Bye bye bili blanket

So we took Ben off the bili blanket yesterday morning and his level had gone down to 11. We took him in again this morning after being off all day yesterday and over night to make sure it wasn't creeping back up with out the phototherapy lights. Ben's liver is now caught up and is able to process the bilirubin on it's own and today his level was 8.2. So it is going down on it's own!!!! Now since we have been in there every day for the past week they are bumping his 2 week well-baby appt to a 1 month well-baby so that will save me a trip out in the darn freezing ND weather!

This weather is just misrable!

Getting comfortable

Well we are starting to get into a routine now. Grandma is leaving tonight (a little mix up with her tickets because we thought she was leaving last night) so we have a little more time with her. Ben threw a humungo fit last night at bed time but after about a half hour or so he calmed down, ate and fell asleep. I think he slept from around 12:30 to 8am with out a feeding....unless there was one zombie like feeding that I don't remember. Trust me at this point I can't rule it out. hehe.... Hopefully he turns out to be a good sleeper. He doesn't like his bassinet much so far but I think the bili lights really make it hard to get comfy in there. Plus I am sure it is much more comfy to sleep in bed with mommy than in a bassinet....they're smart ya know!Daddy and his little munchkins
Ashley taking care of her baby!
Grandpa visiting with his 4th grandbaby! 2 boys and 2 girls how perfect is that!
Our little glow worm on his bili lights in the bouncy seat.

Jaundice....Yuck!

Well we took Ben to the Dr. last Thursday for his first check up and his bilirubin level was 14. They said it was fine and they weren't too concerned because he was eating and pooping well. But by Sunday he was looking really yellow. So I called and took him back in on Monday morning to have it checked again. Poor guy's bilirubin level had shot up to 19.4. They warned that if it hit 20 they would have to admit him to the hospital to stay under the intensive bili lights. Since his was under 20 we are now using the bili blanket like we had to with Ashley, although now they have one that is 3 times stronger so we hope that he will get over this soon. We have to take him in daily to get his blood checked until he is in the normal range, his poor heels. He has to stay on the biliblanket for 23 hours a day so it makes feeding, diapering, and cuddling quite a challenge but at least he should be getting better.

Ashley is going in today for her 2 year old well baby appointment so we will see how she is doing also. I don't assume there will be any concerns as she seems to be recouperating well from her bout of the nasties that caused her to lose so much weight.

My mom leaves tomorrow to head home so now I have to conquer this mommy of 2 thing on my own. Well at least Mike is off until the end of the month so that will give me some time to adjust to normal life. I am still very nervous about taking both kiddos out on my own. Oh well, I better get used to it because I can't stay locked up in my house forever......well at least for the winter. Hehe

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More pictures

Alright, here are some more pictures of our little guy. He is doing really well and we are enjoying our newest addition to our family. It looks like he has a hernia at his umbillical cord that the dr.s will be keeping an eye on. Otherwise all is good and healthy. Due to a death in the family while I was in the hospital Grandma left late last night, heading back to Minneapolis to attend the funeral but Grandpa will be driving her back on Monday so he will get to meet his newest grand son also.

Introducing Benjamin Thomas Roberts!

Well our little Benjamin is here! He arrived at 8:02 January 15th, 2007. It took 12 hours of labor (only an hour and a half of painful stuff before the epidural) Otherwise it went great. I only pushed for 20 minutes in comparison to the 3 hours with Ashley so that was a huge improvement. He is doing really well now that we are home. Feeding well, sleeping well, I think that is about all a new mom can hope for! My only issue is engorgement, ahhh that part is no fun! We took him to the Dr. today for his check 1st check and he is already gaining weight since leaving the hospital. His bilirubin level was slightly elevated so they had to do a heal prick to double check, it was 14 which for his age they said was normal. They are going to check it again at his 2 week appointment. Ashley is adjusting well to having a new baby brother in the house. She had a rough day yesterday with lack of sleep and a messed up routine but is doing much better today and is enjoying "helping" with Ben. I will update with more pictures as time allows......Thanks for all the well wishes!

Happy Birthday Ashley!

Happy Birthday Ashley!

As you can see we had a good day with treats and a fun new toy!

We got to have pizza for dinner (Ashley's favorite), cupcakes, and a cool new ball pit.

We all celebrated by donning our Dora the Explorer birthday hats and noise makers and had a fun time throwing balls around the living room. Now we just have to find a place to put the big ball pit, hmmmm, maybe I should have thought of that before.

Non Stress Test Update

I went in for the non stress test this morning and everything was looking good. I am still 3 cm dilated & 70% effaced. They are still concerned with the heart decelerations that he had while I was in the hospital so they are doing another non stress test on Monday. They are also supposed to be calling me back later today with an induction appt for next week if I have not gone in on my own. So I will keep everyone updated on what is going on.

Oh, and I will post some pictures of Ashley's 2nd birthday tomorrow on the big day. We are just doing a little thing at home with some cake and ice cream. But I will take some pictures to share with everyone.

False Alarm

Well I started having contractions Sunday night and by Monday noonish, when Mike came home for lunch, they were relatively strong and I was feeling more pressure. We called the Dr. and they said to come in. So we dropped Ashley off a S's house and headed for the hospital. When we got there my contractions were about 4-5 minutes apart and pretty consistent. They started getting stronger and moving closer together about 2-3 minutes between and I made some cervical change so they said I was a keeper. Mike left around 8 pm to let the dogs out and to try to get some rest. Of course then the contractions started to fizzle. Darn it. They all but disappeared. My cervix hit 3 and quit dilating so they gave me some sleeping medicine and told me I would either wake up in "real labor" or not and they would send me home. Well I am sure you can guess what happened. NOTHING! After all that nothing. I am still having contractions but they aren't strong enough to do much at this point so we are just taking it easy at home. I am going in on Thursday for a non-stress test for the baby to see how he is handling things if labor hasn't happened sooner.

OB update

I had my first weekly OB appointment today. 1 cm dilated 40% effaced. The DR said she highly doubts I will make it to my due date of late January!!! Whoohoo for that one! I am hoping for anytime now that I will be 37 weeks on Saturday. I was spilling a trace of protein in my pee when they checked which is new but not abnormal for this stage in pregnancy. I have been having some headaches but with my blood pressure continuing to stay low (96/62) they are not very concerned. She said he feels to be of average size and thinks that I could handle a 9 lb baby (so not true!!!!) Otherwise I am doing well. We got the kid's room painted this weekend, big relief, so now I just have to finish getting all the decorations together. I think it will be pretty cute once it's done. But well just have to wait and see.