Whoa! Where'd You Hide That Baby??

Odin Benjamin joined our family on April 16, 2012 at 11:15 pm. 

My official due date was April 15. That came and went. No surprise. But having Adelyn born on her due date, I was kind of hoping this little guy would be the same. 

On April 16, we went in for my 40 week appointment. Dr. Hawes talked to us about scheduling an induction. She was going to check the hospital's schedule and call back later that day. She called around 4 saying they could get us in the next morning. We joked about how since she was on call that night, that maybe we should just have the baby that night.

My mom was over watching Adelyn. I went over the plan for the next day. It was after 5 when we sent her home. Around 6 I was thinking that perhaps I shouldn't have let her go home. Ben suggested I lay down and start timing the contractions. I think I only managed to time two when my water broke.  I quickly sent my mom a text telling her to come back. Ben and I threw things together for the hospital (yes, we'd been lazy and hadn't packed for the hospital yet). We decided to take Adelyn with us and have my mom just meet us at the hospital (I think Ben was a little concerned that if we waited he would be delivering his son). 

We made it to the hospital. We got in and shortly after getting a room, my mom was there to take Adelyn home. It was a bittersweet goodbye to my little girl. At least for me. Adelyn didn't really know what to think. But she was excited to see Grandma again.

The contractions were really picking up in the pace and pain departments. They started an IV of fluids. I had to finish the one bag before they would give me an epidural. At my appointment in the morning, I was dilated to 3 cm. They checked again and I was at 4 cm. I thought, "Are you kidding?? This much pain already and I'm only a 4??" I should mention that prior to around 5 pm, I hadn't had any painful contractions, so I was surprised that I was at 3 cm. 

Finally, I was able to get my epidural. With Adelyn, as soon as the epidural was in place, I had instant relief. Not so lucky this time. Perhaps partly due to it going in a vein first. They weren't sure if it was in a good spot. But as time went on, the pain did die down, except for in one area. So, we called it good. My nurse, Sharon, was busy in the room filing out the ton of paperwork. My pain started to go up again. She gave me another dose of whatever magic juice is in the epidural. The machine only allows this every 10 minutes. And every 10 minutes she was giving me more. She finally called the anesthetist back in to give me more. Before she came back, Dr. Hawes stopped in to see how things were going. We joked that my son had a crush on her and that's why he decided to come, so she could be the one to deliver him. Before she allowed any more drugs, she checked things out. She said I was about a 7, but let's try some practice pushes. With Adelyn, I could feel the urge to push. This time, I felt nothing. But figured I could give it a whirl. Guess my body knew what it was doing. The doctor declared no more drugs, let's have a baby. The room came to life with getting the bed ready, other nurses coming in and the doctor getting suited up.

I'll have to ask Ben for sure, but I'm pretty sure I only had two rounds of pushing. Then with a gush of liquid, Odin was born. Dr. Hawes said, "Whoa! Where did you hide this baby??" She was marveling at how big he was. The nurses looked impressed too. When he got weighed, she was right, he was a bog boy! Ten pounds, 5 ounces and 21.5 inches. A few weeks prior, my doctor said that she thought he would be around the same size as Adelyn (7 lbs 7 ounces). Only three pounds off her estimate. And despite his size, I only had one minor tear (compared to 3 not-so-fun tears with Adelyn). 

I have been recovering quickly this time around. Within days I was able to get back to normal activities, like sitting on the floor with Adelyn. Aside from being tired from feedings and what not, I feel back to normal.

Welcome Odin!

They Say It's Your Birthday

This past weekend I celebrated my xx birthday. It was a great weekend! On Saturday we had the parents over for salsa burgers. Perfect day to be outside grilling. To bad that we don't have a deck yet... this early spring has made us get on things a bit and we're looking at decks and fences. But back to my birthday.

Sunday morning Ben got up with Adelyn so I could sleep in. Very sweet gesture. I was awake anyway, but it was nice to just relax in bed for an hour. The two of them made monkey bread for me. It was so good! I ate way too much. After breakfast we went to Home Depot to look and buy paint for the boy's room.

We had to wake Adelyn up early from her nap so Ben and I could go to a movie and dinner. She was a little out of sorts. She went with Daddy to his office, but once there, she wasn't interested in signing the card for me. But she wanted to give me the present. So Ben took blanket and Zebra from her and sent her to the kitchen with the card and present. We're not sure what the problem was, but half-way on her journey she just started crying! Big tears and sniffles as she made the it the rest of the way to me. I met her on the floor and she crawled into my lap and gave me the present and card. (I still laugh when I remember this). The present she gave me was so sweet - a photo album of pictures of the two of us from her birth until now. So sweet. I love it.

After bringing Adelyn to my parents', Ben and I headed to the movie theater to watch the Hunger Games. I was pretty excited to see the movie. I read the books about 2 years ago. I will admit that I am a little upset that the series turned out to be so popular. I generally steer clear of uber popular things. But on the flip side, that does mean it became a movie. And I liked the movie. I think they did a decent job at it. But I do think some parts would make little sense if you hadn't read the books.

After the movie we headed to BLG. I LOVE their Cavatelli with Braised Rabbit. It is so good. We ordered a large portion of that along with another pasta dish and an appetizer. We both agreed that next time, we should just stick with the rabbit.

Ben's present to me was a beautiful necklace. It's hard to explain, but it's sapphire, but not cut like a gem stone. Instead it's cut like slices of the stone. It is very pretty. He spoils me way too much.

Fish Stories

Sadly, our fish tank has taken a back seat lately. Having set it up in a back room that we never go in has made it far too easy to just forget about. Don't worry, the fish are still fed on a regular basis. But as a result of our lack of attention, our tank isn't doing too well.

After Malaysia, I haven't seen our urchin.

While in Austin, our yellow fish jumped out of the tank.

At some point in time, our mandarin goby went missing.

Our Wrasse is sick.

Anyway, once Ben gets home for longer than a few days, we're going to start to make the tank a priority again. It can't return our losses, but at least it will make the tank a happier place for the remaining inhabitants.

Florida Family Vacation

And I'm back. Both in the blogging sense and also in the I'm home sense.

Last week we went on a very relaxing family vacation to the Tampa area (stayed in Treasure Island). We left on Valentine's Day. To celebrate and to kick off the vacation, we went to Steak n' Shake for dinner. Mmmmm.

We stayed at Residence Inn. They ran out of the rooms we had booked, so we got upgraded. We ended up with a suite with two bedrooms and a full kitchen. So, we took advantage of that and went grocery shopping and had most of our meals in.

We spent time at the beach. Adelyn LOVES the beach and ocean. The cold water didn't seem to phase her at all. She also loves the pool. It is so much fun to see her joy and excitement when we would head out to one of those places.

We also went to the Salvador Dali Museum. I have to say, I wasn't a fan of his. But now, I have a great respect for him. His range of mastery of different genre is staggering. Very impressive.

One day it was raining, so we hit up the Florida Aquarium. Of course, Ben and I loved it. Adelyn liked it too. She was a fan of the "Penguin Promenade" that we watched - they brought out a pair of penguins for everyone to see.

That's a nutshell of our vacation. I think we should do that more often.