It's Christmas Season again!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone. We made it back from Illinois on the 15th of December just in time to get our tree and lights up around the house. This will be a very special Christmas because it will be Benjamin's first, and our first as a family of three. We haven't too many plans, although we are going to go to Glenda's house Christmas Eve for a party.

Our trip home was great! We saw friends including Gina, Donna and Rick, Nicole, Aaron, Kylie, Payton, Ken, Buzzy, Elaine, and Sam, as well as much family. Our main reason for going back to Illinois was to bury our Grandma Sawyer, but we also were able to fit in many nice visits in Illinois. We had a nice dinner for Sarah's birthday with Joan, Dale, Mom, Jim, Sarah, Ashley, Tyler, Kelly and Isaiah attending. It was very nice and the first time in awhile that we were able to have so many family together all at once. We also visited Grandmas' sister Jean while in town and got pictures with Santa with cousin Isaiah. My cousin Kelly and her husband Mark are the parents of Isaiah, and they were excited to get pictures with us this year. It was so much fun.

We went and visited Dad in Dixon and had a great time visiting Grandma Swarts-Erbes, Ed, Ann and Bill. We went to St. Charles to visit Ann and Bill and got to see a really cool art exhibit he is putting together. Go Uncle Bill! We relaxed and enjoyed the indoors with Dad while in Dixon because it was so cold outside. Thank you Grandpa Swarts for the gift of cash. We used it to buy a really cool baby swing for Benny and he loves it. It helps us a great deal by putting him to sleep at night.



Lastly we want to thank Jim and Mom for the amazing gift of a camera that we are already putting to use. The most recent pictures posted are from using this camera. It is a gift that we dreamed of but never had a chance to get for our family until now. Thank you again.

We wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and the Best New Year to come. Stay warm and merry! We love you all.

We are coming home...

We are coming back to Illinois for a visit next month and can't wait. Benny is now 9pounds 13 ounces and we are sure he will be above 11 pounds by the time we arrive to keep warm for the real winter weather. We will be flying back December 5 thru December 15th. We can.t wait to see everyone.

Guardian Angel

Grandma Sawyer has become Benny's guardian angel and is now up in heaven with Grandpa Sawyer watching over us all. Benny smiles alot in his sleep, I think Grandma is holding him. He now weighs 8 pounds 9 1/2 ounces. Oh boy is he getting big and more demanding by the day. His new nickname is Drama Boy... My mom and sister Sarah came to visit from Illinois and just left today. It was a really nice time. Sarah finally got to hold her first nephew for the first time. What fun.

Baby Bath

This is the very first full bath that Benny was able to have today, due to the umbilical cord falling off late. Daddy and Benny had so much fun. Benny didn't cry even once and seemed so content and happy with dad in the tub. He was so relaxed and just stared around him to try and figure out exactly why he was completely wet and comfortable. He likes this bath much better than a sponge bath and man did he take the best nap afterward. He now smells of baby lotion and shampoo, with the always baby soft skin.

1 month old today!!!!

We can't believe it, but Benjamin is now a month old. We dressed him up yesterday in the green little monster outfit Aunt Ashley got him and handed out candy for Halloween. Benny slept most of the time, but he sure did look cute. Then today we dressed him in the Halloween hat Aunt Gigi got for him and the cute smiley shirt from the girls at work. Thanks again to everyone for the cute clothes, we are having so much fun changing him into so many cute clothes. He went to the doctor yesterday because he had a crusty eye and his umbilical cord was still not coming off. We got an all clear from the doctor and was told that he doesn't have a eye infection, just a blocked tear duct and that his cord needs to come off soon. As soon as we got home and went to change his diaper, low and behold, his cord finally was off. He now weighs 7 pounds and 6 ounces and is 20 and 1/2 inches long....Dang is he growing fast.

Packing on the weight...

Little Benjamin is not so little anymore. He now weighs 7 pounds 3 ounces and all of his premie clothes, yes all of them are too small. He is eating like he has never been offered food before and still eats about every 2-3 hours. He is such a good little boy, still only crying if dirty, hungry or cold. He is starting to become more awake during the day time, and also is able to lift his head off of your shoulder briefly. He is growing so fast! In just a few days he will already be a month old. Wow.

Yummy!!!

Today we received a really neat and different gift from Richard's cousin Wendy. It was an edible bouquet of fruit. I saw commercials for it on TV, but in person they are really neat and taste great! Thank you Wendy, we really are enjoying the fruit. Here is a picture of what it looked like. Amazing. Wendy lives in San Francisco and is Richards closest cousin from the Philippines originally.

Sorry its been awhile.

Benny has been home with us for awhile now and is doing great. I have been very lax about updating this blogsite. Hmmm I dunno, maybe because I am still so preoccupied looking at Benny. Every day he seems to get cuter and chubbier. Its amazing. We have been so blessed that his first few weeks home have been so smooth. He only cries when hungry, dirty or cold, other than that he is a very content happy baby. I can not believe that he will already be 3 weeks old on Wed. this week. Its a very strange feeling considering that his original due date is still weeks away. I am still recieving updates from pregnancy.com about the development of the baby in the womb weekly. Kinda strange at this point. Anyways, he has had multiple baths which I will say that at this point he absolutey hates!!! He will get use to it eventually. His first Doctors appointment was about a week and a half ago and the Doctor said he is doing great. We no longer need to supplement with formula, because he is breastfeeding very well. He is already showing me how grumpy he can be when hungry. Kinda like daddy...he he. Hope all is well with everyone and I will try to keep this updated more often. We posted pics of his new Halloween witches hat that I am absolutely in love with. Oh, and all the premie clothes that we got and that were sent to us from Cousin Kelly are already too small.....wow. Thanks again for those clothes Kelly, Mark and Isaih. Much appreciated. Have a great day all.

First Night at Home!

We finally made it to our first night at home. Benny slept in our bed with a co-sleeper, because we just arent ready to have him away from us in the crib. He did great. His temperature did well, he only woke up when wet and we actually had to wake him up to feed him. I breast fed until he was content, then Richard gave him some extra breast milk in a bottle to make sure he got enough every 2-3 hours. We are such a good team. I wouldnt be able to do it with out Richard. He came upstairs last night while my mom and I were being goo goo, ga ga over Benny and he organized our whole bedroom to make it Benny friendly. We had prepared the baby room, but not our bedroom. Our old ottoman in our room is now our diaper changing station, and our rocking chair is now the feeding/breast milk pumping station. Richard is too good. Currently Benny is sleeping in our room, listening to classical music, including Mozart, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky. He also gets to listen to his own special arrangment of music sang and composed by Richard. What a lucky little guy. I think we are now on diaper number 8 at home and man can he pee/poop. He is doing everything a little baby should, and if I am not mistaken, I think he has mom and dad's appetite because he doesnt know when to stop. Just in case I didn't let you know, Benny had to stay a few days longer because he had a lab called Bilirubin that was elevated and he required a few days under photo therapy. When this level got high, his skin started turning orange. Maybe he was trying to tell us that he wanted to be a pumpkin for Halloween. Who knows. But now his skin tone is perfect again. For those of you wondering, he appears to have mom's fair complexion as of now, but who knows, he could end up getting tanner. Each day we think he looks like someone else, Aunt Ashley, a little of Aunt Sarah, He definately has Richards beautiful eyes, his nose we aren't totally sure yet, and his personality....that is still to be discerned. Well Benny is starting to act up on the baby monitor, so got to let you go. God bless you all.

Mommy is back!

Sorry everyone, I wasnt feeling up to updating this page. Thank god for Richard, he had to keep you all posted while I was out of commission. To make a long story short, first I was having an ear ache about a week ago and thought I had a pimple in my ear so didn't worry about it. Then when I woke up Monday morning it was hurting worse and draining. Monday was the day we had our appointment with Dr. Arzola, so we figured we would go see my primary care doctor after our appointment to address my ear. Well as you all know, we had to be admitted and werent able to see that Doc. When I was admitted they started my on Ampicillin IV profilacticly for Benny, we thought it would take care of my ear infection too. Wrong!!! by the time they bolused IV fluids in me and with all the pushing Wed. morning, my ear was throbbing. It felt like I blew my eardrum and I couldn't hear, chew or close my jaw all the way. When I addressed this with my Nurse, she shoved me off and said, "well, when you get discharged you will be able to find a doctor to see your ear, but the antibiotic that you had yesterday should work because they usually use that antibiotic only for 24 hours" This was a complete lie, thank god Richard and I are nurses because if we werent we probably would have believed her. So my mom chased the nurse down the hall and demanded that she call My Doctor immediatly. Needless to say she called my doctor and my doctor ordered another oral antibiotic. Well, by the time I had two doses, I was needing to stay narced up on Vicodin not for my after birth pains, but for my ear. I literally felt like I was bleeding from my eardrum. I was frustrated because my only problem was a stupid ear ache, when in reality I wanted to be able to focus on my new son.

My Ob doctor came in the next day and I was not able to tolerate my ear anymore. I explained to her that I was frustrated because I was trying to pump milk every 2 hours, was sedated from the vicodin, couldn’t hold or feed my son, felt like all I was able to focus on right now was a stupid ear, I was able to eat because it hurt my ear too much and I felt like my problem was getting swept under the rug. I asked her to please call my primary care doctor to come see me because I was concerned that an OB doctor was trying to treat a ear problem and it was getting worse by the minute. She agreed to call my PCP, who in return told her to call a ear nose and throat specialist. She agreed and told me this was the plan, only to decide later to call a “friend” general doc to suggested an ear drop. Well I tried the ear drops which did absolutely nothing, and then mixed with my emotional status I just lost it. My mom and Richard came in and I could not stop crying. Then the lactation nurse came in, and I couldn’t even talk to her because I was too emotional. At this point Richard went and demanded that they call my doctor and get a ear doctor stat. The nurse called right then in front of Richard, and got a new doctor on board. They had to transport me to his office from the hospital to get seen. Then when I got there, the secretary was like “oops, did you know that your insurance isn’t accepted here?” The tears started again because I thought I was going to get sent back and not seen. She went and talked to the doctor and he agreed to see me for free. I love this doctor already. Well he said I had a massive otitus externa ear infection and that my ear was so swollen that no eardrops could even get in the ear canal. So he put a wick in my ear and gave me some steroids. 6 hours later and now I feel great. I don’t even need Tylenol now. I am so relieved.

Now I can focus on my amazing son. He is now off oxygen, they pulled the feeding tube and he is eating from the bottle on his own. I haven’t made enough milk yet, but soon it will come I am convinced. We have been able to hold him now and they will let us bathe him tonight. His poor little veins though…he has had 3 iv’s and the third just went bad and now they need to start an iv in his head. But the good news is that he only needs the iv until tomorrow for a few more antibiotics, then he should be IV free, eating slowly but surely on his own, and out of the warming bed because they said he is now maintaining his own temperature. We still don’t know when he will get to go home, although we do know he cant leave with us tomorrow, but its ok, Richard and I will get some much needed rest and Benny will be home shortly.
I think that is about all I have to add for now, but please keep Benny in your prayers. He is such a little trooper. Tomorrow I think we may go and get him some smaller clothes to come home in. Keep watching here though because Richard is planning on putting some new pictures on tomorrow. Love you all…..Jamie, Richard and Little Benny.

Happy Birthday Benjamin Michael !

He has arrived on October 1,2008 @ 0623 AM. 5 lbs. & 5.3 oz. and 19 inches tall. Handsome like Dad and more to come later.

UPDATE

Its 11:30 pm. Jamie is 3 cm now and she is still getting the Pitocin IV. Her contraction is getting intense, that she needed her epidural.The L&D is full today and very busy we waited for 3 hours before the she got her epidural catheter.

She is getting tired but with the epidural she will be able to get rest tonight. The baby is still showing good Vital signs on the monitor. Earlier around 6 pm DR. Arzola came and purposely ruptured Jamie's bag of water. Since then she's been getting intense contractions. With the progress that she is showing now most likely she we will have normal delivery tomorrow morning. We'll keep you posted.

Pitocin

It's September 30th 0730 AM. Dr. Arzola came in very early to start the induction of labor for Jamie. She is not dilated yet even after the Cervidil but the cervix is softer. So we are hoping that Pitocin will do the rest. If not, Jamie will have C- section. The Baby is doing great on the monitor and everybody is happy about it.

My mother-in-law (Marty) arrived from Illinios @ 1am this morning. We are very happy to have her participate on this birthing process. Jamie got her wishes to have her mom present during the delivery and me of course. At this time Jamie is still comfortable and still talking a lot and laughing with her mom. Me , tired but still kicking. I think thats it for this time. ...Salamat


RICHARD

This is it !

The eventuality of Benny being born has finally come. This Morning we had our routine visit with Dr. Arzola and you know doing the same process of weighing in, vital signs check...check and check like what usually do on Monday. But this day is different because when they check Jamie's belly with the ultrasound machine the amniotic fluid is no longer there. I could not believe we did not notice this one. How could 2 R.N. miss this one ! But It did happen. The Dr. said that it can happen that she was leaking very slowly that you would not even notice it. So they had a STAT check on Benny's health condition. Thank God he is fine. His vital signs looks great and there is no signs for fetal distress.One doctor came in to re-check the ultrasound and it was confirm about the amniotic fluid problem. They made phone calls to a specialist then they came up with a decision to do induction ASAP base on the data that they gathered.

At this stage according to Dr.Arzola a 35 week old baby has a developed lung and already breathing on there own. So we run home feed the dogs ate a little bit then went to the hospital where we work. It was a quick admission for Jamie since she pre-registered with this hospital a month ago. So far things went smoothly. Dr Arzola came and started the induction around 6:30 PM after 1 hour she started having contructions.So this is it...I am asking you to please pray for Jamie and Benny as they go thru this birthing process. This is Richard updating this Blog

By the way Jamie's Mom is on her way from Illinios to be with us lets pray for her safe trip. Sorry no pictures this time for some reason the free internet here in the hospital is not allowing me to upload pictures.

Todays Doctor Visit...

So I was right about my belly dropping. Got confirmation from our Doctor this morning that my uterus is 2-3 cm lower than the last visit. Looks like things may be moving along faster than origionally anticipated. I am now only allowed to work 12 hours a week, at least until I get to week 37 due to "preterm contractions" So I have a doctors excuse to be lazy for a few weeks....he he. She said that it sounds like I was definately having some early contractions and to keep it less detailed, my body has already started to get ready to deliver a baby a little early. Then she told us that if we make it to week 37 that she could do some things to make labor possibly progress. I was a little taken aback by this because I am excited to see little Benny, but not on acounts of trying to pry him out early. I explained that I only want to focus on keeping him in until week 37, then he could come when he wants naturally. The doctor is dealing with a few patients who are miserable pregant at this time and trying to demand inductions of there pregnancy, so I think she thought we were anxious also. On the contrary, we are willing to wait, and I am not really feeling miserable, a little uncomfortable at times, but not enough to compain about. So our doctors visits are now 1 time a week and we get an ultrasound on next Monday. How exciting. For whatever reason (maybe that fact I am still gaining wait quickly), I think we may get the ultrasound and here the doctor say something to the affect of "oh, my, he is really big for his age." We'll see, but I am suspecting he is going to be a bigger boy. Hopefully with some cute chubby cheeks and rolls on his legs and arms. Cant wait to see.

Heard of the Giant Drop anyone?

Well apparently this week, I have experienced lightening aka baby and uterus settling lower in my abdomen. I noticed that I could breathe easier, and that alot of my heartburn has gone away. Thats good, but I have also had to pee more and am getting cramps and frequent braxton hicks. People at work have been commenting about how low my belly has gotten. That and the frequent questions of "So, when are you going to pop?" or "Did you know you waddle now?", "Why do you look so tired", "Does your husband know you drink coffee at work" and "You dont expect us to know how to deliver your baby do you, cause we are only medical nurses?" Who knows, maybe Benny will end up being closer to my birthday. I actually called off work today because I see the doctor tomorrow, and with how much my abdomen was feeling funky yesterday at work, I figured I didn't want to chance putting myself into early labor. The last 2 days were fairly busy, and I found myself trying to change wound dressings and going to grab my belly with tight discomforts at the same time. Not too good. It may be me being paranoid, or maybe Benny is just a very big and strong baby already, but man if that is the case I need to object now to how much he is kicking me inside. Ouch. Anyways, we will keep you all updated.

Classes, Classes, Classes...

So we have officially attended our breastfeeding class and one of our birthing classes....how exciting. People at work saw us at the hospital for class and looked shocked. I think they thought we were there to deliver already. Wishful thinking because we are so excited to see Benny but have around 49 days till due date to wait. I am so anxious. Congratulations to my cousin Kelly again who is now a seasoned 2 week mommy of Issaih. He is so cute in the pictures, I can only imagine how adorable he is in person. There is not a lot new here, just waiting, waiting, waiting and getting so excited. I think we have Benny set for at least the first year of life toy and book wise, because everytime we see something cute, if its on sale (you all know me and my sales addiction) we buy it for later. So many fun things now we just need baby here. We will keep on keeping you all updated.

Only 59 days to go!!!!

Can it really be? Only 59 days and counting until Benny's due date. We are getting so excited and anxious. My cousin Kelly just had her son on August 28th, a few weeks early, but he is so perfect and tiny. It is making us so much more excited to hold our new one in our arms. So, mark your calendars if not already done, because it is kinda fun slashing off the days on the calender until our due date. We get to go to our first class on breastfeeding on Thursday....that should be interesting. I am feeling very good still. I only feel very pregnant when trying to get out of bed. It is near impossible. But once I am up, Benny and I are ready for the day. We got to spend the day with Richard yesterday, because it was Dads Day....aka his birthday....We didn't do alot, just driving around, looking at electronic stores, went out to eat and I tried my hardest to get Richard to pick something out for his birthday, and he chose a baby dvd of colors and shapes....how cute. I warned him that the next few years on his birthday he may be recieving things like mud shaped to look like a ball in a box, toads and neon colored clothes, because little Benny will soon be picking out his birthday gifts too. Richard is happy at that idea....hmmmm can we say every Birthday, Christmas etc ties, socks and underwear? We'll see. Back to the countdown, only 38 days until Benny would be considered full term.....how exciting. Well keep you posted.

Mondays Doctor Visit....

We went to the doctor this week and everything is looking good. According to the doctor, we are measuring 29 cm which is right on spot. His heart is between 140-150 beats, perfect for his age. We will now begin seeing the doctor every 2 weeks since we are getting closer to the grand day of delivery. We actually get to start our birthing/breastfeeding classes next week.....What an exciting way to celebrate Ricards birthday. By Thursday of this week, we will be approximately 31 weeks pregnant, with only 65 days til our due date. Anyone want to guess when the baby with actually be born and the weight? We are having fun with this and marking it on the calender to see who is the closest in the end. Happy guessing.

The Silver Cup

This was given to us from our Grandma Sawyer when we went back to Illinois this July. Grandma had a difficult summer this year, being hospitalized, having multiple procedures done and in the end suffering a stroke. Even through all of this, she was able to choose out little Benjamin's first silver cup with the assistance of my sister Ashley. Ashley picked up multiple silver cups from Venier's jewelery shop in Dixon, which happens to be her boyfriend Tyler's family business. After finding mulptiple cups, she brought them to grandma in the hospital so she could choose the cup that would become our sons. The relevance of a silver cup is to wish prosperity and luck to the first born child. http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/15126/parenting/the_holy_grail_and_a_silver_christening_cup.html

It meant alot to get this from grandma, especially since we were not sure that we would get to see her again. She is such a fighter, and we could see the energy come back to her after seeing my pregnant belly. She has been working hard at rehab in preparation for the new grand-babies. My cousin Kelly is also due in October, so grandma is getting a double treat this year.

The Official Launching of this site....

Here are those pictures promised, thanks to my diligent husband who worked all night to get the pictures and slideshow to work. You can watch slideshows and see pictures all the way from the beginning of this pregnancy, and view some artwork and digital photos that Richard and I are working on. We are currently taking art classes every Thursday and will soon be producing Van Gogh like creations..he he. Richard already thinks he is Van Gogh. We are taking watercolor classes at the local Hobby Lobby and it is fun, when the instructor is not telling my husband what to do....he is a "free thinker" We are having a good time here and want to invite you to see what we've been doing. Keep checking back for updated photos and blog.

Family Pictures.....

Family Pictures are coming soon. Keep an eye out for upcoming updates. Our little guy is due October 31, 2008.....so count down with us!!!