Tessa and Terri

At the baby shower Mamaw gave me a baby dress that had belonged to my mother, as a well as a shawl that Papaw had given her and an invitation to the baby shower held for Mamaw in 1952.

The picture below is of Mom in that dress with the shawl as the backdrop. See any resemblance?

Terri's baby picture in 1952

Tessa recreates it in 2007

Ducky Picture 5 weeks

I meant to take this on her one month birthday but am a little late. I also started a blog that day on everything we've learned in the first month but never finished it. Oh well! Here's Tessa with her Ducky at 5 wks old

Discovering New Things

Hayden stands guard while Tessa enjoys her new toy



We're enjoying lots of new things around our house, like....

---Our HVAC system- woot! Our house in finally 72 degrees for the first time since we've lived here. Long story short our air ducts were all kinds of messed up from an add-on the previous owners had done and the system was on it's last legs. So we're super poor now because we had to fix both. But no more space heaters, electric blankets or box fans!!

-- The pacifier. I had hesitated to give her one at all, and waited until 4 wks but it's now our best friend. She was 'snacking' a little more often than I liked. She would sometimes nurse for 5-10 minutes only every hour or so, and I think alot of it had to do with the comfort of suckling. With the pacifier we've been able to space out her feedings better and calm her down more easily at bedtime. Yay!

-- The play mat. Okay so she doesn't really care about the play mat yet but we got one. She's supposed to be doing tummy time on it right now but just fell asleep. The dogs are interested in it though.

-- Weight Watchers. It's official, I am a member! I started yesterday and will attend my first meeting this week. With breastfeeding I get a whopping 43 points...which translates into about 2200 calories. So dieting will be alot easier than it has in the past. Wish me luck!

-- A walking partner. Many thanks to my friend Traci, also a stay at home mom, who has offered to walk with me in the mornings. Today was our first day!

It's Official

We had an eventful day today! We went to my office to visit coworker and yes, clean out my desk! I was waiting to mention it until I made the official announcement to my coworkers at ACA, but am now happy and free to say that I am a stay at home mom!

Jeremy and I have been planning for this for some time, and feel very blessed that we have the resources to make this decision. I'm exicited about my new adventure- so far so good! Jeremy works out of his home office of course and has so far been very disciplined about closing his door and working all day, but it's been nice to have him around at lunchtime every day.

In our 'free time' Tessa and I plan to join the MOPS club at church (Mothers of Preschoolers but really the child can be any age), and I was considering taking a PACE class that's offered at the community center (Parents and Children Exercise). Apparently it's an exercise program based around strollers and of course you bring the babies with you. Sounds cool right?-- I want to learn more about this. In June I will be joining Weight Watchers and am pretty excited about losing a bunch of weight!

So we have some fun summer plans lined up, including lots of Mamaw time when she is on summer break from school. Wish us luck!

Me and my new 'boss'

updates

We've had an eventful week and are behind on our updates and pictures! This week Tessa met her Aunties and her 3 year old cousin Vicki. They came to visit for a long weekend and we all had a great time, mostly sitting around the house and oggling at Tessa.

She also went on her first trip to church on Sunday and I celebrated my first mother's day. After church we all went to the Japanese steakhouse.

Tessa continues to change more and more all the time. Yesterday I caught her sucking her thumb so she must be discovering her hands. She also had a hold of a big tuft of her and hair and was pulling it, silly girl! I think she is going through another growth spurt because she's been eating non-stop, which makes it fun for me to not get anything done during the day ;)

On the homefront we have getting our new heating and air conditioning system (basically we wouldn't have made it through the summer with our old one) so our house is kinda crazy. Luckily it's cool today but yesterday when the living room hit 87 degrees Tessa and I headed for Target, and 2hrs and a cart load later decided it was cool enough to come home. Can't wait to get it done though and have our first summer here with fully operating AC-- yay!

More cousins to meet- Eva Marie stopped by to see us!

Entertaining company makes me tired

First bathtime- well documented by Grampie

Grampie and Mommy

Let the tshirt do the talking

I like this Grammie lady

Auntie Jessica

Hayden likes Vicki too!

Cousin Vicki

Vicki helped Jeremy plant our garden and water the lawn!

Party Girl

Hi everyone- Tessa here! Actually I'm snoring really loudly right now so I gave my Mommy permission to write my blog for me.

I went to my first party yesterday! My cousin Bob and my Uncle Andy had a birthday party. Yes they have the same birthday, cool huh? It was my birthday too- 3wks! My mommy is sad that I am getting so old and now fit into my 0-3 month clothes, but don't worry she's getting lots of good cuddle time while I'm this little.

My Aunties and cousin Vicki are flying tomorrow. I can't wait to meet them. I wonder if they will hug and kiss me alot?

My cousins like to look at me- I must be pretty

No Mommy I do NOT want to wear a party hat!!


The birthday boys- Uncle Andy and cousin Bob

Bob is 2 years old! Mommy hopes I never get this big :)

Out on the Town

We've been venturing out more and more these days and Tessa has been seeing more of the world and meeting more family members! Grammie and Grampie Bennington were here this past weekend from Boulder, CO and we had a great time.

On Saturday we drove up north so Jeremy and Grampie could spend lots of money in a wine store, and Tessa made her first trip to Ritters custard stand! On Sunday we all went on her first trip to North Vernon to visit her (great) Mamaw's farm and spend the day with family. We had a beautiful day and got lots of sunshine, fresh air, and baby cuddles.

This morning I took Tessa to her 2 wk doctor appointment (which was supposed to be last week but our doc had jury duty). She again gets perfect marks all around and now weighs 9lbs- a 1.5 lb gain from birth! With her weight and height she falls into the 75th percentile for growth.

I am especially happy because Tessa has now drank expressed breast milk from a bottle three times with no hesitancy or nipple confusion- yay! This is good because I don't have to 'whip them out' in public if I don't want to, but also means I can easily leave her with Jeremy or other babysitter with no worries.

4 Generations

Mamaw with her great grandaughter- 18 days old

A beautiful weekend to be outside!



Don't worry- with all the baby love the boys didn't get ignored. Mark and Bob played with Uncle Jeremy

*stay tuned for more great pictures from Grammie and Grampies' visit!*

A Day in the Life..

Hi everyone, Tessa here. Life is so good here at my house, here's what I've been doing the past couple of days...

I've been going for walks in my stroller!

(Really the walks are for mommy and her big butt, I just sleep)

I've been basking in the sun

I've been taking sponge baths- how embarassing!

And this nice lady is here visiting me! She is my grandma but goes by Mom-mom. I like her!

I've also been dirtying my cool cloth diapers called fuzzy bunz. Mom and Dad seem to love them, so I do my best to keep them dirty. Check them out...www.fuzzibunz.com

Can you tell we like this outfit?

Tessa with Ducky- 9 days old. We will continue to take pictures with Ducky as she gets older to see how much she has grown!

We finally got our official hospital picture in the mail- eyes open and everything! The little bandaid on her hand is from her IV :(

I love my doggy Hayden and he loves me too. The other doggy doesn't like to cuddle me as much but she still thinks I'm pretty cool~ Tessa

First Doctor's Appointment

We had an exciting morning, we got to get out of the house. Yay! Tessa had her 1 week pediatrician appointment. Yes she is one week old which makes me sad :-(

In the past week she has gained a whopping 1/2 lb, so now weighs exactly 8lbs. Whoah! No wonder I am so dang hungry and thirsty all the time. She got checked head to toe and seems to be in perfect health! We are now allowed to go outside, and doctor said we can go out in public but not very often. Hopefully tomorrow will be a nice day and we can all take the stroller around the neighborhood!

She is still eating and sleeping very well and my number one problem is keeping up with my own appetite and avoiding low blood sugar crashes. Jer and I are going to try to come up with a bunch of high protein mini meals/snacks for me, because eating a granola bar seems to be a futile effort. Any suggestions?

:) LB

Due Date Pictures

Hey Tessa, you're due to come out today. What do you think?

Hi everyone, this is Tessa! I thought I would write my own blog today and tell you all about the things I have been doing the last two days

I sat in a weird contraption

And then I went for a ride in it!

I met my dogs, Hayden and Rosie. They were very excited to see me.
Rosie cried for a long time but we are all better now.

Hayden loves me alot

This is my cousin Mark who came to see me today.
He brought me flowers he picked out himself.

This is my Aunt Becky. She likes to cuddle little baby girls.

This is my Mamaw and all her grandchildren-- me, Mark and Bob

Bob helped Dad build another weird contraption

Oh and here's that mommy lady

That's about all. We are doing good and I really like to eat and sleep. Bye for now!

Tessa's Birth- the Full Story

So I thought it would be great to sit down and record the whole birth, especially before I start to forget! (which I already have a little). I will try to leave out the gory details but hey, to a certain extent that's the way this works right? :)

Things got started...
On Tuesday 4/17 I got up and ready for work like any morning. Jeremy had started driving me in just the day before in case I would need to be picked up during the day. Good decision! On the car ride to work (8am) I felt what I would call 'crampy' but I've been feeling that way alot lately.

About 9am after sitting at my desk for a bit I began to note the consistency of the cramps, and at about 10am logged onto www.contractionmaster.com (awesome tool!!) to begin tracking. At that time they were happening 10 min apart. So I waited it out and worked quietly at my desk. I ate lunch with my coworkers like normal- a labor salad!- and don't know if any of my lunch friends observed that I was picking at my food and kinda quiet :)

Contractions continued at 10 min apart and Jeremy came to get me at about 1:30. I only let my boss and one other coworker know what was going on. My other coworkers may not have even noticed when I quietly snuck out. I was still not convinced this was the real deal and assumed I would be back on Wednesday! On the way home I was suddenly ravenously hungry so we swung by Chick-Fil-A for a sandwich- yum!

Things continued at home...
When we got home I was starting to feel them for frequently and laid down on the couch. Jeremy logged into contractionmaster.com and I would call out when one started and ended and he tracked. When they were 5 min apart I got into the bathtub which was SO NICE. It felt really great! Jeremy normally plays his guitar while I'm in the tub but I had to put a stop to that so we could concentrate.

After the tub I finally decided it was the real thing and I should prepare myself for the hospital. We had discussed eating a light high protein dinner because I knew it would be a long time until food again, but just as Jeremy was starting to think about cooking I told him we couldn't wait any longer. Contractions were 3 min apart a getting stronger so we called the doc and headed that way. The 20 min ride to St.Francis seemed alot longer!

And off to the hospital......
When we arrived at the hospital the nurse asked if we would like to make bets on my dilation. My guess was 2 or 3 but no, we were 5 cm upon checkin! We were very lucky that of the 5 docs in our ob/gyn practice we actually got my regular doctor, Dr. Bowers. He came in to review our birth plan and was happy with all of our choices. We were admitted at 7pm, and Doc Bowers asked if I would like my water broken to move things faster or let it go itself. Since there was no reason to use extra measures we said no.

So I labored for several hours pretty well using the techniques we had used. I walked around, sat on my yoga ball (which was really nice- I recommend!), and tried to avoid laying down. Mom, Dad and Erin showed up at the hospital and we had a pretty nice time in the room for a while. It was nice to listen to the extremely random music selections on Jer's Ipod (think Abba followed by Garth Brooks)

Things got tough....
At 6-7 cm my water broke and things weren't quite as jovial as the pain came on. When my water broke they noticed it was brownish, meaning Tessa had taken her first poo in utero (called meconiam) and odds are she would ingest some on her way out. They told us that the NICU team would be there at delivery to pump it out of her.

Soon after that is when I started to turn all Exorcist from the pain (pea soup spewing and all :) My labor nurse said it was my last opportunity to get an epidural as I was dialated to 8cm, so I caved. As you know I really had wanted to go as natural as possible so I got a little upset. As the story goes on I'm glad that I made that choice and don't regret it. The nurse consoled me by saying that waiting until 8cm to get it was a great thing and we had made the best choice by not getting one earier.

There was a minor scary moment when I got the epi. My blood pressure plummeted and I almost fainted and when the nurse rolled me on my side the tape from the epi on my back stuck to the bed and started to pull it out. At the same time Tessa's heartate dropped quite a bit. It was all hands on deck for a minute or two then all was okay. From then on I wore an oxogyn mask to keep things in check.

I was then at 10cm and the nurse agreed we should start pushing but it would still be a while. So we started pushing at about 2:15am. Jeremy did a great job of helping the nurses hold up my legs and counting. I pushed through every contraction for a long time, and rested and sometimes even joked around in between.

My major concern with the epi was that I was be too numb to push, which is something I've heard horror stories about. I'm happy to say it didn't turn out that way. I could still feel the contractions a little and was able to push just fine. Whew!

At about 4am the nurse said I needed to start pushing harder as Tessa's head appeared to be pretty big and might be getting stuck (this is the part where I am grateful I had the epi). She said if we went on much longer the doc might call for a c-section. A senior nurse then came in and worked some sort of magic with her hands, squeezing the head out a little.

So finally after all that time it was time for the doctor to come. I guess I didn't realize how much the labor nurses really do before the doc even shows up. And I have to give major love to our nurse Anna. She was amazing and funny and really supportive. I was sad to see her go come morning time :(

An army of people came including the NICU nurses and we were ready to go! Several pushes later she arrived at 4:41 am. Jeremy unfortunately didn't get to cut the cord as she was wisked to the nurses to pump the poo out of her lungs. She finally gave a good cry and the room rejoiced! We saw her for just a few minutes and they took her off the NICU.

I had a tear but didn't even realize it, and had to have a few stitches. They cleaned me up and at about 6am we were okay to wheel to the NICU to see Tessa. Anna was impressed at the mobility in my legs and said I was willing it to happen so I could get to the NICU sooner.

And afterward....
Tessa spent alot of Wednesday coughing up amniotic fluid. They gave her an IV and started antiotics as a precaution. They watched her breathing and coughing carefully and she was doing better every time we saw her.

The NICU nurses agreed not to give her formula or sugar water until we had had a good run at breastfeeding. Finally she took to it sometime Wednesday afternoon and again we rejoiced! They offered to give her formula overnight so I could sleep and I refused (the lactation consultant later gave me major props!), so they woke me up every two hours during the night and boy was that NICU room a long walk!

Because she was eating and breathing so well they released her to the regular nursery on Thursday afternoon. She had to get one more good round of antibiotics Friday morning before we could go. The pediatrician was super happy with her progress and we were all released to go home on Friday afternoon.

That brings us up to speed! We are home now and all doing very well. She is eating like a madwoman and I am healing suprisingly well too...I guess I thought I would still be in a lot of pain at this point but not really too bad.

Praise God that everything turned out so well for us in the end. Even the unexpected things-- the epidural, the NICU stay-- all turned out well in the end. I know we have alot of wonderful friends and family supporting us and praying for us and we couldn't have done it without you. We are truly blessed :)

Mama I'm Going Home

Hello all!

Well things are going great here. Yesterday afternoon Tessa was released from the NICU and we were all moved up to the normal postpardum floor and normal nursery. She spent the night in our room which was nice because the night before I had to walk about 1.5 miles to the NICU every two hours to feed :( We had a great night! Still eating well and everyone was very sleepy.

And guess what? The doctor came in this morning and said that all of her labs have come back and she will be going home with us today! Yay!!! Praise God- her little NICU scare was really nothing at all.

We are all very excited about going home, although I have to say the staff at St. Francis have been nothing but awesome awesome. I am going to miss a couple of our nurses! Jeremy reports that there are two very confused and restless wiener dogs at home who are tired of hanging out alone....I wonder what they will think of her :)

More to come, for now some more pictures....

Announcing...

Tessa Betty Bennington

Born 4/18/07 at 4:41 am

7 lbs, 8 oz

21 inches

a head full of dark brown hair :)

Tessa made her debut Wednesday morning after a really good labor that started at about 8am on Tuesday (although I bet my coworkers didn't know that ;) I will post a full 'birth story' sometime very soon but I'll just say it was awesome and the hospital staff here is amazing!

Tessa swallowed some amniotic fluid and meconiam (newborn baby poo she made in utero) on her way out so she had to go to the NICU nursery right away. She was breathing hard and coughing alot yesterday morning but is now doing great. They are still holding her there in the NICU because she is on antibiotics but she is no longer on O2 nor in a warmer. And the best news is that she is nursing very well!! She has been eating every 2.5-3 hrs and so far we are doing well with breastfeeding.

She is a really calm baby so far, only gets upset when the nurses take her blood or poke her too much. It's hard to tell who she looks like right now, except all pink with brown hair :) Our family photographer (my mom) has been capturing some great pics- we'll keep posting them!

Enjoy and stay tuned for more updates!!