Welcome Home!

Ben came home today! Here he is in his homecoming outfit, which was sooo big on him:

And here we are ready to get out of there:

After a few hours of being home with siblings jumping all over us I think we are both thinking about going back...

Introducing…

Benjamin Taylor Chaplin!  He was born yesterday at 1:44pm.  He weighed 8 lbs 6oz and was 21 inches long.  He is an awesome sleeper and a champion eater (wonder where he got that from…).  Here are some pictures:

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And for those of who want the details:  I was up for one of my many nightly trips to empty the tank, thinking to myself “I can’t do this for another week!” when my water broke. After waiting for a minute to be sure that’s what it was and my bladder hadn’t miraculously tripled in capacity, I woke up Mike.  I wasn't having any contractions, so we had plenty of time to call our friends to come stay with Carter and Samantha, get our stuff together and get to the hospital.  I got all settled in, had a few contractions, but still nothing to write home about.  Finally after walking the halls all morning they started me on Pitocin to get things going.  Once that started, things picked up.  They placed my epidural but didn’t dose it, so I could still get up and walk around until things really got going.  Unfortunately, when things did get going, the epidural didn’t work.  Pretty much all it did was numb my right leg.   Not a lot of help there.  After 2 more doses straight into the catheter Mike realized that the pump wasn’t going at all.  The 3rd dose kicked in pretty much after Ben came out.  So, like it or not, I ended up getting a glimpse of unmedicated childbirth.  Let me tell you, I did not like it.  I was crying like a baby there at the end.  I freely admit that I am weak, and I have a whole new respect/curiosity/fear of  people who chose to do it this way on purpose.  Anyways, lucky me, I pushed for maybe 10 minutes and Ben was here!  He had his cord wrapped around his neck twice and took a while to pink up, but otherwise, he is perfectly healthy!

Carter and Samantha are super excited.  They got to meet him yesterday.  Samantha jumped up on my lap and said “now you can hold me again!”  Yeah, sister is in for a shocker.  She did promise to protect Ben though, just like Carter protects her.  Yikes.  Hopefully Samantha’s love of babies will save him. 

I am just relaxing in the hospital.  With Carter, I was doing baby announcements, thank you cards, whatever when I was in the hospital.  Me and Ben are just sleeping and eating all day.  Things I know that I will not get at home. 

I should be going home tomorrow.  3 kids, yikes!  Wish me luck, because I am going to need it!

Baby Day!

It's 3 am and yes, I am blogging before we walk out the door. My water just broke and I'm not having contractions yet, so I thought I would let everyone know that today is finally the day! Wish me luck!

Fondue and Mandu

One of the benefits of carrying my babies so low is that I never have problems eating while pregnant (good for my taste buds, not so great for the scale, but whatever).  Anyways, this has been a week of some seriously delicious food.  Last week Carter and I decided to try these recipes from the food network.  The ginger pear tea was a little different, but the Yaki Mandu and the lettuce wraps were absolutely fabulous.  The lettuce wraps were sooo easy and they turned out so flavorful, we will definitely be making them again and often.  Even the kids loved the Yaki Mandu.  It was pretty funny hearing Samantha ask for more “yucky andu” over and over.  I would definitely recommend giving them a try.  Yum-O. 

As for the fondue…my friend’s husband is out of town for work, so set up a girl’s night out at the Melting Pot.  I have never been, mostly because it usually costs a lot, but they have a girl’s night out deal for $15.  Wow.  I am still thinking about it.  We left so happy and full.   I have to find some of those recipes.  The spinach artichoke cheese was soooo good…  We did get some pictures, but not on my camera. So for now, you get your imagination and this…

As for baby Ben, no news.  My pelvis hurts so bad today that I can hardly walk, and I only see it getting worse until he comes out.  I keep telling myself that it won’t be more than 2 weeks.  The 15th is my personal deadline for him to come.  Now if someone could tell him that…