End of a Big Day

Here are a few more pictures from today.

Our family.

Ben, all cleaned up. He has brown hair, and what appear to be hazel eyes, but I'm reserving judgment on the eye color for a while.

Sam and Melanie watch Ben get his first bath.

Melanie with Ben.

Me with Ben.

Today was Stanley's birthday, so Ben and Pops share a birthday! Of course Sam had to help Pops open his birthday present.

Benjamin Stanley Conner

He's here! Benjamin Stanley Conner was born at 6:52 CDT October 19th, 2009. Birth weight was 7 lbs 4.4 oz with a length of 20.25 inches. He's a very healthy boy and Emily had very quick delivery.

Labor and Delivery

Today's the big day! Emily and I got up early this morning only to get a call from the hospital that they needed to delay our start by an hour because of a high demand for the nursing staff.

Despite the late start, things are going well. Here you can see Emily all checked in and waiting for the Pitocin to kick in.

Here's Emily later in the day just after she had the epidural.

So far, so good! Emily's expected to deliver before 9 PM tonight. She's currently 4 cm dilated.

New Van

We got a new van last weekend. It's a 2010 Toyota Sienna. We were not planning on getting a new vehicle until some time next Spring, but my SUV died (2001 Mazda Tribute). We already knew we had $1700 in AC repairs needed, and then there was about $250 for some brake power booster repairs. Then one day I was taking Sam to school and it just wouldn't go over 10 mph. In trying to drive it home something happened between the catalytic converter and cylinder 5 which resulted in melted plastic and at least another $1500 worth of repairs. Oh, and then it would be due for all of the 100,000 mile standard maintenance, like replacing belts. Now considering that the SUV was only worth $3700 for a trade-in, we really had no interest in trying to get it repaired with a baby coming in a week.

I actually wanted to get a Highlander Hybrid, but quickly found out that you have to wait 6 months for one of those, so that wasn't an option. I went in with the intention of just getting a regular Highlander, but I just wanted to take a look at the Sienna. The Highlander was definitely sexier, but nowhere near as practical. I didn't think I would fall in love with a van, but it is amazingly wonderful to drive.

Two car seats installed and ready to go.

View from the third row including DVD player and moonroof.

Front seat, console, and navigation system.

Third row seats up.

Third row seats down.

3 More Days

Only three more days to go! My doctor is not expecting me to go earlier than Monday at this point, but anything is possible. Of course she is out of town this weekend so we are really hoping to make it to Monday. I've even had a day off to pamper myself with a haircut and color, manicure, pedicure, and massage. I've done lots of loads of laundry this week including washing all the sheets and towels. This nesting thing is weird. I swear I'm going to start cleaning out closets pretty soon.

We had a little scare on Tuesday. After the pumpkin patch on Sunday, I started having contractions and pain. By Tuesday it didn't seem like Ben was moving as much as he had been. I went to the doctor to get checked out. They hooked me up for a Non-Stress Test and determined that I was having contractions and that Ben was fine, but just to be sure they also did a sonogram to verify that nothing was restricting his movement. After the sonogram, they decided I wasn't feeling Ben move as much for three reasons:

1) He's gotten so big there's just not much room for him to move

2) When he tries to make a big movement, I have a contraction which absorbs and constricts his movement.

3) His feet are directly under the placenta.

He's in a good delivery position. The sonographer also measured him and said she thought he was about 7 lbs 4 oz on Tuesday. She predicts he'll be 7 lbs 10 oz on Monday.

I saw my doctor for my last appointment today and she said there is no change since Tuesday, just 1 cm dialated with a long cervix. She guessed at Ben's size and estimates that he is already 7 lbs 12 oz today. That would put him right at 8 lbs on Monday. We'll have to see who was closer.

They printed a few pictures from the sonogram for me. Ben is so big now that you can't get much of him in the picture at one time. This is his profile with his chin on his chest.

This picture is looking directly at his face. Just to the bottom right of the label above are his lips and nose.

Of course what sonogram would be complete without a picture of his boy parts.

Stuff Sam said ...

Sam: You're my mommy and nobody else's mommy!

Me: Yes, but I'm going to be Ben's mommy too in a few days.

Sam: Uh-uh! You better not be! You better be just my mommy!

Me: Oh boy

More stuff Sam said ...

Me: I love your elbow

Sam: No ... you gotta love me ... the whole thing.