Birth Blog: Benton's Birth Day (Mom Version)

May 24, 2010-
We went in to see Dr. K, who gave us the option to induce the next day or continue bedrest. This was an easy decision for us...we chose induction. We were told to check into the hospital to start the induction at 7:30am the next morning. However, Benton had other plans! I had been having inconsistent contractions for weeks but felt like they became stronger and more frequent as the day progressed.

May 25, 2010-
I tried to sleep, but by midnight realized that I wasn't going to be able to due to the uncomfortable contractions. At that point I decided to take a hot bath to see if the contractions would ease.

At 1:30am, I woke Landon to start timing contractions...they were 3-4 minutes apart. Since we were scheduled to be induced at 7:30am, we decided to get ready to head into the hospital. After showering and packing our bags, we headed to the hospital at 2:50am. We were checked into the hospital at 3:20am by our sweet nurse Sylvia. Toco showed regular contractions...we were definitely in labor! My cervix was checked for the first time at 4:45am...I was dilated to 3cm, fully effaced, and his head was at a -1 station. We called our families and rested until the pitocin was started at 7:30am by our wonderful nurse Linda (pitocin was started because my contractions weren't getting any closer together). Dr. K came in to check my cervix at 8:15am...I was dilated to 4cm. He decided to break my water. Ouch.

Now the fun part...painful contractions. Oh.my.gosh. I only had about 20 minutes of horrible contractions before the anesthesiologist came for the epidural, but that was certainly enough. I was able to breath through them and they were okay, but definitely very painful. The epidural was amazing and made labor an enjoyable experience for me.

By this time, family was arriving and we were just waiting for things to progress. I had another cervix check at 9:30am...I was dilated to 5cm. We continued to visit with family and make phone calls while we waited. At 11:00am, they checked my cervix...I was dilated to 9cm! That was major progress, and Landon and I began to get really excited. Before we knew it, I was feeling pressure and asked to be checked again. At 11:30am, I was officially dilated to 10cm!

At this point, Landon and I had everyone leave the room so that we could spend some time together before our baby was born. We prayed together and prepared our hearts for the change that was about to come.

Dr. K arrived at 12:15pm and it was time to start pushing. Benton Russell Hubbart arrived at 12:25pm with less than 10 pushes. They did use forceps as they thought he was "sunny side-up" (though he wasn't...he ended up having a really bad cone head that was a little bit deceiving...bahaha), and he was pulled out pretty quickly since he had a nuchal cord (x1). I was really impressed with Landon, who stood next to Dr. K and watched the entire delivery! For a guy who was scared of needles and all things in the medical field before he met me, this is kind of a big deal! He also cut the umbilical cord.

There are no words to describe the feelings I had when they placed Benton on my chest. And, even better than that was watching Landon's expressions as he watched our son being delivered. We are truly so blessed to have each other, and now to have our precious Benton. We are grateful beyond words that he arrived safely and with no major complications.

Upcoming Birth Blog posts:
-Benton's Birth Day (Dad Version)
-Benton's Birth Day in Pictures
-Benton's Hospital Visitors

Introducing...

Benton Russell Hubbart

Born May 25, 2010 at 12:25pm

7 pounds, 3 ounces

20 inches long

He is healthy and perfect and we couldn't be happier. More to come...

Baby Blog: May 24, 2010

This should be our last belly picture, taken at 38w 3d...
More updates to come!!! :)

Resting

If you need me sometime in the next couple of weeks, you can find me on my left side, either on the couch or in bed. Yes, I've been put on bedrest until our little man arrives. I went in for a regular OB appt on Monday and everything was great. My cervix was dilated 1cm and softening, and I was feeling good! Fast forward to today, and the situation has changed! I had to be at work early this morning (around 6am), so I got out of bed and got around quickly. I wasn't feeling great, but wasn't feeling horrible either. By the time noon rolled around my legs were feeling really heavy and swollen (I haven't had any problems with swelling to this point) and I noticed that my wedding and engagement rings were feeling a little snug (they were still loose yesterday). Once I was home and really took the time to look at my legs, I realized that I had trace to 1+ pitting edema in both legs. Ahhh. So, Landon and I headed into the OB. I had protein in my urine, my reflexes were a little excitable, and my blood pressure was higher than normal (though still good)....all signs of pre-eclampsia if they were to worsen. Though everything still looks good, I will be "bedresting" as a precaution.

I would just like to note that my house is spotless, all of our laundy is done, the flowerbeds look like a million bucks, and the freezer is partially full...in other words, I have been nesting. :) I am so grateful that all of these things are already done and we don't have anything hanging over our heads.

Sweet Landon has already gone above and beyond taking care of me and Baby Boy. He is such a wonderful dad already. Although bedrest is obviously not ideal, we have total and complete trust in Dr. K, and thus are planning on just enjoying this last little bit of time together before our son arrives.

I have another appointment with Dr. K on Monday morning, and we will go from there. I'll keep you updated (probably 5 times a day...what else do I have to do?!).

Baby Blog: May 18, 2010

Landon, Baby Boy, and I have been showered with more love, prayers, and support than we could ever ask for! This has been such a humbling time as others around us help us prepare for and celebrate Baby Boy. And now we are ready for our sweet baby!!! (FYI-I don't journal or scrapbook or anything, so this blog is part of my way of remembering dates and such...)

Our first baby shower was a surprise! On April 5th, our small group got together to watch the NCAA National Championship game...or so Landon and I thought! Our small group actually threw us a surprise baby shower...and we were so surprised and excited!! I think the reality of Baby Boy became a little more real on this day!!! Baby Boy is the first baby in our small group, but we are hoping and praying for some little friends to follow soon... :) (Jamie-thanks for taking lots of cute pictures!!!)

Our second baby shower was on April 11. My mom and sisters hosted a really sweet and thoughtful shower attended by my family, my family's friends, my high school/college friends, Landon's mom and sister, and a couple of Landon's friend's wives. My family, and most of my high school/ college friends, had to travel to be at the shower...I was so grateful and humbled to see everyone there to celebrate our upcoming arrival. Everything was beautiful and we had so much fun.

Our third baby shower was on April 25th. Our Sunday School class threw a shower for us! Crossings and our young marrieds Sunday School class have been such a blessing to us over the last few years. We are grateful for the friendships we have made, the teaching we have received, and the support given to us. Baby Boy has some friends waiting on him and we can't wait for him to meet all the other babies!!!

(Sad, sad...no pictures from the Sunday School shower. I forgot to take any.) :(

Our last baby shower was on May 7th. My supervising physician and the other PA that I work with threw a work shower for me! All the ladies were so sweet to come and shower us with precious baby gifts. It has been such a blessing to go into work everyday and hear encouraging words and be given sound parenting advice!

For all of those who have given us gifts or sent us cards or emails or called us...done anything to reach out and support us...we are so grateful. One of my fears is that I don't think we will ever be able to truly tell you how grateful and appreciative we are... Thank you all.

Pray for Ella

Please visit this blog and pray for little Ella. Landon grew up with her parents (they are younger than him, but he knows them both) and we are very good friends with Ella's mom's sister and her husband. Hope that makes sense!? Regardless, this sweet little family needs prayer for their unborn daughter, Ella, who was recently diagnosed with a couple of serious heart conditions.

My Loves on Saturday

On Saturday, I woke up with a purpose. For some strange reason (nesting!), I really wanted to organize all of our filing. Yes, I wanted to do this. And, being the wonderful husband that he is, Landon helped. We were out of bed by 8am and finished all of the filing a few hours later. :)

I think I wore Landon out...


And Lucy too (yes, at the time of the picture I was also washing her bedding, so she had the lovely Mexican blanket to cuddle with until her bedding was clean)...

Baby Blog: May 5, 2010

The countdown has really begun for our sweet Baby Boy! Yesterday was one month from his due date!!! AHHH! We are both so very excited and grateful to still have him in my belly. Just a little over a week and then he is full term. We love you Baby Boy!!!

Our most recent belly picture taken at 35w 4d:

I feel like I haven't posted too many baby things lately, as we have been so busy nesting and doing normal life activities. It's amazing how exhausted I get from just going to work, showering, cooking dinner, and doing household chores! Though I must say, Landon has been doing almost everything for us, as he takes care of things before I can waddle over to get them done. :) So grateful for such a selfless, loving husband!

We went to "Childbirth" class over two weekends in mid-April. They did a good job of going through the whole process and we both feel as prepared as possible. It was actually a really good OB review for me, and I think Landon feels much more comfortable with the whole idea of me giving birth. Before the class, he was set on staying by my head and not watching anything happen and not cutting the cord. After the class, he decided that he could watch Baby Boy being born and that the cord was no big deal! Of course, I don't care either way, but I was afraid he would later regret not watching the actual birth and cutting the cord. We also went to a baby care class and baby feeding class...hope we are ready! Ha!

Last weekend was so very busy for us, as we did the flowerbeds (see blog post below) and cleaned out the cars and spent time with friends...but also because we started actually assembling baby things and we installed the car seat and bases!!! It was so fun to install the car seat and know that our son will be riding in the car seat shortly! Landon was so funny as he installed the car seat...

Other random things:

-We have had all of our baby showers except one (my work shower is this Friday), and we have pretty much put all of the baby things in their places. Our friends and family have been so generous and supportive, and we are grateful and humbled and overwhelmed (more than ever before). Thank you all! The next blog post I'm planning on doing is of our showers...so stay tuned for that.

-All in all, I am feeling pretty good...maybe even better than I felt a few weeks ago. As silly as this sounds, I think the extra energy I have felt to do some nesting has really helped my mood and outlook. I'm usually such a busy body, and one thing about pregnancy that has been hard and frustrating is how little energy I have at the end of the day. I can deal with the body aches and acid reflux and I can push through the tiredness, but I hate not having energy to get things done. So, yay for nesting. :)

-On another good note, still no stretch marks. Since stretch marks are primarily genetic, I would like to thank my mommy for not having any and giving us girls good genes. :) Here's to hoping that stretch marks stay away in these last few weeks!

-Our hospital bags are slowly getting packed. What the heck do you pack to go have a baby?!

-We are now on weekly appointments, so I will keep everyone updated on our progress!

Flowerbeds!

When Landon and I moved into our home almost a year ago, it was partially unfinished on the inside and a jungle outside. Obviously, our first priority was to get the inside of the house cleaned, painted, stained, grouted, sealed, etc. By the time we finished all of those things, it was late fall/winter, and too late to start on the outside of our house.

For the last month or so, Landon has been working on killing all the weeds in our lawn...which is no small task considering our yard was an open field less than 2 years ago. The yard is starting to make progress and is looking really good! (Seriously, you should have seen it when we originally looked at the house...there were literally weeds that came up to my waist). Last Saturday evening, we went to Lowes and roamed around the gardening area for a couple hours and managed to find some bushes and flowers that we liked for our flowerbeds. We had no idea what we were doing, but we think it turned out great! We are so proud of our flowerbeds and we feel like it makes our house look SO.MUCH.BETTER from the street. :)

We really enjoyed spending time outside, taking advantage of the beautiful weather. As our days of a family of two come to an end, we really cherish these opportunities to just spend long, extended periods of time together doing things we enjoy. But, we are anxiously awaiting the birth of our sweet Baby Boy...and we can't wait to be a family of three!