out with the old in with the new (year)

looking back on 2010, it was a pretty eventful year for us. i mean you know with the baby and all.
i am too lazy to post links {plus half of what i mention i probably didn't blog about...oops}

January-announced we were expecting!

February and March-my new niece eiley sophia was born. traveled with pete the last time and found out it was a girl in there!

April and May-started decorating and nesting (which went on throughout august) pete went to australia...i stayed home {whomp whomp}

June and July-pete is gone a ton! i stay home and veg out...not very interesting few months...it was super HOT and all i did with my pregnant self was sleep, swim, read, and decorate. BUT we did get to spend our 1st 4th of july together so that was nice. welcome another new niece grace elizabeth.

August-BABY!!!!

September-family in and out of town. pete home a lot :) grow together as a new family.

October-bennet's 1st road trip. pete turns 28. Halloween.

November-pete gone for my bday. bennet 2nd road trip to oklahoma gets to meet great-great gma

December-so much fun preparing for the holidays with little b. our christmas kinda blew but thankful we were together and healthy.



so yea. i know it was a lot more exciting then this list but these are the few things that stick out in my mind. as 2011 approaches, i am sad to see 2010 go, but i know this year will bring so many new things for us. with bennet doing new things pretty much every week...i can only imagine how exciting it will be to see her grow into a little girl.

and because its New Years Eve and all...

Goals 2011

1. get back to pre-baby weight
2. save money for
a.house
b.bennet's college fund
3. pay off debt
4. be a better housewife (as in cooking and cleaning)
5. get organized
6. travel more
7. get a better camera and curtains for living room (i know this one is odd but i am super picky with curtains and haven't found any i like)

there it is. hopefully most of this will happen. i started working on the 1st one today...i am doing jillian michael's 30 day shred. so to keep me in check i am going to start checking in weekly and blogging about it.

starting weight: 150.5 lbs

goal weight: 115-120 lbs

i like this workout a lot and after the first 30 days are up i am gonna keep it going but will probably just work out 5 days a week. hopefully by summer i will be more comfortable wearing shorts and tanks cus right now i do everything i can to cover every inch of my body with as many layers that look good. wish me luck!

Happy New Year Everyone!

did i mention i get to kiss this face tonight...



pete is gone playing a new years eve show so it will be just me and the little munchkin although she goes to bed by 8...sooooo....

lame.

xoxo,
m

merry christmas!

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.'"

it's the most wonderful time of the year

indeed it is. we have been busy shopping, baking, wrapping, opening, packing, watching (christmas movies), and lots of spending time as a little family.

we leave tomorrow for christmas with my family in st louis. i am so excited and so ready to see everyone! can not wait to see all the little cousins together again.

want to wish you and yours a very merry christmas (a little early)!

months 1-4 recap

this little boog is growing fast! notice how she seems to get a new roll on her thighs every month ;)

4 months!

my little sugar plum, today is your 4 month bday! you are such a sweet little sugar. you continue to surprise me each day with all the new things you do. you smile all the time and love to laugh. you have found your voice and love to squeal with a super high pitched voice...all girl there ;)

you continue to HATE tummy time and floor time. i don't know what i am gonna do with you. you are just not content on the floor. i am hoping that when Santa comes and brings you cool new toys to play with that you will like it more...but i don't know...you prefer to play sitting up. you rolled over just once this month...and you were hungry so that was your motivation there. are babies suppose to sit up before they roll over??? that seems weird but i guess we will just keep working on that.



you are still eating a ton...in fact the past few days it has been every hour and a half. usually you go every 2 but i think you are having a growth spurt. you still sleep awesome through the night. and you are still obsessed with the bath. you love to kick and splash and we had to move the baby bath from the sink to the tub. (you got the whole kitchen wet the other night with your strong kicks!) you are so in love with books. in fact you can't get enough! you laugh and smile at the pictures it is too adorable. your favorites are "goodnight moon", "colors", and "who's baby am i?"
you are super ticklish now and daddy loves to tickle you all the time! you stare at petty the cat like he is a weird creature,but he loves you and likes to be around you.

i am pretty sure we are starting to teeth. although you still sleep through the night, you are just a little more fussy during the day now. we will have to wait to see.

some first this month:
roll over
Christmas tree
rode trip to Oklahoma to meet your great gma and great great gma for thanksgiving
Santa encounter
first babysitter (miss lori)

we are so excited to share this christmas with you! even though you won't remember it...we will. it has been so fun so far and can't wait for christmas eve with your cousins and christmas day with all santa's toys. you have been such a sweet little nugget so i know he will be bringing you some pretty exciting things ;)

2 years ago...

(pics by tec petaja)


I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine.

Song of Solomon 6:3 KJV

i love you babe.

m

and the Grammy (nomination) goes to...

Sanctus Real



we found out last night that my husband's band got nominated for a Grammy!!! woop woop! i am super excited for them and especially proud of the hot bearded guitar player. here's to hoping we get to go this time. a couple years ago they got nominated but couldn't make it due to shows booked on that day. this time the day looks free so *fingers crossed*




so so excited for you guys!

m

santa baby

bennet met santa the other day.

it was love at first sight.

seriously this girl is sweet to everybody. full of smiles and coos. no stranger danger here.

santa even commented on how sweet she is and was like "is she this sweet ALL the time?!" yes she is santa, yes she is.

i am guessing there will be some special goodies under the tree from santa for her.


ps those are not teeth you see in her mouth. just drool shinning bc of the flash. still all baby gums around here.

3 month baby!

well miss bennet, you are growing like a weed (a really pretty weed xoxo). these past three months have been most exciting. in just the past 2 weeks you are doing so many new things. i can't call you my newborn baby girl anymore :( you love love love to sit up and you adore your bumbo seat. floor time is kinda in the past as you will only play laying down for short periods. your favorite game is "up up" where you grab our hands and we lift you up to sit. as soon as you grab our hands you lift your legs in and are ready! your absolute favorite toy is your monkey hanging toy. you stare at him a ton and talk to him. too cute! you grasp toys really well and started shaking your rattle. but you would still rather look around then look at your toys. you love to have tons of conversations (i mean you are a girl!!) and hearing your laugh for the first time (october 15) totally made my whole life! you are still sleeping well and through the night. thank you for that my dear!

some first this past month:
first laugh
playing with toys
grabbing toys
sitting up (with help and in bumbo)
first long road trip (to st. louis)
first halloween
first shot (yesterday :( just the one though)

i am so excited for the holidays coming up. over thanksgiving you will get to meet your great great grandma (who is 99 and doing great!) and i am so excited to take you to sit on santa's lap and have christmas morning with you!! you my dear are the best present and your mommy and daddy couldn't adore you more!

happy halloween!

love and candy,
the Prevosts

the perfect punkin'

while we were in st louis visiting my family, bennet had her first pumpkin patch experience. she mostly slept through but it was still a lot of fun to be there with all her cousins!


pete unfortunately missed this outing so of course we had to go to one in nashville! this time bennet was awake and she even got a pumpkin all for herself...we made sure it was roughly the size of her head haha.



happy fall!

m

2 months!

bennet,

my little 2 month old! you are such a precious joy to us. you are growing like a weed and i have to say it again...i can not believe how fast time is flying by! this past month have brought many "firsts."
~you laughed for the first time (best sound EVER) while i was blowing on your belly. please start doing this more...you have only done it once and i just need to hear it more.
~you found your thumb and love to suck on it when the paci falls out.
~we purchased size 2 diapers you little chunk!
~you went to daddy's tour rehearsal and heard him play for the first time...you fell asleep :)
~your first church service...you did so well and stayed awake for the whole sermon. you have your priorities right haha
~we got your first halloween costume...you little sweet pea

the ceiling fan in our room is still your best friend and seems to be the only one who can get tons of smiles and coos. you still make us work really hard for them! you are pretty much obsessed with the fan.
you still hate tummy time and will only allow it for about a min before you are over it. not good...we need to work on that. i think you are mad bc you can't look around. you are so interested in all your surroundings and usually want nothing to do with your mommy and daddy. you haven't taken any interest in any toys too...you would rather look outsite, at the ceiling fan or lights, tv, someone who is sitting farther away. silly.

your schedule pretty much goes like this:

4-6am wake up and nurse
6-8am sleep
8am nurse
9-10am play
10:30-11am nurse
11am or 12pm-2pm or 3pm sleep
3pm-4pm play
4pm nurse
5pm-6pm sleep (if lucky)
6:30 nurse
7:30pm asleep for night

you might wake up around 9ish and i will nurse you back to sleep...but i wouldn't count that as a feeding bc your are not really eating...this is totally for comfort.

we are so blessed to have such a good sleeper! you let your mommy and daddy get enough rest at night and you have been doing this since 5 weeks old. so awesome! keep it up :)

tomorrow you have your 2 month check up. i am guessing you weigh close to 13lbs but we will find out for sure tomorrow. you will not be getting any shots tomorrow so you can thank me later for that ;) we have decided to what till your 4 month checkup for you to get any. i am still on the fence though so you might get lucky again.


we love you so much baby girl!!! continue to grow and learn. we are so excited to see what you accomplish this coming month!

xoxo,
mommy

taking on too much...

feeling a little overwhelmed here. i am having a yard sale tomorrow so i am spending the day trying to get that all squared away while also attending Bennet. i wanted to try and get most of it done yesterday but little girl was having an off day and wanted to be held all day...she napped about 20 mins and it had to be on me. pete is gone so i am doing this all by myself and i am beginning to see how dumb my idea was. i am real tempted to put everything in my car and just make a goodwill drop. fast and easy. but no i am going about it the harder way. yea me! (not...duh)

also we are going out of town next wednesday so i am also mentally preparing myself for that...thinking about all the things we need to take with makes me want to crawl in a ball and sleep for 3 days. but the good news is we are visiting my family and i am so so excited to see them...i will be better once we are there. i am not too worried about the drive bc bennet loves the car seat. lets hope i didn't just jinx us.

well hope you have a relaxing weekend...think of me cus i surely will not.

~melissa

ps isn't bennet cute in her little hat :)

happy birthday love

"Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own."
--Robert Heinlein

hope you have the best birthday! bennet and i are so happy to celebrate with you and hope we make you feel loved and of course happy!

~m

lately,

we've been doing a lot of this,





and some of this,




we also are getting out a lot more. bennet is a dream baby! she is totally fine with whatever and if i had to describe her is one word right now it would be "chill"

and i have to brag a little on her...she is sleeping 8 to 10 hours at night! (other moms please don't hate me for it)

she is such a little darling!

happy weekend!

...

bennet is snoozing so i thought i would post some more pictures of her 1 month birthday!









i can't wait to have some better pics of this little babe. i am so not a photographer and i use a crappy camera...we are getting real pictures done soon and i am so excited. just waiting on her baby acne to clear up (by the way i hate baby acne!)

happy saturday! tomorrow we are taking bennet to her first church service =) hopefully all goes well *fingers crossed*

m

Happy Weekend!

this weekend marks the first of many (unfortunately) that i will be taking care of bennet all by my lonesome. pete is playing shows and starting a tour which means he will be gone every weekend till thanksgiving. you can be sad for me. i am.

m

wanted to talk about something that is dear to our hearts right now. our friends matt and sarah had their baby boy, Bowen, last thursday. Bowen was born with a serious and rare congenital heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. He had his first heart surgery this past monday. everything looked great until that night when he crashed. they had to watch as nurses pumped his little heart for nearly an hour. the surgeon got there and performed surgery on little Bowen. they put Bowen on life support and he was in critical condition.

thankfully, bowen is doing great today. they started weaning him off life support and so far has been doing wonderfully! many people are praying for this dear little boy and i want to ask you to continue. i cannot fathom what matt and sarah are going through. please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they are facing this difficult time. everything is looking better but they are constantly in fear that things could take a turn for the worse again. pray that they have an overwhelming peace and that little bowen's heart gets stronger and stronger. this little baby has had to fight for his life and he wasn't even a week old yet.

if you would like to keep up on their story go here


thank you so much,

a mom who is holding her healthy baby so much closer.

1 month

baby girl,

today you are 1 month old! i can't even believe it. time is just flying by and you are changing each and every day. you have brought so much to my life and i am so thankful i am your mommy. i cherish every morning that i get to wake up and hold you. you have been such a little miracle and your mommy and daddy love you tons.
before you came into our lives, one of the things we prayed for was for you to be a good sleeper. you rock at sleeping! well at night...naps during the day not so much. but that is okay because you are giving me 6 hours straight before you wake up for a feeding. you have been doing this since you have been 3 weeks and your mommy def feels rested in the morning. right now falling asleep for the night is your hardest time of the day. it is pretty much the only time we hear that sad cry. but once your down for the night, usually around 10, you sleep for 6 hours then wake up, eat, go back to bed for 3 hours, then up again to eat. most mornings you are sleeping in till 9ish which is just crazy. you like your sleep like your parents!
in the mornings you are super smiley. seeing you smile makes my heart melt. seriously the best thing ever. you have been smiling at us for about a week now...at first i was riding it off as gas but then noticed that it was too good of timing and it would be in response to us talking to you. now i can totally tell the difference between your gas smile and your real smile. both are darling :)
your favorite thing to look at is daddy's face (the beard ;)) and our hands. you watch the tv too which is hilarious.
i have been trying to show you that you have hands and feet. i don't think you have come to realize how great they are yet though. you love to grip fingers and today you held your rattle for a while. you smile when we play "how big is bennet?" you are doing so great at tummy time. you lift that big ol' noggin of yours so well!
you love movement! not kidding. you love your carseat and have done so well in the car. sometimes you get mad when we are stuck at a red light for too long but pretty much traveling has been so easy. you adore your swing and will sleep like a rock in there for naps (some days) some days you fight your naps all day and will only do cat naps on mommy or daddy. we don't mind :) this makes for an interesting evening when you do this though.

it is so crazy to think that this time 1 month ago i hadn't met you yet. i would be pushing right about now. about to experience the most intense, amazing moment of my life when they placed you on my chest. i miss that moment but play it over and over again in my head. plus i get to hold you anytime i want to now that you are here!

you are the best thing i have ever experienced and everyday is a new adventure with you. i thank God that He chose me to be your mommy. even though we are both new at this we are learning together. you teach me new things every day and i hope i am teaching you too. thank you daughter for showing me how full life can be. little bennet, just know that your mommy loves you and will always be here for you.

xoxo,
mommy.

the baby is sleeeeping...

so i have a few minutes to write. ahhh i should be vacuuming or something but shoot i am lazy...and enjoying these quite moments. we bought a swing over the weekend and let me just say this thing is a miracle worker. Bennet LOVES it! seriously the best thing ever. we were using a bouncy chair a ton but we have a cat and i was terrified he would try to get up on her while i was in the other room. thus the past few weeks i got nothing done. now she is up higher and moving and the cat doesn't seem interested in her at all! it has allowed me to put laundry away and pack Bennet's newborn clothes away {which is terribly sad:(}

so i said i would write about our little (by little i mean BIG) emergency room visit...here it goes (cue tears)

so Bennet has been such a great sleeper at night. this is good. back when she was 11 days old she wanted to nurse pretty much every hour and a half ALL day and then at around 5 or 6 at night she would start drifting off for the night (oh by the way my baby fights her naps ALL day LONG! so she would be exhausted in the early evening) since birth she has been a very alert baby and at night she always woke herself up for a feeding around every 3 hours. so saturday night pete and i put her down around 9pm for the night and we quickly got into bed ourselves due to exhaustion and pete was leaving on the road for a few days of shows at 6am. my mom was coming down the following day to stay with me while he was gone. i quickly fell asleep. at around 2am i woke up thinking oh weird she hasn't woke up to eat yet. so i go to get her up and nothing. she is breathing and responding to touch but will not wake up. i tried to get her to latch on and was successful only with her putting it in her mouth and sucking 2 times in 20 mins. so thinking she is just being a newborn and trying to figure out a schedule (ahem no naps during the day) i put her back to bed and set my alarm for 4 am thinking surely by then baby is gonna be hungry! 4am comes around and still nothing. nothing could wake her up. changing diaper, cold wet wipe, strip naked, wiping face with wash cloth, temp taking...nothing. pete and i got up and decided that she would wake up if we gave her a sponge bath. nope. not even the sponge bath. pete is starting to worry. i am too but hiding it. i seriously just thought she is being a newborn who is super sleepy. also i thought when/if we call the peditrician she would just send us to get Bennet's heal pricked to check her billirubin levels again. so i calmed down and told pete that at 8 she would be up and starving and everything would be fine. pete had to leave and woke me up to say by telling me to call the doctor if she still would not wake up and to not downplay it. i reassured him i would and everything would be fine.
8am...still nothing! are you kidding me. i was so worried. pete was now gone and i was gonna have to handle this all by myself. called the doc (once again thinking i will have to take her to get her heal pricked and that would be it) and she proceeds to tell me that i need to take her to children's er. what?!?! she tells me they will have to run some test and we will go from there. i could barely get off the phone before the tears started flowing. called pete and through my sobbing i told him what was up. he was stuck on the bus driving away from us. it was so hard for him and he was freaking out. i calmed down bc i realized i would have to drive my new baby for the first time and that was scary. i get to the er and walk in a total mess. i make out what the issue is and let me say the Bennet is still asleep at this point. they take her and strip her down, check her weight and that is when she wakes up. they take her temp...no temp so that is good. they take us into a room and put her on this huge bed. nurses and doctors come in and start telling me they need to get a urine sample (using a catheter) and get blood (put iv in) and get a spinal tap. ummmmmmm....what??? can't you just prick her heal and let us go home???? not good. i call pete hyperventalating telling him to get home! they wanted to keep her for 48 hours to monitor her. the only good news that happened was that thankfully my mom and the bus would be crossing paths so pete was able to jump off and get in the car with my mom. God is good! pete called my close friend katie to have someone come sit with me bc i am a mess. the doctors had me leave the room while they tried many times to get a vein. i was laying on the bed while my baby was SCREAMING while they dug around her little hand and arm with a needle. complete mess. so i sat right outside. i couldn't leave her. but i know i was making the situation more stressful for Bennet. katie and her husband got there and we prayed and sat and cried. they took us to a private waiting room and my friends lori, jenny and jill all came up. seriously i have such great friends. all of our families live out of town so we def are each others nashville family. it is so nice to have that comfort. we sat and they let me back in to see bennet. she was finally not crying but laying in this huge bed in this cold room all alone. my heart was completely broken. i just got as close to her as i could and talked to her and rubbed her little head. after a while they kicked me back out to do the spinal tap. ugghhhh. i did not want to leave but knew it probably would make the doctors more at ease if i did. i went back in after they finished and tried to nurse her cus people my boobs were FULL and they hurt. i only got her on for 5 mins before she just passed out tired. i decided to let her get some rest (she had been crying now for a few hours) and i would try again in a couple hours. i pumped and let me tell you i filled up 3 bottle fulls in no time. my friends went and got lunch for everyone and we just hung out in the room waiting. they were all such a great comfort. they made the most horrible day less horrible. at around 3 pete and my mom finally got there. i just held on to pete forever. i took them back to see bennet and we all just lost it. pete had been driving for 4 hours not really knowing what was going on but me sobbing to him on the phone. my mom told me he lost it a couple times on the drive. i can't imagine how long that drive must have felt for him. after a while they moved us up to our room for the next 2 days. we had such wonderful nurses and doctors and we knew Bennet was in good hands. basically they wanted to watch the cultures they got from her urine, blood, and spinal fluid and see if anything grew on them. if it did she could have a UTI (urinary tract infection) or something more serious of a virus. they gave her some antibiotics just in case. so we just kinda had to wait it out. if nothing grew on them after 48 hours that would be good and we could go home. if something did grow we would have to take it from there. they told us that %97 of the time that babies come in being super sleepy they don't know what made them that way. this was good. we didn't want to know. bc if we did know it would be something serious.


so the days went by. by the first night she was waking up on her own to eat every 2 to 3 hours and having lots of dirty diapers. this was good. the next day she seemed like herself. she was alert and eating and napping like normal. the doctors told us nothing had grown so far! yes!

finally after 48 hours they sent us home. nothing grew. we don't know what made her so lethargic. but we got to go home with a happy, healthy, alert baby!

i battled with the doubts of doing the right thing. yea the peditrician told me to take her to the er. but was that the right thing? did she go through all that pain and crying for nothing. if i would've just waited another hour would she have woke up on her own and had a normal day? i will never know. but what i do know is that its better to be safe then sorry. what if something horrible had been harming her and i didn't act? i don't even want to think about the possibilities and i know i did the right thing. my baby won't remember the pain or this hospital visit. i didn't scar her. and she is healthy. thankfully. thankfully.


everything has been normal since then. we had our er check up visit with the peditrician and everything is great. then a couple days later we were back for her 2 week visit. everything still great. God is so good. we had so many people praying for our little baby girl. the prayers def were answered.


{mimi(my mom) meeting Bennet for 1st time}



{sleeping in her big bed}

tummy time

wow

being a mommy has kept me way busy and away from my blog for too long. Our little dear Bennet Elise is such a joy! She is such a chill baby. So far she really only cries when hungry (and girl eats a ton) and in the evening when she is super tired and ready for a good nights rest. She is easily calmed and loves to lay against chest and be patted on the back. Bennet has been a super alert baby since birth. Even the nurses in the nursery at hospital came in saying how she is alert and not a normal sleepy newborn. She already is tracking objects super well it is kinda crazy. Her favorite thing to look at so far is daddy and hands. I can't believe she is 17 days old! Can someone stop time for me please?!

Birth Story:

So on August 10 we spent the day getting all ready for the big day. Pete was leaving for the road the following week and so we had to unfortunately be induced. We wanted to make sure he would get lots of time to help me and be with Bennet before he left. We left our house early to grab a bit to eat and get one more free froyo at Sweet CeCes. Got to the hospital at 9 and we were all set at 10 in our room. My midwife Erin was with me through the night. She started me with Curtitek(spelling?) to soften my cervix. I was still only dilated at 1cm and my cervix was not very soft at all. She wanted me to progress some before she started the pitocin. As soon as she put it in I started having contractions. They were not super painful but enough to keep me up all night. My contractions the whole night were 2 -3 mins apart. I couldn't get up while the curitek was in so that stunk. All i wanted to do was to move and get out of the bed. She checked me around 6am and decided to start the pit in an hour. They allowed me to get up and move (PTL!) I choose to hop in the shower. OMG! It felt so great to be in there. If i could've labored in there the whole time it would've been so lovely. But of course with the pit they have to monitor baby and i was hooked up to so many cords and IV. So they started the pit and I got a new nurse and midwife. Midwife Allison was on and it was so great to have her there that day. Also the best nurse EVER was with me all day. Darlene was the best. She allowed me to sit in the rocking chair and rock through my contractions. My goal at this time was to still go natural and I knew this would be difficult to do with the pitocin. My contractions were SUPER SUPER intense. Pete and my doula Angel were so great. They massaged me and helped me breath. We were able to try different positions bc Bennet was awesome and monitored well. My favorite was rocking (although i wouldve done anything to get in the shower again) Pretty soon I was in the most horrible pain. We decided to try a side lying position in the bed (i swear the bed was the worst! so uncomfy!) That is when the pain spiked! My contractions this whole time were about 2 min apart so i couldn't just relax. As soon as one was done another one was preparing to kick me in the butt. I asked Allison to check me thinking okay I have been laboring for 17 hours i am def close to 10cm. Plus my contractions we intense and so close. I was devastated to hear I was only 3 1/2 cm?!?!?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! That is when the tears started flowing. I knew I needed some pain meds. But was so terrified of an epidural. Needles are not my thing and I literally hyperventilate when I hear the word. After consulting with Pete and everyone I decided to get one. They came in and gave me anxiety med to calm me down. I held onto Pete and Darlene for dear life. He got it in and then the fun started. It took 40 mins to take! They thought they didn't get it in right and they wanted to do it again. WHAT?!?!?! Finally though it started working. AHHH! I was able to get about 30 mins sleep (kinda) and then felt a ton of pressure. Got checked and in that short amount of time I got to 6 1/2 cm and 90% effaced! Score! I was going to have a baby! And soon. The epidural was def what my body needed to relax and progress. I was excited. My water broke on its own around 7pm. Everything was just moving along...and then...my epidural wore off. Sucks!!! I was immediatly in pain. We are talking transition contraction pain! UGGGG! They came in to redose but didn't want to give me too much bc they knew I would be pushing soon and they wanted me to work with the contractions. I was in super pain again for 40 mins till it kinda took. I could still feel a ton but was trying to breath through them. Shift change happened and I got a new midwife and nurse. Elaine and Athena. I had never meet Elaine at any midwife appt but she was great. She has been doing it for 28 years! I pushed and pushed and pushed for what seemed like forever (about an hour and half) They brought a mirror over so I could see her hear. I started getting so mad bc her head was just there poking out forever. I couldn't see and progression and so I covered my eyes with a cold washcloth and just invisioned her coming out. Finally everyone started saying Her heads out!! Her shoulders are out!! She is here!!!
Finally.
Finally...

They put her on my chest and I just staired and cried. Pete and I just looked at each other through our many tears. Such a powerful moment. She was absolutely perfect. At 11:10pm on 8/11/10 8lbs and 20.5 inches. Beautiful!

Of course I tore. Not fun. But I am feeling totally fine now. The first week was painful but after that I feel totally normal again.

Bennet had many visitors and we def felt so loved by all our friends and family. They sent us home on friday at 8pm which was a bummer (i wanted to stay another night!) the reason it was so late was bc they couldn't decide if they wanted to keep her another night bc of her jaundice levels were a little high. Thankfully they sent us all home. We had to go the 2 following mornings to check the bilirubin level. It leveled out at 14 so she never had to be under light treatments. The first week was surreal. I def felt the baby blues and I missed the hospital (weird) But the blues didn't last too long. We had fun just being a family of 3. Lots of friends brought dinner and food and that was awesome!! Such a wonderful time!


next post i will talk about our health scare and our emergency room visit and another hospital stay. that is not a fun post so i am not looking forward to writing.


but for now a pic...


well a few...

Bennet has finally arrived!

Bennet Elise Prevost born at 11:10pm on 8/11/10 weighing 8lbs and 20.5 inches. everyone is doing great!

i will be back with the birth story later but for now...rest :)

the next time i write...

i will be a mommy!!

we are getting ready to head to dinner and some free froyo before we check into the hospital. nomnomnomnom!

of course we would love your prayers!

xoxo,
melissa

bennet's coming home outfit

trying to take my mind off of still being pregnant, i have spent the day listening to records and cleaning. i am hoping this is the final clean before baby arrives! i have repacked our hospital bag like 20 times. when i was thinking about what outfit i wanted to bring Bennet home in, i new right away it had to be this little dress my dear friend lori got us.



and a pic of the little bottoms...



i can't wait to see it on her!

i will update tomorrow after our midwife appt. really hoping they can strip membranes and kick start some labor!

still prego

oh yes.

and today it will be 102 degrees.

cool.

how lucky am i that i get to still be pregnant on such a hottttt day?!


we had a midwife appt on monday and they wanted to schedule an ultrasound to check baby's fluid levels. so yesterday we went. both of us were pretty pumped to see her all big in there. everything looked good...which of course we were super thankful for BUT it would've been awesome to hear them say oh you had better head to hospital now. but of course that didn't happen. for some reason our nugget doesn't want to grace the world with her presence. maybe it's just too hot for her and she just wants to stay where the temp is perfect. back to ultrasound, it was so crazy to see her so big. she was sticking out her tongue and had one hand grabbing her foot and the other one by her face. she is def doing some yoga poses in there. ahah

so our birth plan might be changing and i have become okay with that. we go in on friday this week...hopefully i will be more dilated and effaced so they can strip membranes. then we will wait out the weekend to see if anything gets stirring. if nothing happens by monday we will be induced. pete leaves back on the road on the 19th so that will give us a week and a half together. obviously our hope is something will start on its own before then. anything sooner the better. today? tomorrow? pleaseeeee!!!!


we want to meet our baby!!!

i totally feel for every woman who has gone past due date. this has def been the hardest thing to deal with. lots of crying and feeling down. BUT no one stays pregnant forever, no one stays pregnant forever (repeat over and over)

xoxo,
melissa

40 weeks...

yep. 40 weeks. no baby yet. that's right. no baby....yet. i am so ready to have her here! the waiting and patience is so so difficult. we have a midwife appt today. hopefully they can strip membranes today. last week my cervix (TMI?) was to high up so she couldn't. we are unfortunately going to discuss being induced. with pete's job and with him having to get back on the road soon, plus no family in town, we don't want to have a baby then him leave right away while i am still trying to recover. hopefully we don't have to walk down that road bc that is def NOT my ideal birth plan. if he had a normal job i would just wait it out longer.


Bennet,
Today is your due date. do you know that? so be a good baby girl and come on out. we want to meet you so so badly!!!

love,
mommy and daddy

39 Weeks

wow...the final stretch. i am SO SO ready. like, you have no idea. i have been having very minor contractions...nothing to get too excited about. we have been applying all the tricks to kick start labor. everything is ready for the little babe (except i need to mop all the floors today...maybe that will help labor start too! fingers crossed) but yes, I AM READY!

How Far Along: 39 weeks

Total Weight Gain: 40lbs (yikes)

Stretch Marks: A couple on my side (wahhhh)

Sleep?: ummm what is that? i am def preparing for even less when she is here. also biggest complaint about this...my hips. seriously they hurt all night...why doesn't anyone else seem to talk about this? am i the only one???

Best Moment this Week: Pete home from the road...we have been spending tons of time together going on dates and laughing. i love him so much.

Movement: she is def down but manages to kick a rib here and there.

Food cravings: breakfast food, sour cream(on burritos and potatoes), and fruit.

Labor Signs: minor contractions and at our last midwife appt i was 1cm dialated. we go back wed (if nothing happens by then) we are hoping for big progress.

Belly Button: Stretched to the max!

What I Miss: Clothes...i spent a majority of the morning drooling over clothes. hopefully when i drop the extra weight pete will take me shopping!!!

What Am I Looking Forward To: the whole labor experience...gosh i can't wait!!! and then to hold her...FINALLY :)

Weekly Wisdom: God is teaching me patience...learning to enjoy the moment and not rush...so hard to do.

Milestones: THE LAST WEEK!


so blog summary? I AM READY!

enjoy the day
xoxo
melissa

waiting is the hardest part...

i am waiting for pete to get home this morning. he has been gone a week and it def felt like a looong week. i am trying to wait patiently. it is so good to know that he is off the road for a while. we will have plenty of time to be together as a family. i can't wait to get the process going! tomorrow we are gonna start all the tricks they say helps start labor so hopefully we won't have to wait too long till we get to hold our baby girl. i am hoping for the 27th. that gives us a few days together to have a date and prepare. i am thinking a movie, dinner, and some free frozen yogurt...sounds perfect to me ;)

i must share this...it is my absolutely favorite thing i have bought for Bennet! i can't wait to put her in it and get some pics taken...ohhhhh its the cutest thing ever!



i cannot take it! i die!


so....COME ON BABY!

week 37

we are just booking through these last few weeks. i cannot believe its almost here!! i am feeling pretty good, just exhausted. i will admit though that i do have super emotional "i'm pregnant!!" mood swings. it is super hard to get out of the "blah" mood. i def have my good days and then the not so good days. one thing that perks me up though is that pete is almost done traveling!! he is heading out tomorrow for his last run then gets home next tuesday. this is a week earlier then what we thought so we are super thankful.
we had a midwife appt today. everything is looking good! we are so happy with our choice to go with the midwives. we went over our birth plan and just got more reassurance that this is going to be a good experience. our midwife thinks we have a small baby on the way...probably in the 7lb range. we chose not to get checked. with pete leaving tomorrow we didn't want to worry the whole time he is gone. i think she will be around a week early but not before then. but this is a super hot summer, so you better believe as soon as pete walks through our door we are gonna do all the tricks to get bennet on the path. i can't believe i will be a mommy in just a few weeks. so surreal.