The first 10 days (6 days late)

I originally started writing this post 6 days ago with the intention of finishing it that day. Somehow in the last six days I have not found the time to finish it until now. Okay, I know how I did not find the time... my sweet little boy is a lot of work! So, six days late, here's the scoop.

December 30, 2008: I can't believe it has already been a week and a half since my sweet little baby was born. I'm already looking at him and thinking "Don't grow up so fast!" I wish he could stay a little newborn forever. But, I am also looking forward to all the wonderful phases he will go through in the coming years.

Here are some of the significant events from Ben's first 10 days:

• My parents and brother stayed with us Ben's first week. My mom was especially helpful cooking meals, doing laundry, running errands and helping in any way she could. I was glad to have my family here.
  
• At about 4 days old, Ben had some trouble with nursing. He would not latch on, which was very frustrating for both of us. I was up all night trying to get him to eat. There were several times when we were both in tears. One night I sat up with him, holding him and just crying. I told him how much I loved him and how I wanted him to grow big and strong. For about a day and a half I had to pump and feed him from a bottle to get him to eat. I was really worried. I told Ben all I wanted for Christmas was for him to nurse. That afternoon, he latched on, and he has been doing fine ever since.


• At 4 days old, Ben went to church for the first time for the Christmas Eve service. He slept soundly through the whole thing. It was fun after the service showing him off to people. We got a nice family photo in the sanctuary.




• Ben's first Christmas came when he was only 5 days old. He wore a cute baby's first Christmas onesie that mommy and daddy bought for him (and that they had to wash first thing in the morning because Ben dirtied it during the night). He also got lots of presents, including an ornament from mommy and daddy and a cute outfit and book from grandma and grandpa. We all felt very lucky to have Ben with us - he was the best gift of all.





At one week, Ben's belly button clamp fell off. He has a beautiful "innie" belly button.


At eight days, Ben met his uncles, aunts and grandpa on daddy's side for the first time. Josh and Audrey stayed for a day, and the rest of the family stayed for three days. They all love holding and loving on their new grandson/nephew.




Ben's one week doctor's appointment went very well. He was up to 7 lbs. 15 oz. The doctor gave him a clean bill of health. I am thankful to have such a healthy baby.


Ben had several other visitors within the first 10 days. Uncle John, Aunt Julie, Jessica, Jenna and Grandma Decker came for a short visit. Friends Jenn and Ben Meador also stopped by one day. We visited Uncle Paul, Aunt Cheryl, and cousins Amanda, Josh and Sarah, along with Shaffer relatives at the Johnson's house. Uncle Steve, Aunt Barb, and cousins Bethany, Andrew and Matt came for a short visit as well. Ben is blessed to have so many people to love him.

It seems that the days are just flying by. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. We have no special plans, and I am looking forward to spending time with just our little family - me, Jason and Ben. Although it has been great to have family around, I am glad we will have a few days of just the three of us before Jason has to go back to work on the 5th.

(A more up-to-date update coming soon - hopefully....)

A Family of Three

The story of how Benjamin James Decker came into the world:

On Friday (December 19), I had my regular weekly doctor's appt. The midwife checked my cervix to see if I was starting to dialate, and sure enough I was about 1 centimeter dialted and 40% effaced (which I had to look up on-line when I got home to see what that meant). Basically, my body was getting ready to deliver, but the midwife let me know that I still could be a week or more away. I asked if it might be sooner, and she said it was a possibility, but not too likely. I walked away thinking I had a while left.

Friday after the appointment, Jason and I went Christmas shopping for a few hours. Later that day, Jason went to work and I tried to get some things done at home. That night, I decided to take some photos of my belly, so I had a little photo shoot with myself. Here I am at about 8:00 Friday night:

Six hours later, I was in labor. At 2:00 am on Saturday I woke up with contractions about 10 minutes apart. I wasn't even sure if they were real contractions or not, but as the night went on, they would got closer together and stronger. By about 7:00 am I was pretty sure I was in labor, but thought I had a while left still. Jason was still asleep and had been all night. I took a shower and got ready, then I woke him up at about 7:30 and said I thought I was in labor and we should get ready to go to the hospital. I don't think he was really aware of what was happening. He started the dishwasher and slowly started getting ready - until I got a little impatient and said we needed to go to the hospital NOW! My contractions were quickly getting closer and stronger. At this point, they were about 5 minutes or less apart. But, my doctor had told me that I should labor at home as long as possible and not come in until they were 3-5 minutes apart, so I though I was in good shape still.

On the way to the hospital, which because of the snow was about a half hour drive, my contractions were getting even closer and stronger. We checked into the hospital at about 8:45 am and the nurse checked my cervix. I was about 8-9 centimeters dialated and my cervix was soft and ready to go. The nurse informed me that I was ready to deliver, and, the words I was dreading to hear, it was too late for pain medication. This is the point I started to freak out a little bit. Everything was happening so quickly and I was going to have to do it all without pain relief. Yikes! Jason called our parents and let them know what was happening and they took me into a delivery room to get ready for the main event.

Less than an hour later, I was starting to push. After about 45 minutes of pushing and 20 minutes of the worst pain ever, our baby boy was here! Delivery without meds was the most difficult experience of my life. But when the doctor placed him on my stomach, it was one of the happiest moments of my life. He was perfect.

Jason did such a great job helping me through all of it. He stood by my bed, held my hand, held my legs and feet as I pushed, encouraged me, told me what was happening, and was surprisingly calm. I couldn't have done it without him.

At 10:30 a.m., less than two hours after we arrived a the hospital, Benjamin was born. He weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. and was 21 1/2 inches long. I think he is pretty perfect.

My recovery is going okay. I never really read the parts of the pregnancy books that talked about what happens to your body after delivery. I am in much worse shape than I anticipated, with lots of soreness from where I had to have stitches, but I am doing okay. I was able to go shopping on Christmas Eve with Jason and also took Ben to the Christmas Eve service at church. My parents and brother have been here the last few days, and my mom has been especially helpful.

Here we are getting ready to go home from the hospital:

And this is the sweet little angel I took home:

Next week!

I am due next week! NEXT WEEK! Granted, the due date is still 12 days away, but it is NEXT WEEK! I feel overwhelmed be everything that has to be done. I'm not much of a list person, but I'm thinking maybe now is the time to start.

Before baby comes I need to:

1. Pack my bag for the hospital
2. Install the car seat
3. Buy Christmas presents for Jason, family, and 3 gift exchanges
4. Wrap Christmas presents
5. Finish up internship hours (15 hours to go until I reach 400!)
6. Buy items still needed for the baby room
7. Finish decorating/putting together the baby room
8. Clean our apartment from top to bottom
9. Research birth plans and pain med options
10. Choose a name for the baby (or at least narrow the list)
11. Spend some time with my husband
12. Relax

I'll let you know how I do...

Maternity Photos!

My friend Sara took some photos of Jason and me on Friday. They turned out great! You can see some of them here on her blog.

Only 3 weeks to go!

I can't believe that my due date is now only 3 weeks away! I went to the doctor yesterday and I am right on track as far as my measurements and the baby's size go. The doctor estimated that the baby is actually already 6 1/2 pounds. I was hoping to deliver a 6-pounder (I was 6 lbs. 13 oz. when I was born) , but it's not looking like that will happen. I still feel like I have a while left before this baby comes. He has not dropped yet and I have had not had braxton-hicks contractions or any other symptoms that he's coming any time soon. With the 27th as my due date, I'm hoping he does not come on Christmas day, but he'd better come before the end of the year. My doctor is on board with helping the process along if I am starting to progress naturally in the next couple of weeks. Looks like I'll be taking some long walks!

This past weekend, I had a baby shower in Ohio. One of the highlights was seeing a great friend, Kortney, who I have not seen since I have been pregnant. She is one of those friends who I could not see or talk with for months, and we pick up right where we left off. It was so good to see her, even though it was only for a couple of hours!

For Thanksgiving last week, we also attended Jason's family's annual get-together. Half of the family is from Ohio, and the other half is from Michigan. They always have a "Michigan vs. Ohio State" football game. After 3 hours of playing in the bitter cold, Michigan was victorious! I didn't care who won, I just wanted to get inside so I could feel my toes again.

34 weeks