Fourth Be With You!!" haha.

Baby Update: I had a Drs. appointment today and I am 3 cm dilated but not effaced yet. I was shocked. I was sure that nothing was happening. The clock is ticking! Any day now...

36 Weeks

So, I am now 36 weeks pregnant, 37 weeks on Friday. I am getting so excited for this little boy to join our family. I have been in an extremely HUGE nesting phase. What I should be doing is resting and saving my energy for when the baby actually comes, but there's too much to do and not enough time. I have a long list of things to do before he comes- some of those things include getting the girls quilts done for their beds, getting our photo albums up to date (I haven't put photos in them since Chloe was about 2 months old. YIKES!), getting the house in order so it's ready when my mom comes, washing all of baby's clothes and getting them put away, and a few other random things.
Last week after our trip to Utah, my feet and ankles were SO swollen. I took a picture of them, but the picture does not show how bad they really were. I honestly couldn't even fit in my flip-flops. Thankfully, the swelling has gone down now and I can wear shoes again. Here's one of me at 36 weeks. Yes, that's my belly button poking through my shirt. For some reason it grows with my belly!

I went to the doctor yesterday and the baby is head down but I haven't dilated yet. I guess I better stay up and busy so that something will happen soon. I need to go curb walking every day! Only a few more days and we will have a little person in our house again. I love the newborn stage, I can't wait to hold him!

Other news- I forgot to post this when it happened, but Chloe has been binki free for a week now!! She did surprisingly well. I told her the binki fairy was coming and that she would take her binkis and leave her a prize. The only crying I heard involved Chloe saying, (in Chloe language) "I ike my Bs though!" The binki fairy brought her a new baby doll that has a binki you can put in her mouth. We are proud of Chloe for letting them go without too big of a fight. I thought it would be much worse.