1 Month!

 This sweet boy is already 1 month old!

On one hand, 4 weeks has flown by like the blink of an eye!  It seems like just yesterday I was 9 months pregnant, waddling around with a huge belly and complaining about how many times I had to wake up to go to the bathroom at night.  (Boy, I realize now that I had nothing to complain about when it came to waking up in the middle of the night!  Ha!)  :)  

On the other hand, I can't imagine what life was like before this little one come into our lives!  2am feedings, diaper changes, and tummy time seems like second nature now.  I will admit that mommyhood was quite an adjustment at the very beginning, and each day still holds new surprises.  Everyone told me that having a baby would change our lives, and they were right on!  Long gone are the days of leisurely 20 minute showers, dinner and movie date nights, and a clean house.  I am lucky if I can manage to eat all 3 meals each day!  (Usually breakfast and lunch consists of something I can eat with one hand since I am holding Benjamin in the other one!)  

Despite the fact that our lives have been flipped upside down, I can truly say I have never been happier!  The love I feel for Baby Ben is indescribable.  It is something I have never felt before.  *Every* face he makes is the most adorable thing I have ever seen.  Poor Chris gets at least 10 texts a day at work of the latest display of Benjamin cuteness. :)  He is so innocent and perfect in every way.  I think Chris and I would both agree that he is the best thing that has ever happened to us.

Speaking of Chris, Benjamin has brought an incredible new spark to our marriage.  I am sure raising a child will bring some difficult days, but for now, we are on cloud nine.  Watching the man I love with our little boy is the most amazing thing. 

And I can't forget to mention the other member of our family - Maggie!  She seems to love Benjamin just as much as us.  She is so good with him.  I never worry for a second when she is around him.  She has been nothing but gentle and sweet to her baby brother.  I do sense a little bit of sadness in her though - she is adjusting to a big change in her life as well.  

At 1 month old, Benjamin is becoming more and more alert everyday. When he looks all around his world, you can almost see his little mind learning and growing.  For now he is eating about every 2 hours.  Breastfeeding is going really well for us - we are blessed!  I know how difficult it can be for some mothers.  He is sleeping for 2-3 hour stretches at night, and we are hoping he will soon lengthen that to 4 or 5!  Fingers crossed. ;)  For now, I am trying to soak up every minute with him, even if it's 4 in the morning.  I know someday I will miss those late night (or early morning!) feedings and cuddles.

Well, it's almost time for the last feeding before bed, so I should sign off!  Benjamin is sleeping peacefully in his bassinet beside me.  We are so lucky! <3

The Hospital Bag

I read all kinds of blog posts about what to pack for delivery at the hospital.  I am going to share what I packed, what I actually used, and what I wished I had packed for any mommies-to-be who might be reading!!!

 For our new little one, I packed two outfits and his LIttle Giraffe Blanket.  We also brought his car seat.  He really didn't need anything more than this!

 We decided to do Cord Blood Banking through CBR, so we brought our kit for that.  If you are doing Cord Blood Banking, bring your kit in with you right when you arrive at the hospital.  I have heard many sad stories of parents who had their kit in their bag in the car, and ended up having their baby before they had a chance to go get it!  Also, they can draw blood from you for the kit when they put in your IV rather than having to poke you again later!

 I packed a few pair of comfy undies and an outfit to wear home.  The outfit was maternity leggings and a loose fitting nursing top.

 I ordered a hospital gown from "Gownies" so that was packed right on the very top of my bag!

I also packed these comfy Ugg slipper flip flops.

 I packed a bag full of toiletries including: pads, Lanolin cream, breast pads, shower gel and lotion, a travel size shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrush, and a few other random things.



I packed this pretty nursing nightgown and matching robe that my friend Megan got me for my baby shower!

I also packed one set of supplies for my insulin pump.  

So what did I actually use?

I was so glad that I got the Gownies hospital gown!  I felt somewhat cute in it during labor, and didn't mind wearing it for 2 days.  It opened at the top for breastfeeding, and snapped all the way down the back so it was easy to open when I was getting my epidural.  It was very comfortable.  I got lots of compliments from the nurses and doctors!  I ended up throwing it away afterwards, but I think it was still totally worth the investment.Another thing I was SO glad I brought was the pair of Ugg slippers.  I wasn't expecting to be traipsing around the hospital as much as we were, but because Benjamin was in the NICU, we went  downstairs to see him every 3 hours (or more during the day).

Another thing I was glad to have since we were up and about so much was the nightgown and robe.  I wasn't expecting to be out of our hospital room, nor was I anticipating we'd be at the hospital for 6 days!  I was really glad to have something cute but also comfortable to change into.  It was GREAT that it was easy to nurse in, too.

What did I wish I had packed?

As I said above, we were not expecting that I would have a C-section, or that Benjamin would have to stay in the NICU for a few days.  If I could have packed knowing this, I would have brought another change of pajamas or two.  I also would have brought more pump supplies and supplies for my glucose sensor.  FInally, I would have brought more toiletries!  I definitely didn't think I would be showering and washing my hair THREE times while in the hospital, so I didn't bring my hair dryer, straightener, enough shampoo, etc.  It would have been nice to have those things on hand since we were in the hospital nearly a week.


I also wish I would have brought my nursing pillow.  Again, I couldn't have predicted that I would be nursing Benjamin in the hospital for nearly a week, and it would have been really helpful to have the pillow there!

What did I end up not using?

The hospital provides many things that I brought, so I didn't end up using my own stuff.  For example, they will give you some fantastic mesh panties that are very stylish. ;)  But in all honesty, I actually loved them.  You didn't have to care if they got dirty, and it was nice that it was a breathable, LOOSE fabric after everything you've gone through!  The hospital also provides ginormous pads (you'll need them!), breast pads, pumping supplies, etc.  The only thing they didn't have that I was glad I brought was my Lanolin cream.

Well I hope this was somewhat helpful!  I know I will probably look back on it to prepare for any future Baby Wallbanks we might have! :)

Amazing Gift!

My thoughtful mom and talented sister-in-law surprised us with the coolest gift.  My mom had compiled a folder of pictures and video clips from throughout my pregnancy, and also during Benjamin's birth.  Sandra took the pictures and movie clips and made this awesome video!  I cry every time I see it.  When I watch it, all the emotions from these special events come rushing back.  I think one of my favorite parts of the video is the photo of Chris showing Benjamin to our families right after he was born.  He is dressed in his scrubs from the delivery room, and he is crying as he looks down at our sweet baby boy. :)  My other favorite part is the video clip my mom captured of me seeing Benjamin for the first time!  The video is truly something we will treasure forever. 

Here is the link if you'd like to see it!

Benjamin's Video

Benjamin's Birth Story...Continued

As I am writing this, Benjamin is laying in his bouncer next to me, sleeping as peacefully as a little angel.  I am so thankful that he is healthy and perfect.  We are so blessed!!!

During my pregnancy when I envisioned the birth of our baby boy, I saw myself in the hospital bed pushing, Chris by my side.  I heard the baby's sweet first cries as he was born into the world.  I envisioned the baby in his bassinet in our hospital room for us to proudly show off to our family and friends when they visited.  I pictured us heading home from the hospital the day after he was born, ready to conquer parenthood.  However, God had some other plans for us!

After he was born, our doctor said Benjamin was the first C-section delivery that she'd ever delivered breach!  He had to be pulled out by his bottom since he was so stuck in the birth canal.  Thankfully she was able to get him out in time, even though his little body was in distress.  However, when he was born, he wasn't breathing properly.  Due to this, he had to go directly to the NICU.  Chris stayed by our little one's side (as I wanted him to) while I went to the OR recovery room.  

Benjamin was born at 2:13am, and we finally got admitted to our Mother Baby Suite (what they call the 2nd hospital room you go to at Beaumont) at about 6am.  Benjamin was still in the NICU.  We were told to get some rest, and that we could see him around 8:00 or 9:00 the next morning.  9:00 the next morning came and went, and we still hadn't seen our baby.  Chris wheeled me down the hall in my wheelchair to look through the window and see him.  We just wanted to hold our baby boy so terribly. 

We found out that Benjamin had low blood sugar, which is to be expected since he was born to a diabetic mom.  He had been given several bottles of formula to boost his blood sugar.  As a mom who had spent months preparing and learning about breastfeeding, this worried me.  I wondered if he would still be able to successfully breast feed after being fed a bottle right from the start?  I knew it was necessary for us to get his blood sugar up, though.

A few hours later the nurses brought Benjamin to our room.  We were ecstatic to be with our little boy!  The nurses came in every 3 hours to poke his heel and re-check his blood sugars.  They continued to come back low, so I was given bottle after bottle of formula to feed him.  Benjamin was NOT hungry, and I was basically force feeding him.  After the 3rd bottle, he began to spit up, and eventually throw up.  The poor little thing's stomach couldn't handle all that formula!  I was heartbroken that I had forced my little boy to drink something that was now making him so sick.  Chris demanded to talk to the doctor, and the doctor agreed - this was not a good long term solution.  Benjamin was sick, and his blood sugars were not improving with this method.

The doctors decided to give Benjamin an IV of glucose (sugar) water in place of giving him the formula.  He had to go to the NICU to have the IV and so his blood sugar could be closely monitored.  He ended up staying there for the next 4 days. Chris wheeled me downstairs to the NICU every 3 hours to try to breastfeed him.  

Benjamin was also diagnosed with jaundice during his 2nd day in the NICU, and had to be placed under a light to correct it.  He also was wrapped in a lighted blanket.  He wore these little sunglasses to protect his eyes.  Benjamin the glow worm! <3

It was very difficult to try to breastfeed because I had to carefully maneuver around the IV cords, heart monitors, and jaundice lighted blanket that he was wrapped in.  On top of that, both he and I were still new to this breastfeeding thing!  We stuck with it, and the nurses were so supportive and helpful.  Benjamin and I didn't have a successful feeding until about day 3.  Once he got the hang of latching on, though, it went better and better each time!

We called his IV arm a little "flipper" because it had a long white board on it so that he wouldn't pull the IV out!  He was such a trooper through it all.  We rarely heard him cry!  

We had lots of visitors during our stay in the hospital.  While it was an overwhelming time, it was wonderful to see familiar faces.  It really brightened our days.  Thank you to everyone who took time to come and visit us!  Here are some pictures of Benjamin's first visitors.  Angela is not pictured, but drove out to see us on Sunday!! Thanks Ang! <3

Cousin Luke (Ty and Andrea were there, too!)

Cousin Abbie

Uncle Jason

Grandma

Papa

Lynsey and Mike...thank goodness for their help with the diaper blow out!!! :)

Grandma Judie

Aunt Sandra

Grandpa Mel (and Mariette visited, too!)


After a long 5 days in the hospital, and many unstable blood sugar readings, Benjamin finally had decent readings all day on Sunday evening and Monday morning.  We were told that if his blood sugars continued to be stable all day on Monday, he would be able to go home!  We tried not to get TOO happy in case his sugars took another dip (as they had several other times).  We only wanted Benjamin to come home if he was 100% healthy and ready.  He was circumcised, had his immunization, and even had some pictures taken on Monday in preparation for his possible discharge.  Our fingers were crossed and we were saying LOTS of prayers that his blood sugars would remain stable and we would be able to take our baby boy home and feel confident that he was healthy!

At about 4:15pm Monday night, a team of doctors came to Benjamin's bedside in the NICU.  It was a group of residents and one head pediatrician.  She drilled them with questions, and asked why the residents thought it was ok for us to go home.  (She was kind of mean to them!!) Chris and I sat in our chairs nervously listening to their responses.  After about 10 minutes of this discussion, the head doctor said, "Well, who thinks this baby is cleared to go home?  Raise your hands."  The first person to raise her hand enthusiastically was our nurse, Kim, who knew how badly we wanted to take him home! :)  Slowly but surely the residents raised their hands, too.  The head doctor told us that as long as we took Benjamin to the pediatrician the next day, and followed up with a pediatric endocrinologist at Beaumont on Friday, we could go home.  We were THRILLED!

So, even though our "plan" for Benjamin's arrival into this world didn't go exactly as we had anticipated, we couldn't be happier that he is here, he is healthy, and he is ours!!!  We are so blessed to have a sweet and happy baby boy.  I will never forget everything he went through that week in the hospital.  It broke my heart every time I saw him poked and prodded, but the doctors and nurses at Beaumont truly saved his life.  We are forever grateful and will never forget!!

Benjamin Jon's Birth Story

I am tearing up as I write the title of this blog post!  I am just so thrilled that our baby boy is here.  The day he was born was by far the most special day of my life.  Here is the birth story of Benjamin Jon Wallbank... 

It all started on Monday, June 25th.  I woke up early in the morning to go to the bathroom, and I discovered that I lost the mucus plug. (Yucky word, but that's what holds the baby inside and keeps things sterile in the womb).  I was ecstatic because I knew this meant labor was close.  My mom and my sister both had their babies the day after that happened to them.  During the day on Monday, I was feeling small gushes of fluid coming out, and wondered if my water could be breaking.  I was also very crampy all day.  It felt like dull but painful period cramps.  I ended up calling the doctor, and she wanted us to come down to Beaumont to see if I was leaking amniotic fluid.  If I was, that meant we would need to induce labor right away!  We excitedly packed up the car and drove down to Beaumont.  About 3 hours later, Chris and I were sent home.  I was definitely disappointed - I was ready to meet our little one - but I knew he must not have been quite ready yet!

I woke up the next morning determined to get things moving.  I cleaned the house, moved some furniture around in the baby's room, took Maggie for some long walks, and even had some spicy Taco Bell for lunch!!  I sent this picture to Chris as a joke, saying maybe it would induce labor.  Little did I know what was coming... :)

Around 1:00 I went to Target to pick up a few last minute things for the baby.  I started feeling much more cramping than usual, and some back pain along with it. CONTRACTIONS!!! :)  I noticed the contractions coming pretty regularly, so I got out my phone to time it on the "Full Term" app.  They were coming every 5 minutes.

I rushed home and called my sister-in-law, Andrea.  By this time, the contractions were 4 minutes apart.  She told me we should head to the hospital right away, especially since we live over an hour from Beaumont.  I was hesitant to call Chris because I was worried this wasn't the real thing.  I was having flashbacks to the night before when they sent us home, and I left feeling embarrassed and disappointed.  Something told me I should call him, though.  He must have known in my voice that this was it (even more than I did!) because he rushed home.  About 5 minutes after I hung up the phone with him, I went in to use the bathroom before the car ride down.  As I was sitting down I heard a loud pop, and then GUSH!!!  My water broke!  This time there was no question about it - that was my water for sure!

Chris got home around 3:30.  I had our bags in the car, so we hopped in and we were ready to go.  I texted my mom to tell her the news.  She immediately left the movie theater where she was seeing Monsters University with my nephews (sorry we interrupted your movie guys!!) so she could head down to the hospital.  Chris was flying down 94, my mom behind him, with his emergency flashers on.  At this point the contractions were about 2 minutes apart and they were very painful!  With each contraction, a little more amniotic fluid came out, too.  Poor Chris was racing down the freeway at about 95 mph.  At the rate my contractions were coming and the amount of pain I was in, I was certain that we were going to have little Baby Wallbank in the car on the way to the hospital!  It was the longest 45 minutes of my life!  (Chris made record time to Beaumont!!)

We pulled up to Valet, frantically left our car, and ran inside the hospital.  The hospital staff saw us coming and pointed us in the right direction to the labor & delivery floor.  I was soaking wet from my water continuing to break in the car, and was having very painful contractions every minute, so I must have looked like quite a sight!  We arrived to labor and delivery, and the woman at the desk calmly looked at me and said, "Can I help you?"  Um YES, I am in LABOR!!!  I told her what was going on, and she handed me a clipboard of paperwork and told me to have a seat in the waiting room.  WHAT!!  

Fast forward about 2 hours and I had been admitted to my room and hooked up to an IV.  I found out I was dilated to a 3 (I couldn't believe I wasn't further along!).  The most wonderful doctor ever came in and gave me a gift from God - an epidural.  Ladies, I don't know why you would ever give birth without one!  It was fabulous!!!  This is a picture of me in the L&D room after the epidural worked it's magic.  All smiles. ;)

About 2 hours later, I had progressed from 3 centimeters to 8!  They called my doctor to tell her to come to the hospital - it was almost time for Baby Wallbank to enter the world.  

Then things started getting a little scary.  I first knew something wasn't right when the monitors started beeping and 6 or 7 doctors & nurses came rushing into the room with their scrubs on.  They yelled for me to get on my hands and knees and put on an oxygen mask right away.  Chris had just gone down to the waiting room to update his family, and I was terrified to be there without him - what was happening?  Was the baby ok?  Why were the doctors wearing scrubs?  I found out later that the baby's heart rate had dropped to an extremely dangerous level and they were prepping me for an emergency C-Section.  Luckily, getting on my hands and knees put less stress on the baby, so his heart rate went back up.

The rest of the night is a bit of a blur.  A similar scene happened two more times where I was ordered to quickly change positions and wear the oxygen mask.  I felt a ton of pressure and told the doctor I really felt like I should start pushing.  She examined me and agreed - I was dilated to 10 and was ready to push.  Chris and my mom stayed in the room with me.  During each contraction Chris counted to 10 three times, and I pushed for those 10 seconds.  I was giving it all I had - I couldn't wait to meet our little guy!  And on top of that, I was exhausted and ready to be done! :)  I pushed like this for nearly 2 hours.  Long story short, Benjamin was stuck inside the birth canal because he was in a posterior position ("sunny side up").  Due to this, he wasn't moving even after 2 hours of pushing.  The monitors started beeping again, and I could tell by the look on my doctor's face that something wasn't right.  She calmly told me that the baby was in distress, and that it was not safe for me to continue pushing with his heart rate rising and falling the way it was.  She told me I needed to have a c-section right away.

While I was disappointed to hear this news, I understood that it was best for our baby.  I also knew that God had a plan for how he wanted Benjamin to enter the world, and delivering him naturally just wasn't it.  I wiped away a tear or two, and was ready.  My handsome hubby put on his scrubs and we rushed off to the OR.  I was given more medication through my epidural to numb me from the waist down.  I could feel some pressure as the doctor worked, but no pain throughout the surgery.  About 45 minutes later, at 2:13am, Baby Benjamin Jon Wallbank entered the world!!!  He was 8 pounds 1 ounce, and 20.5 inches long.  Although I wasn't able to hold him, seeing him in his daddy's arms for the first time was the most magical moment of my life.  The tears in Chris's eyes told me it was the most magical moment for him, too!  I have never seen him so emotional or so happy.

After the surgery was complete, Chris went with Benjamin to the newborn nursery while I was whisked away to the recovery room.  I couldn't wait to be reunited with my sweet boy and to finally hold him!  Unfortunately, I had to wait a bit, but it was all worth it in the end.  He is finally here!!!  <3 <3 <3

Benjamin Jon Wallbank had quite an eventful entry into the world, but it didn't stop there!  I will write again soon about the rest of our week in the hospital with our brave little one.  He was such a trooper!!