One Month

Benjamin,

Today you are one month old!

You are doing SO well being a baby, and Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you!!! You are growing and changing every day. You're nursing great (we finally figured it out so it wouldn't hurt Mommy anymore - yay!) and you're already up to 10 lbs which your doctor can't believe! You hardly ever cry, and when you do, it is very predictable ... you're either hungry or need to be burped. You're VERY strong for your age, holding your head up often and doing lots of arm and leg "exercises". When you have "tummy time" to strengthen your neck muscles, you like to scoot yourself along the ground like an army crawl if we put our hands against your feet. We can tell there is a very active boy inside just waiting to be old enough to scoot around!

One of the neatest things that has happened towards the end of your first month is that you have become much more alert. You have longer periods of awake time, and you are SO wide-eyed and curious about the world around you. You pop your head up and fix your eyes on things around the room. Your head bobbles around after you've had it up for a while, but it's just the practice you need to hold your head up on your own.

Ben, you love looking at your books and toys. Your favorite is Swirl the Snail, which has a black and white swirled shell. You also held a toy for the first time this past week - you were moving it around and didn't want to let go! Mommy and Daddy couldn't be more proud :)Mommy takes you for a walk almost every day, because we have had a lot of nice sunny days over the last few weeks. As a family we have even ventured out to dinner with friends, the grocery store and a local park. Mommy was very nervous the first time I took you to the grocery store with me ... I realized once we got home that I hadn't taken a deep breath the whole time we were out!

This whole month has been an amazing adventure! In many ways it's harder than we ever anticipated, but it's also brought more joy than we could imagine or ask for. You are a precious angel, Benjamin. Happy one month birthday!

Grandma CiCi's Extended Stay!

My Mom was kind enough to stay for about 3 weeks after Ben was born. She was a lifesaver!!! She taught me a lot about life as a mom ... every day had lessons little and big ... the best way to burp a baby, how to properly "latch" for nursing, how to wash your hands while holding baby, how to take a trip out with baby, and on and on. She also cleaned, did laundry, cooked us meals and helped keep me (mostly) sane :) She also encouraged Jeff and I too go on our first little date as new parents. It felt really weird to leave Ben at home, but it was nice to reconnect as husband and wife over dinner and - gasp - a glass of wine!

During the time Mom was here, we had Ben's and my 2-week checkups. Precious did great at his checkup and I was cleared to drive.

Thanks Momma!!! We loved having you here and will always be grateful for all your help during this crazy, special time.

The Early Days

From mom's perspective, the first few days at home have been a blur. Most importantly, Ben is a happy, healthy, thriving little boy. He has already brought immeasurable joy to our lives - we are in love :)

He smiles in his sleep a lot, he is very content and hardly cries at all. So far he seems to be a very patient, mellow baby. We hope he stays that way! Dad has become an expert diaper changer, burper and swaddler practically overnight. Mom and baby have been trying to get the hang of nursing, and we are doing feedings every 2-3 hours, leaving small 30-90 minute windows for sleep. Despite the lack of sleep, we are feeling good and enjoying the day to day experiences of being new parents. We ooh and ahh over every expression and squeak that Ben makes, and are in awe of the miracle of this new little life.
We have SO much support from our parents, Patrick, Chris and Shannon who have helped with meals, cleaning, shopping, errands galore and anything else we needed. Not sure how we would have done it without all their help. Here we all are on 12/28, celebrating Christmas :)We decided to have Ben in our bed with us for these first few days so we can clearly hear his breathing, and be ready with the suction if he had any breathing problems (typically paranoid new parents!) He makes so many funny/suspicious noises in his sleep, but we are learning that it's normal and to be expected.

He had a visit to his pediatrician the day after we got home (5 days old), and he was almost back to his birth weight already, weighing in at 7lb 10oz. We had a whole list of questions for the Dr., and left the appointment feeling a lot more confident about life at home with Ben. We went for a walk with him and gave him his first sponge bath 2 days after we got home from the hospital.
We celebrated New Year's Eve as a family, played games and had a great time toasting the newest addition to the family :)He had some early visitors too ... my Godparents, Lou and Kathie, as well as our friends Katie K., Katie O., Marisa, Meredith, Megan and Angelo. It has been so much fun to introduce this little miracle to our friends and loved ones!

The Hospital Stay

After delivery, I was taken to the recovery room, accompanied by Jeff. After a few minutes, they brought Benjamin to us. We were overjoyed. I was able to hold Ben and nurse him for the first time there in the recovery area. He was such a good eater from the very beginning! A baby's instinct to root, latch and suck from the first moments of life is awesome. He was very calm, alert and peaceful as he lay on my chest, skin to skin. After he nursed, Jeff was able to wheel him down the hallway to meet the family who were eagerly awaiting his arrival :) As he wheeled the bassinet up to Nana, Grandpa Lee, Cici, Grandpa Jerry and Uncle Patrick, Jeff said, "Meet Benjamin William!" Everyone got a chance to see Ben and take some pictures before he got taken back into the newborn nursery to get cleaned up. Our family got to watch that happen through the window. Meanwhile back in recovery, I was feeling extremely tired/groggy, dizzy and had trouble focusing my eyes. I guess this is because of the long labor followed by surgery and the the intensive amount of drugs they pumped into me in a short period of time. After a while, they wheeled me out to the post-partum room that would become our home away from home for the next few days. I passed our family as they took me down the hallway, and was SO happy to see all those smiling faces saying how beautiful and precious our little son was.We spent 4 days and 3 nights in the hospital because of the C-Section. It seemed like a blur of activity, with doctors, nurses and techs coming in round the clock to check mom's and baby's vitals, administer meds, help with nursing, diapering, swaddling, clearing congestion, reassuring us that all Ben's little noises were normal, etc, etc. Family came to visit every day, sometimes more than once a day, which lifted our spirits and brought lots of smiles and love to the room. Jeff and I got to know our little guy more and more every minute. Some of my favorite memories of this are the skin to skin "kangaroo care", seeing a little smile come across Ben's face a couple times in his sleep, and seeing Jeff swaddle and sing to his little "Ben Burrito!"
By Sunday and Monday, we were SO ready to get home. We had our final nurse Janet who provided some comic relief on our last day ("Did you hear that? That was me!") Then family came and we made our way HOME, at long last! It was our original due date, December 28, 2009.

Labor, Surgery and Delivery

Christmas Eve started out like any other. A peaceful day, filled with the laughter of family, the warmth of a fire, Christmas music throughout the house, the smell of turkey and ham, and even a surprise snowfall outside. At about 4:45pm, my parents, brother Patrick and Jeff's parents were all gathered as we made final preparations for Christmas dinner, which was to be served in about 30 minutes. Jeff and I were sitting at our fireplace, quietly whispering with one another, imagining what it would be like to have a little baby in our house only a few short days later (still thinking we would end up being induced on 12/29).

All of a sudden, a felt a huge gush of warm fluid and looked down to find my pants soaked and puddle of water of the floor. I looked up a Jeff with my eyes wide and said "I think my water just broke!" "Are you serious?" he asked, while at the same time looking to the floor. His question was answered, and he immediately sprung into action. "Carol, Mom, turn everything off, Dad go get our bags and load up the car!" I looked across the room to my mom and said, voice quivering, "My water just broke!" I stood slowly, not quite sure what to do, fearful of getting the house all dirty on my way to our bedroom. My mom grabbed a towel, and Jeff put his arm around me and ushered me to our room, where we quickly gathered our things and got out the door ... into a Texas blizzard! It had been 80 degrees the day before, but Christmas Eve, a snowstorm rolled in and by 5pm, we were in the middle of the worst of it.We carefully made our way to the hospital, with just a bit of skidding on the snowy, icy roads. We got checked into the hospital, and were the only patients on the Labor & Delivery floor. After LOTS of paperwork, our family arrived, bringing along pillows, blankets, games, magazines and cameras, ready for the long haul :)I was only 1cm dilated and was having contractions but (thankfully!) couldn't feel them strongly yet. So we went for a walk around the floor, and that got the contractions going more! The next time they checked me around 9pm, I was 3cm, and the contractions kicked up a notch. For the next couple hours, contractions got stronger and more frequent. Jeff was an amazing support and labor coach. My parents also came in to support and offer comfort as the pain worsened.

*baby's heartrate is in the top half and my contractions are in the bottom half of the screen

*during contractions :( ...
*between contractions :) ...By about 11pm, I was 6cm, and had reached my limit on pain. So I requested an epidural, and it was in place and I was comfortable by midnight. Our family joined us again, and we celebrated Ben's birthday at the stroke of midnight :)

Then Jeff and I tried to sleep for a couple hours, gearing up for the hard labor ahead. At 3:30am, the OB checked and discovered I was a full 10cm and announced it was time to start pushing! I pushed for about an hour and made good progress - the baby was descending. Jeff could even see his head when I pushed! Unfortunately, the next two hours of pushing did not produce any additional movement. It is believed that the baby's head was face up instead of face down, thus preventing him from making the 90 degree turn he needed to make to come out. There's no way to confirm this, but apparently the only way to diagnose it is if you push for 2 hours with no progress, they conclude the baby is presented in a manner that will not enable natural delivery. So we were told by the OB the baby would have to be delivered via an "alternative method" - which when we asked, were told that would be a C-section. I was devastated because things had progressed so smoothly and I had not expected or really even thought about the possibility of a C-section. My thoughts also immediately went to the fact that it was a major surgery, and the recovery would be difficult, and the same time I would be getting to know our baby, learning to nurse and trying to learn how to be a mom. But Jeff comforted me and promised we would get through it. So they prepped me for surgery and Jeff got geared up for the OR too.
After about 15-20 minutes of operation, out came the baby and we heard Benjamin's first sweet cries. Jeff got to see him being born :) Then they took Ben over to get cleaned up and get his official measurements.After about 10 minutes, Jeff was able to bring him over to me and I got to see my baby for the first time.We took the long way around with 10 hours of labor, 3 hours of pushing and finally surgery, but it was all worth it because now our precious baby has arrived healthy and strong.WE LOVE YOU BENJAMIN!

Welcome to the World, Benjamin William!

It is with great joy that we introduce to you our precious son, Benjamin William Lee!


Ben was born at 7:33am on December 25th, weighing 7lbs 13oz and measuring 21.5 in.

He is the greatest Christmas gift we will ever receive, and we are so honored to be his parents and help him to become the best person he can be. He really is The Sweetest Thing.

Baby Pix

We are SO ready to meet this baby, and we're really curious to see what he will look like! To get some clues, we went in search of our baby photos.

Here's Jeff at 1-day old:And here's me at 1-day old:
We'll have to post these again in a couple weeks next to a newborn picture of our SON and see just how much he resembles us as babies :)

Just for fun, here are a few other pictures of Jeff and me as babies ...

T-minus Two Weeks and Counting

Yesterday marked two weeks til our due date, and today marks two weeks until our scheduled induction - unless baby decides to come sooner! So - as hard as it is to believe - this means that no matter what, we will meet our angel baby in two weeks or less. Ahhh!!! We can't wait! The crazy thing to think about is that he could literally come any day now. Jeff and I have our little lists and plans, but baby doesn't know how to read yet, and he doesn't care much for to-do lists anyway, so we'll be working off of his schedule for D-Day :)

We had our 38-week appointment yesterday, and things are progressing. I am 60% effaced and .5cm dilated. Which means ..... drumroll please ..... not too darn much ;) Truthfully, I am releived that things are progressing even a little bit because it means my body is responding the way its suppossed to at this point in the pregnancy. But it's not an indication of when baby is going to come. As the Dr. left the room, he said, "See you next week, if not sooner!". The hunch is we'll be seeing him for our regular weekly visit again next Monday, but the thought that the next time we see him I could be in labor is insane to think about!

I started maternity leave last week, and we have been taking full advantage of the new-found time ... taking some baby-prep classes at the hospital (Baby Care 101, Infant CPR and Breastfeeding - they were all so helpful!), packing the hospital bags, washing newborn size baby clothes, blankets, towels, etc., further unpacking and settling into the house, decorating the nursery (the furniture finally came!!!), Christmas shopping, and trying to still take some time to relax and enjoy each other. Everyone says they can't remember what life was like before baby, and we are determined to remember and appreciate these last few days before parenthood.

I will post pix shortly ...

Brother in Arms

My brother Colin is a 1st Lt in the Marine Corps, flying the AH-1 Cobra. He deployed for the first time to Afghanistan a few weeks ago. It seems like not so long ago, we were little kids building forts with our youngest brother Patrick, dressing up as Supergirl and Superman, playing on the swings, hiding underneath clothing racks in department stores and generally having a classic, all-American childhood.

Now he's all grown up, and we couldn't be more proud of him. The little brother I once held in my arms and defended on the playground is the one protecting us and our country. He has committed himself to being a brother not just to me, but to our entire country.


The truth is, I think Colin was born to be a Marine. He wanted to climb the highest trees, jump off the tallest heights, dive into the deepest end of the pool since he could climb, jump and swim... err, jump. Nevermind swim - he figured that out after he jumped in. Well, now he is voluntarily and with honor entering the Afghan war zone to fight an enemy that would like nothing more than to destroy us. Colin and his squadron are stationed in Southern Afghanistan - the Helmand province - which is the the heart of the current Taliban insurgency. Please keep him and his fellow soldiers in your thoughts and prayers as they represent and fight for our country's best interests here and abroad.

9 Months, Full Term and Delivery Plans

I'd like to think I was a really good pregnant lady for about 8.5 months. Then 9 months happened and things started to change. Back aching. Feet swelling. Trouble sleeping. Knees hurting. Short of breath. Carpel Tunnel in my hands. Face puffy. Feeling as big as a whale. I am writing this not to complain but rather to document the realities, lest I get that "pregnancy amnesia" I've heard about - where you forget all the bad things about pregnancy so you have unbridled enthusiasm about doing it again. Truly, I am really more focused on how incredibly blessed we have been for a healthy, uneventful pregnancy up through this point. I have felt great, moved well, and been healthy throughout a majority of this pregnancy, and considering the incredible miracle of life growing inside me, that has been a truly awesome blessing.

36 weeks marks the start of weekly doctor visits now. We went last Monday and again today. Today is 37 weeks, which I recently learned is actually considered full term. Wow - to think the baby could come anytime now and be considered "fully cooked" is very cool. I had started feeling some cramping periodically in the last week or so, so I was hopefully that some change had taken place. I was 20% effaced last week and 40% effaced this week, so that's progress. Both last week and this week, the doctor said of course it's possible for the baby to come anytime now, but he thinks I will still be pregnant "for a few weeks". Those words echo in my head. On one hand, I'd like to get un-pregnant and meet this little guy. But mostly, I realize that every day in there hopefully means more health and growth for the baby - up to a certain point.

Which brings me to another topic - induction. If the baby hasn't decided to greet the outside world by his due date of 12/28, we will have an induction scheduled for the following day, Tuesday, 12/29/09. Jeff and I both think it will come down to induction. But, maybe this babe will give us the first of many surprises and come before then. Either way, our precious son should be here within 3 weeks of tomorrow. WE ARE SO EXCITED!