Caleb's first slide show

i can't believe my baby is already almost one month old! my life has changed completely. i can't imagine it without him. praise God for answering our prayers and blessing us with our son caleb!

My pelvis... again

on our way out to my birthday dinner i quickly tried to fill the cat's food dish on the porch. i squatted down and lost my balance and fell on my butt. i started laughing at first because it was funny but then it hit me that my incision was burning so my laughter turned to tears. nothing is wrong with it but it hurt for the rest of the night. now, two days later, my pelvis is hurting again. not as bad as the insane pelvic pain i had for a week before giving birth, but it's the same type of pain. my theory is that the fall jolted my pelvis and caused it to be misaligned again. i'm hoping that as my ligaments get stronger they will pull everything back into place and the pain will go away. i look rediculous when i walk. first of all, i walk at a snail's pace and second, my legs are spread so far apart it looks like i just got off a horse. i can't believe i fell. who falls anymore? i can't wait to heal completely from the c-section. i have no balance and no strength anymore. i'm not allowed to pick anything up that's over 15 lbs. and if i try to pick up anything heavier than the baby i feel like i'm going to tip over. i'm supposed to see my doctor in a couple weeks. hopefully i'll be back to my old self by then.

31st birthday

yesterday was my 31st birthday. all of a sudden i'm 31 years old. how did that happen so fast? i still feel like i'm 25 or so.... anyway, we went out to dinner with my parents, derek, shannon and the girls. we only took a few pictures and i have no idea why we didn't get a family one. caleb was fast asleep in his car seat all throughout dinner. he's grown so much that he is no longer swimming in his car seat. he has changed so much already and he's not even a month old yet!

caleb has been hungry all morning. well, i don't know if he's actually hungry or just wants to latch on and be held all day. as i'm typing this, he's latched on but not eating and looks as happy as can be. i guess today will just be a cuddle day because he's not letting me put him down. it's a good thing i love holding him. i have to treasure these moments now because he's only going to be a baby for so long! and i love this little baby so much. :)

First day alone

yesterday was the first day that caleb and i were alone all day without john or my mom to help out. things went very well and we survived. caleb was very good and even gave me a chance to pay bills and take a shower! i put him in his bouncer seat in the bathroom while i showered so i could keep an eye on him and he slept though the whole thing. he's such a good baby.

he sleeps great during the day but nights are a different story. it's getting better though. he has trained me to sleep on the couch recliner with him on my chest. he isn't interested in sleeping in his bassinet for longer than an hour or so. so john gets our big king sized bed all to himself on the weekdays (normally we never sleep apart but that was before caleb came and became the one in charge around here). last weekend john slept on the couch with us. even lilo came out to the couch to sleep. it's a good thing we have a very large, comfy couch that's big enough to fit all of us!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! today was our first day back at church since caleb was born. he did really well and didn't make a peep during service. afterwards, we had an easter egg hunt at papa/nema's house and caleb had his very own easter egg with his name on it! he didn't like being in the sun very much so his cousins found some eggs for him. thanks, kaia and leia! next year he'll be out there with you!

Thank you, Nema!

my mom (aka "Nema" to her grandkids) has been coming over every day for the last 2 weeks to spend time with me and caleb. it's been so nice to have her here with us. it's been a long time since we've spent quality time together and i love that she has gotten a chance to spend so much time with caleb. she's also been a wonderful help to me since i'm still healing from the birth and dealing with sleepless nights. she's been doing all of the cooking and cleaning which has been great since i'm definitely not feeling up to doing it myself! and she's been a lifesaver for watching caleb while i catch up on some sleep. she goes back to work next week and i don't know what i'm going to do without her! i'm sure i'll figure it out but she will be missed dearly. thank you for everything, mom! caleb and i appreciate it so much. we love you!!

2 week doctor's appointment

today caleb had his 2 week follow up appt with the NICU pediatrician. i really liked the doctor and he answered a lot of questions for me. i found out today that caleb wasn't responsive at birth and had to be intubated and "jump started" to increase his apgar score. actually, i think i did know it but at the time i was so out of it that i didn't remember. my poor baby. i remember how bad my throat hurt after i woke up from the anesthesia and to think that caleb probably felt the same thing makes me sad.

caleb has a big bump on his head and the pediatrician we saw last week said it was just fluid and is a result of his traumatic birth and being banged around in my birth canal. no big deal and it should go away on it's own. well, i asked the NICU doctor to tell me more about it and he said it was a blood clot! again, he said that it is from the trauma of the birth and it is no big deal and it will go away on it's own in about a month. i can't wait until it goes away because i don't like the idea of him having a blood clot, even if the doctors aren't concerned about it.

anyway, my baby is gaining weight like a champ and now weighs 7 lbs. 5 oz! good job, baby! today is his due date so i wonder if that is what his weight would have been if he had arrived today instead of march 1st. the doc said we can start feeding caleb "on demand" vs. every 3 hours and he wants him to continue taking the acid reflux medicine.

overall, the appt went very well and the doctor was happy with his progress. oh, and i can't forget to mention that the doctor was checking his circumcision site and said that caleb has a "gorgeous" penis! i'm sure that's something that caleb will appreciate hearing when he gets older! hahaha. :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

it's Caleb's first St. Patty's Day! he's too young for green beer though...
today is a big day for Caleb because today his umbillical cord fell off. that's a nice lookin' belly button, baby! now your daddy won't be afraid to change your diaper. :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

Just a couple of pictures...

just look at him sleep... he is so cute!a boy and his dog... i hope they'll be best buds. so far she is really good with him. :)

caleb is 2 weeks old today! I love him to pieces.

Who likes boobies?

caleb does! actually, he's learning to like them. since he started on a bottle in the NICU and got used to how easy it is to drink from a bottle, he isn't into how much work it takes to get milk out of a boob. but we're working on it. we were both in tears today as i tried to get him to nurse. eventually he gave in and we've been successful since then. hopefully we can keep it up! wish us luck. :)

Caleb's 1st doctor's visit

Getting ready to leave for Caleb's first appointment with the pediatrician

After the appointment... Can we please go home now!!??

caleb had his first appt with the pediatrician yesterday. he was 6 lbs 3 oz when he was born and yesterday he weighed in at 6 lbs 12 oz! wow, that seems like a lot! but the doctor was happy with his weight gain and said he was doing great. we had a good "first outing" but i was pretty tired afterwards. caleb was too (as you can see in the picture above). we both needed naps when we got home. :)

Cousins!

cousin justice met caleb for the first time the other day... she was really gentle and gave him 100 kisses!
cousins kaia and leia met caleb today now that their colds are all gone. they were both very good with their new baby cousin!kaia did such a GREAT job holding him. she was very protective of him too!

thanks for coming over to visit! caleb can't wait until he's big enough to play with all of you!

Caleb's Birth Story

The first time I met you
Visiting you in the NICU
Getting ready to bring you home

On our way home!

John Caleb Bennett was born on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 10:49am.

6 lbs. 3 oz., 20 inches long

Dear Caleb,

The day you were born was the best day of my life. It was Saturday, March 1, 2008. It was 6:15am and I was still in bed. All of a sudden I felt my water break. I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. Water was pouring out of me so I stepped into the shower and yelled out to your daddy to come quick. He came in and said, "Well, it looks like today's the day! What do we do?". We laughed and got ready to leave for the hospital.

When we arrived in the labor & delivery ward we were greeted by the nurses that had taken care of us over the last several months. They were all very excited that you were making your entry into the world. They had been waiting to meet you for a long time! We were admitted and placed in labor room #1. It was the same room I was in when we thought you were going to arrive in December at 26 weeks gestation.

The midwife came in to check on us and said that I was already 5cm dilated. I wasn't feeling any painful contractions at first but it didn't take much time for them to start getting really strong. After a couple of hours I was checked again and the doctor ordered an epidural for me to get some pain relief. However, you had other plans and couldn't wait for the anesthesiologist. Within minutes, I was fully dilated and ready to push. The nurse grabbed my right leg and your daddy grabbed my left and they coached me to PUSH!! I pushed and pushed and all of a sudden your heart rate started to drop. The nurses had me roll over on my side but that didn't help. They had me get on my hands and knees but that didn't help either. Your heart rate had been down to 60 beats per minute for 5 minutes. I was so scared. I was screaming out for them to help you. The doctor came in and said they could try using forceps or a vaccuum to get you out but they might have to do an emergency c-section. Your daddy yelled out, "Just do whatever you have to do to make sure the baby is ok!". The doctor decided on the crash c-section and the room turned to chaos. Your daddy was pushed into the corner and even hit his head on the delivery lights hanging from the ceiling. Within 1 1/2 minutes, I was unhooked from the monitors, my bed was wheeled into the operating room and I was under general anesthesia. Your head was stuck in my birth canal so you had to be pushed out of it and then pulled through the incision. It took 8 minutes from the time the doctor ordered the crash c-section to the time when you made your entry into the world. It was the best day of my life.

It took me a couple of hours to wake up from the anesthesia. The first thing I said was, "Is the baby ok?" and your daddy told me that you were perfect. He told me that you weighed 6 lbs. 3 oz. and were 20" long. He said that you were beautiful. I was in a lot of pain but the nurses knew that I needed to see you so they wheeled my bed from the recovery room to the NICU so I could see you. Your daddy was right, you were absolutely beautiful. I was in love with you from that very first moment and I couldn't wait to be your mommy.

I didn't get to see you again until the next day. It was so hard being away from you, knowing that you were just down the hall in NICU but I couldn't get up to see you. Your daddy visited you a lot that first night and he kept giving me updates on how you were doing. When I finally got to see you again I held you in my arms and cried and cried. I couldn't believe that you were mine, that God had blessed me with such a gift. I love you so much.

You spent 4 days in NICU and on March 5th, we got to take you home. I love being your mommy. I promise that I will be the best mommy I can be and that I will give you the best life I possibly can. I love you, Caleb. Thank you for making my life complete.

Love,
Mommy

We're home!!!

we're home. all THREE of us. we're home and my baby is healthy and happy and i am a mommy. we just finished our 1am feeding and i'm pumping my breasts as i type (still working on the latching on/eating from the breast thing - wish us luck!). caleb is the most beautiful thing i have ever seen in my life. he is so perfect. so perfect and cuddly and wonderful. all of my prayers have been answered.

sorry this post is so short but i am still in pain from the crash c-section and i'm feeling very sleep deprived. i'll try to write more later.

he's here. home. he's mine. we are a family. life is perfect.

Great news!

Kim called me a little while ago with an update and it was a wonderful one. First of all, Caleb is keeping his food down now. She said that she fed him 50 ml. of milk earlier today & he sucked it down really fast and it's staying down. That's a huge improvement because as of a couple of days ago, he wasn't even able to keep 5 ml. down (i hope i'm getting the numbers right). Anyways, his digestion issues are not a problem anymore. Because of the fact that he's keeping his food down, Kim said that it looks like he'll be able to come home tomorrow with them! They are so excited about that because they thought that he might have to stay a couple more days & it looks like they'll be going home as a new little family of 3 tomorrow! So exciting! One more result they got back today...I don't think I mentioned that they did a ultrasound of Caleb's head to make sure there wasn't any brain bleeding, due to the fact that they had to push him back out of the birth canal during the c-section and they just wanted to make sure there weren't any head injuries during that procedure and that result came back good too. No bleeding on his brain. Today has been a wonderful day full of good news for us and we are so thankful that the Lord is watching over the Bennett's and protecting them. We can't wait for you THREE to come home! Love you guys!

what an angel!

Today Derek and I got to go see our new little nephew, baby Caleb & he is SO beautiful. He is just so perfect and Kim and John are already SUCH great parents. I don't have a lot to update yet, but Kim is doing a lot better than yesterday. The pain from her incision hurts a lot less today and she was actually walking around a little bit. They might get to go home Tuesday, they just want Caleb to eat a little better and his blood sugar levels are a little low...so, they want his blood sugar to rise (which will probably happen when he starts to eat more). Everyone's doing great and we are so thankful for that. God is good.

p.s.~the pics are kinda dark because we weren't even supposed to be taking pictures through the glass, so i had the flash off. they're still adorable!

He's here!!!

Welcome baby John Caleb Bennett! He was born this morning at 10:49 a.m. & he's 6 lbs. 3 oz. and 20 in. long. Here are a few details...Kim's water broke this morning at 6:15, so Kim and John left for the hospital and got there around 6:45 and when they checked her, she was dialated to 5 cm. A couple of hours later she was about 7 cm. and her contractions were starting to get worse, so she asked for an epidural. By the time they came in to give it to her, it was too late because she had progressed so fast so they were unable to give her the epidural. Around 10:15 or so (i think), she started to push and the baby's heart rate dropped from 150 to 60, so they decided to either pull the baby out with forceps/vaccuum or do an emergency (crash) C-section. The doctor decided to do the C-section and from the time he decided that to the time baby Caleb was born, only 8 minutes had gone by! Thank God for such a good doctor and that Caleb and Kim are both doing great. Baby is beautiful and perfectly healthy and Kim is in A LOT of pain but recovering. Kim should be home in a few days and i'm not sure, but i think Caleb will be able to come home with them. We're going to go see her tomorrow, so i'm sure i'll post again for Kim soon.
~Auntie Shannon