Benson Michael Horn

They wanted us there at 6am to get things started. They had us wait around until 6:45 before even taking us to our room. They got the pitocin started around 8:15, broke my water at 8:45, and then the epidural at 9:30. I didn't move as fast as we all thought I would. Someone really wasn't quite ready to come out. At 1:30 I noticed my epidural was starting to wear off, but thought I'd be pushing soon, so I didn't need anymore. As I got to a 9 it was just unbearable, so I got a little more of the epidural. I could still feel every contraction and just about every bit of pressure. I think the epidural went straight to my legs because for the next 24 hours I dealt with not being able to feel them completely. I told them I was READY to push, so they got me ready to push. I pushed 3 times and out came the big guy. He was born at 2:53pm. His blood sugar levels were a little low, so they had to check them for the next 24 hours. He was a good sport at getting so many shots. By the end of the round of shots, he was sleeping through the pokes. So this was my longest labor and also my most painful. Recovery has been faster with each pregnancy.

Benson sleeps so much. I am usually trying hard to wake him up just to feed him. I know this will all change soon, but right now it is kind of frustrating. He will finally wake up and eat for less than 2 minutes and be back asleep again. I've had to resort to pumping just to feel a bit better. Anyways, he has changed so much in 6 days. His legs, feet, and toes have gotten longer. His face isn't as puffy as it was when he was born. He is such a sweet, fun, cuddly little guy. We all really love having Ben in our family.

We've only had one incident with Ally, resulting in Ben crying. Ally had been wanting to give Ben a drink of her water for most of the morning. I had explained to her several times that he can't have water yet. I had left the room to get a new outfit for Ben and heard Ben start to wimper. Ally came running in saying Ben's clothes were wet. Then I heard him CRY. So I followed Ally back into the living room and found Bens clothes were wet. At first I thought he had spit up, then I thought he had peed through his diaper. Then I felt his clothes and they were cold and wet, not warm and wet. So obviously my first 2 thoughts were wrong and knew exactly what had happened. Ally was really upset that he hadn't drank her water and Ben was upset because he now had cold, wet clothes on. I changed Ben and then sat Ally down for a talk on what Ben can eat/drink. She still isn't sure exactly why he can't eat what she does, but hasn't really tried to share hers with Ben since the incident.

4 days old

Ben is 4 days old today. His little face has already changed so much.

Getting ready to have a picnic dinner outside.
All ready for church.

Daddy was copying Benson.

Ally, Grandpa and Ben, before going to church

Ally adoring Ben at the hospital

Ally pretending to take a nap with Ben (when we were still at the hospital)

Benson Arrives!

Benson was born today at 2:53PM

he weighs 9lbs 7oz

and is 21 1/2 inches long

Blame it on the pregnancy

So I sent out some thank you cards recently because I could not for the life of me remember if I had already written them. So if you receive a 2nd one, just know that I am really thankful for your gift and obviously I was thinking about you. If you are just now receiving one, I don't know what happened and I apologize for it taking this long to get them out. I can't wait for my brain to come back. Hopefully this forgetfulness is just pregnancy related and not age related.

Last Sunday before Benson comes

This is Ally's Easter dress. She and I stayed home from church last week because I wasn't feeling great and she was just acting funny. So she got to wear her dress yesterday.

I thought her hair turned out cute. I did headband braids in the front and made them into pigtails in the back. Finished off with 2 pink ribbon bows.

Ally and mommy. See I really am still pregnant.

Ally and daddy

Funny girl

Ally came out of her room the other morning with a ball under her nightgown. It was quite funny.

I was making muffins the other morning and Ally wanted to help. She said she needed to get dressed first. This is how she came back to help me. Cowboy hat and a bib!

My husband needs to be more understanding, even if it is 3am

During the night I started getting lots of contractions, so I got up and dealt with them on my own. When I felt like they were going away I went back to bed. Matt mumbled something to me about what I was doing. I told him I was having contractions and he said, "good luck with that, let me know how that goes". I just about clobbered him for saying that. Obviously they weren't good labor contractions, otherwise there would be a picture of a baby here instead of a bunch of words.
Today we are working in the yard and trying to be productive on such a nice day. I've had contractions here and there ever since I woke up this morning.

I hope you are all outside enjoying the wonderful weather.

Confused

Last night we were reading scriptures with Ally and after we were done, we kind of talked about the pictures. We read about when Christ visits the Americas. Right before I shut the book I tell her what we are going to read about the following night. I went on to show her that we were going to be reading about Christ blessing the children. She started crying and got really upset. When we asked her what was wrong, she said she didn't want to go see Jesus.
For the last 4 1/2 months we've talked about how Cosette lives with Jesus. We are assuming that she thought she was going to go too. Obviously she's not ready to leave us and we aren't ready for her to leave either. We settled her down and to bed she went. Hopefully tonight when we read scriptures she understands.

Nesting

I am definetely nesting. Ally and I washed ALL the curtains in the house today. Next we vacuumed every place I could think of that normally gets skipped. Then we cleaned the window sills. After that we dusted everything I could find to dust. Yesterday I organized Matts part of the closet and organized his ties by color.
At least my house will be clean when the baby arrives!

Proud parents

You know those moments when your kids show you just how well they DO pay attention. Every night after we read scriptures and say prayers with Ally, Matt leaves the room and Ally requests songs. At some point in the near future she is going to realize just how awful her mom sings, but until then I will continue to sing her song requests. Anyways..last night she asked for- A Childs Prayer. I would stop singing and she would continue singing. I am sure she knows the entire song. After that song she requested- Love is Spoken Here, she knows that one as well. Matt and I were blown away at how well she knows the words.

On another note, Allys birthday is in 2 months. I got this brilliant idea the other day while we were shopping. Ally was on the verge of a meltdown/tantrum because I told her I wasn't going to buy her a certain toy. I told her she can ask for it for her birthday and put it on her birthday wishlist. She seemed satisfied with that answer, so that's what we did. We came home and made a birthday wishlist and put it on the refridgerator so we can add to it anytime she sees something else she wants. This has solved lots of meltdowns the last week. I think after her birthday, we'll have to start on a Christmas list.

We went to Wal-Mart this morning and before we left Ally said we needed to make a list. So thats what I had her do. I told her the 2 things we needed to get and she wrote them on her post-it (in her scribbles). When we got to the store I asked her what we needed to get, she looked at her list and told me the 2 things we needed. I am not sure if she just remembered what I had told her before we left or if she really knew what her scribbles meant, but I was impressed either way.

Okay, I'm ready

So as I was seeing who all has updated their blogs, I found out that my friend had her baby on Sunday. I've told myself for the last 3 weeks that she has to have her baby before me, in all fairness because her due date was before mine. So now that she has had her baby, mine is allowed to come. I'll let you know when that actually happens!!
This little guy has been sitting funny on my sciatic nerve, so the last few days have been ridiculous. I am at the end, there is an end in sight, and I can make it a few more days. I go to the dr tomorrow and am excited because for the 2nd week in a row my appt is during happy hour at Sonic! So I am stopping at Sonic AFTER my appt to get some yummy limeade. I am trying to stay upbeat and positive in hopes that my attitude will help him come faster.
Meanwhile Ally has been a coloring fiend lately. She mailed out some pictures she drew/colored today. She has become quite the artist lately. She does a great job drawing circles for the eyes and nose and a line for the mouth, squiggle's for the ears and jagged lines for hair. For the most part she stays inside the lines when she colors. Its been fun watching her progress in coloring.

2 fun trips to the zoo and butterfly gardens

We were lucky last week and were able to go to the zoo on Wednesday with Matt and again on Saturday with his parents. The weather was nice and we had a great time. On Saturday Ally slept through the butterfly gardens, and woke up in time to see everything at the zoo.

We took lots of pictures of flowers and butterflies.

This poor little guy looked like he had battle wounds.

One of the dolphins going through the hoop.

Both days Ally really wanted to see the goats. The last few times Ally and I have gone, the goat petting area has been closed, so she's been quite bummed. This time though, she got to see them and was excited.

I'm not sure why, but everytime I put this picture on here, it turned, so you'll just have to turn your head.

Ally and Mommy

Lets Go Fly a Kite

I forgot I had taken pictures of Ally flying her kite 3 weeks ago. She had a great time. Matt ran from our house down to the park and we met him there with the van (I know, we're lazy, but I don't think I could make the walk this far into pregnancy).

Obviously we need to talk about where things come from

Last Sunday my mom and Ally were making pudding and as they were adding the milk my mom asked Ally if she knew where milk came from.
Ally: Walmart
my mom: where does Walmart get the milk?
Ally: Kroger
my mom: where does Kroger get the milk?
Ally: I don't know

I guess from now on we need to talk about where we get certain things- milk from a cow, meat from different animals, eggs from chickens, grains from fields, anyways...I'm not sure she'll really understand.

38 weeks

Tomorrow I will be 38 weeks. I had my appt today and I am now dilated to 3cm and still at 80* effaced. Slowly but surely I will get there. The doctor mentioned that I am the same size I was the day I delivered Ally. So if he gains a 1lb/week then he is going to be 11 lbs. I. AM. IN. TROUBLE. Hopefully he is totally wrong about his guess. I don't think my body is capable of delivering a baby that size. I guess we'll wait and see what I am capable of doing when the time comes.

Monday

I just thought I'd update a bit. Matt and I really enjoyed General Conference. For both of the morning sessions we took Ally with us and she slept through both of them until the last 20 minutes or so. She was super good. For the afternoon ones we left her at my moms house so we could get something out of the talks. There were so many good talks, the spirit was so strong, and I left feeling rejuvenated and with a deep desire to try a bit harder.
I've been walking a lot lately with my mom. We didn't get to walk yesterday and probably not today because it was raining yesterday and snowing/raining today. I'll do the wii fit.
I am at the point where you feel like the baby is going to just fall out. I've been drinking raspberry leaf tea, eating pineapple, spicy food, watermelon, and lots of water in an attempt to get contractions going. So far, absolutely nothing. I feel like the walking isn't doing anything for me either. I guess we'll see if I've made any progress at my appt this week.
I don't have any pictures to post because honestly Ally and I really haven't done anything. This morning she and I looked through pictures of her and Cosette after I had them. She was very intrigued by the pictures from the hospital and wants to get a bracelet when she goes. I tried explaining to her that she won't be getting one and it only caused a bunch of tears, so I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there. She is getting excited about Benson coming and giving him a bath.

Update

So I am 80% effaced, but only 1 1/2 cm dialated. I have been measuring 2 weeks ahead for the last 2 weeks. What this all means to me...I need to do more wii fit and walk a lot more. Last night the walking seemed to help quite a bit and I've noticed that doing hula hoop on wii fit helps too.

Ughhh

I am getting a visit from the morning sickness monster. He's come to visit the last 2 days and I am ready for him to go home. So annoying...I thought he was gone 14 weeks ago. For the past 2 days in the afternoon, I've had contractions and kind of thought, maybe this is it. We'll see if the contractions did any good when I go in for my appt today.