Another Speedy Delivery

Today we came into the hospital for a "scheduled induction" hoping this baby's arrival would be less of a photo finish than Alexander's. I was 40 weeks and 4 days and dilated to a 4 and 85% effaced just like last Thursday, so my body hadn't been doing much contracting over the weekend (which was pretty strange after all the contractions I had 2 weeks ago).
I am not into baby bellies in the least bit... I think it looks like a beer belly on me, but I figured we needed a photo of it anyway before things kicked off.
I checked my e-mail while we were waiting for the midwife and nurse to come back.

Sarah, the midwife started the pitocin at around noon at a two. Four is standard (and women sometime get cranked all the way up to 20), but she figured once my body got a "whiff" of the pitocin, it would just do it's thing. The first hour seemed to go pretty slow. I ate some chocolate pudding, because although instructed not too, this place is way more "medical" than my previous delivery experiences... And pudding is a liquid!?

Allie, the assisting nurse increased the pitocin to 4 and then around 1330, Sarah broke my water and I think I was still dilated at a 4. Sarah said to call her when I needed labor support because that's what midwives are for. She was over at the clinic across the street, but had a light patient load this afternoon, so she wasn't too concerned about getting back over here.

The contractions were getting stronger and then almost unbearable. I asked Ryan to call Sarah. Ryan really was a great coach, so I'm not sure that Sarah could have done much that Ryan wasn't already doing.

Allie came and measured me again and I was dilated to a 7 around 1430. I was not looking forward to the next 3 cm AT ALL. I was having a hard time relaxing and again unsure if I could do it without drugs. That should have been a sign of transition (as with Benjamin), but it seemed too soon. Allie said, "I think you've got less than an hour"... and within 10 minutes it was another "I have to push" from me and Allie said "Don't push"... and I pushed. And once again (as with Alexander) the baby crowned while I was standing up. I only made it onto the bed on all fours (not intending to give birth that way, but it was a fairly comfortable position). By then I had pushed out the baby's head and then I didn't have another contraction for about 2 minutes and it was making Ryan and Allie nervous just seeing the baby's head hanging out, but then the contraction came and I pushed him out. By then other nurses had arrived and Sarah showed up in time to deliver the placenta. She felt really bad to have missed the baby's birth.
Baby Lewis #3 was born at 1451 MST weighing 8 pounds and 20 inches long. We were pretty sure we would name the baby James, but he didn't look like a James, so we're not sure if we need to pick a different name or if he will grow into it. We're waiting until at least tomorrow to decide.
Ryan said he doesn't look like a father of 3, but then he keeps commenting on how old he looks and all of his gray hair, so I'm not sure what a father of 3 is supposed to look like. I am glad he's finally realized how thin he looks after losing almost 30 pounds in the last ~4 months.Gudrun our next nurse thought I was being really antsy about getting my IV out, but why keep it in longer than necessary? I also wanted a shower right away. I don't see a need to stay in a hospital gown if I'm not sick!
Grandma brought the boys over after dinner to meet their new brother and to have Family Home Evening. They were pretty excited about the baby.
This is the first time my mom has been here on the day one of our babies has been born. She looks like a proud grandma of 5. This baby also happens to share a birthday with his cousin Maxwell who turned 9 today! It will make Baby Lewis' birthday easy to remember.

A Weekend of Free Food

Ryan has sworn off the Graduate Student Society because they didn't hire him when he applied for a job, but I'm actually glad he wasn't working for them on Friday night. Ryan was at work though, so I took the boys alone to their opening BBQ. I ran into some of our friends while waiting in line and they (and their daughter, Maggie, who thinks Benjamin is cute. Ryan says that means there's hope for Benjamin to find a wife... not that we're in the market :) helped entertain Benjamin, because we had to wait quite a long time.

There was a required RSVP and sign in sheet, but they still ran out of food. We lucked out and got some of the last sloppy joe sandwiches. Benjamin was still hungry and ate a styrafoam cup full of meat before we left, while Alexander had a cup full of corn. People were waiting for pizza when we left at 1930... I'm glad Ryan wasn't the one in charge.
Yes, it was a night later than usual for the boys. We ran into Cosmo on the way out and Alexander ran away from him. I'm thinking he won't like Halloween this year.
On Saturday there was an opening social/carnival for our housing complex. This is Benjamin on the "train". It was quite funny that the cars were made from 50 gallon water barrels. Only in Utah?!?!
Alexander was taking a nap and Ryan was helping our neighbors move for the first part of the event. We should have gotten hot dogs first, but we decorated a cookie and ate cotton candy instead!We waited in line for a long time to get balloons made. Benjamin was very patient. We had a balloon sword made for Alexander too.
Alexander didn't miss too much because of his nap. That's a big cookie for a little guy.

Ryan arrived just in time for the tug-of-war. He was excited to be on a winning team.

Big man in a little barrel...Alexander wasn't impressed with the "train ride".

Saturday night, the stake hosted a Chinese "mid-autumn festival". There was really yummy catered Chinese food and desert was shaved ice covered in sweetened condensed milk, bananas, strawberries, and chocolate syrup. Delicious!

The boys made panda bear heads out of paper plates, which I should take a photo of before disposing of them.

Sunday evening, my visiting teacher brought us a very tasty potato soup for dinner. It was SO nice to not have to cook ALL weekend!

Benjamin's First Day of Preschool

Benjamin wanted to wear his batman turtleneck and not a sweatshirt. (Yes, Grandma the Great, he loves it!) It took a bit of convincing when we got to school that he needed to take it off because it would be too warm for him to wear all day. That is one thing I don't miss about Nebraska: The fact that the temperature doesn't drop at night there.
Alexander wanted to wear his backpack just like Benjamin. They were more interested in watching the mowers than having their photos taken. Alexander was sad when we left without him, but was distracted by "Super Why!"
Benjamin walking to the car.
Benjamin was #19 on the boy's waiting list for BYU's preschool program, but the one up in Orem had plenty of room. It was supposed to be associated with UVU, but it doesn't sound like there will be UVU students in the classroom until after Christmas break.
This is Benjamin putting on his name tag with the teacher's assistant Mrs. Bottorff. He said this was the favorite part of his day.
Mrs. Plewa (pronounced Plava) is his teacher. She asks a question of the day. Today's was "Do you like ice cream?" He likes his teacher.
After school today, I asked Benjamin if he likes preschool and he said "Yes, it's fun!" He was concerned that there weren't cars and truck to play with, but I told him that he could play with cars and trucks all afternoon when he got home. He ate a banana and cookie for snack. His second favorite part was playing on the playground. He was sad he didn't get to play on the firetruck on the playground because there were big kids playing on it.

Benjamin's First Talk in Primary

We've been going to the TRC (Training Resource Center) at the MTC (Missionary Training Center) to volunteer as mock investigators for the new missionaries. Last week we went during the visitor center missionaries' training. The sister missionary we were with had Benjamin repeat the scripture she was reading to us with her. It's the first time he's ever done it and I didn't realize how much he would like reciting. He says he's reading. Anyway, ever since then, we were having him recite during our daily family scripture study. It was great timing, because later that week, the Primary President called to let us know that Benjamin was giving a talk in Primary on Sunday.

I put together the talk and Ryan helped Benjamin give it. Normally Alexander would have been in nursery, but he had a runny nose and we weren't sure if we were going to keep him with us for all of church. It appeared that his nose wasn't running on Sunday, so we sent him to nursery in the end.

As it happened, Alexander didn't want to stay in the back with me while Benjamin gave his talk. He ran to the front of the room and climbed on the stool behind the lectern next to Benjamin. He wanted to make sure I saw him because he kept peaking around the picture yelling "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!" It was quite distracting, but very cute. I wish I would have gotten a photo of the 3 of them up there.

Benjamin did a great job, especially on the 2nd part when you could actually hear him! At first he kept turning toward Ryan and repeating his talk softly.
This came from the June 99 Friend Magazine. I changed it a little so the boy slid across and didn't have to be moved from tab to tab. I also drew the pictures on the bottom and apparently my artwork is good enough that Benjamin knew what each picture was trying to depict. It was cute when he moved the boy and named the commandments during his talk. Which he did all by himself.

Benjamin Lewis Primary Talk 5 September 2010

“Jesus Christ loves little children. When He lived on the earth, He blessed them. He healed them. He wanted them to come to Him. When He prayed for the Nephite children, the angels of heaven came down and surrounded them (see 3 Ne. 17). When someone loves us that much, we want to love that person right back. How can we show the Lord that we love Him? Jesus told us, ‘If ye love me, keep my commandments’ (John 14:15). Here are some commandments that all of us can keep: Pray, Study the Scriptures, Attend Church and Take the Sacrament, Keep the Sabbath Day Holy, Pay Tithing. Keeping the commandments helps us be happy and grow closer to Him. And it shows Him that we love Him.”

One example of keeping the Sabbath day holy was a boy named David whose baseball team played games on Sundays sometimes. His coach asked him to be the pitcher, but David said he would have to be the relief pitcher so that he could go to church and keep the Sabbath day holy. Eventually, the coach chose another boy to be the relief pitcher on Sundays and David pitched at all the other games. David showed his love for Jesus by keeping the Sabbath day holy and was blessed for his decision.

I know we show our love for Jesus by keeping the commandments. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ; Amen.

From: Sydney S. Reynolds, “Sharing Time: Keep the Commandments,” Friend, Jun 1999, 45 and “Loving Friends,” Friend, Feb 1974, 36

Alexander's 1st Official Hair Cut

Alexander has had his bangs trimmed twice so far and once around his ears, but never gotten anything else cut off because he hair is so thin and sparse. He was starting to have curls in the back and his ears were being inundated with hair, so I figured it was time for a full cut. I was also giving Ryan and Benjamin hair cuts on this particular day. I cut Ryan's and then was going to do Benjamin's, but Benjamin freaked out and wouldn't sit on the stool, so I plopped Alexander on it.

Alexander was very docile during the whole process. He didn't seem to mind the clippers and let me trim the back well. He was starting to get bored when I was trimming the top with scissors, so it wasn't as even as I would have liked, but it doesn't look bad. I didn't get a photo at the time, so this is a couple days after the fact.
Benjamin's hair needs some work... He wouldn't let me finish it, so there's a whole clump on the side that is a lot longer than the rest and its not faded in the back. The promise of PEZ candy and the consequences of not picking bedtime books nor having TV/Wii time on Monday weren't enough to get him back on the stool. Maybe he'll let me fix it on Monday.