I love my baby! He is just precious. So there are a few things about the delivery I want to keep written down so I dont forget.

One- Daniel passed out. With the other 3 he had no problem, but with this one, he actually blacked out. And the craziest thing about that is that it wasnt when the baby was born, it was when I got my "happy-dural." And its not like he passed out cuz he was watching them stick an enourmous needle into my back, he was simply holding my hand. I guess maybe I passed my anxiety of needles to him, and he couldnt take it, and passed out. The nurse wasnt very big, and had to catch him, and then she tried helping him walk out of the room and he fell again. But after his juice and a few crackers he was back to buisness.

Two-miracles happen. With all the tests and zillion appointments and all the stress about Ben being under 5 pounds, he was and is just perfect. He is tiny but he is healthy and weighing in at 6 lbs 5 oz, I have no doubt that Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers.

Three- Yuma is bizarre. There is ONE pediatrician who does circumcisions in the hospital here. So I have him down for the babys dr, but the guy comes in and starts yelling at me for wanting him to do the procedure on Ben. He was YELLING- and it just blew me away. Here i am not even 12 hours after having my baby and this psycho is yelling at me cuz he is "sick and tired of having people choose him as their Dr cuz he is the only one who does circumcisions in the hospital." He goes on with his explosion saying he doesnt have the time to do it, and basically I need a new Dr. Obviously. I didnt want him taking a knife to my baby after he freaked out like that. So there are 2 other drs in town that do it in their office, but one couldnt do it until the middle of April, so we went with the other guy, who i think is more to my liking anyway. However we have to wait until Ben has another u/s on his kidneys in regards to the hydronephrosis before they will do it, so he doesnt get it done until next week. Anyway- talk about unprofessional. The nurse apologized to me, and told my dr who apologized as well and couldnt believe that the guy just flipped out like that- crazy!

Four- I am immediately brought to tears with the intense and incredible love I feel for this baby. I cant believe how one person comes into your life and you can feel that strongly about them. Before I had Ben i was worried about having 4 kids and was feeling overwhelmed with the thought, but now as he is here, I cant imagine my life without him. Like I said, He is precious!

A little FYIin case anyone wants to know, we are going to bless him in May, so if anyone wants to come down to the wicked heat of yuma, we would love to see you.

Benjamin Ray Jackson

6 pounds 5 ounces. Little Bennie Ray was born around 9:30 last night. Everyone is doing great! Kimmy is hoping to come home tonight, but it might not be until tomorrow. We'll see.

I took the boys by to see him this morning after dropping off Kylie to school. Tyler kept saying "Precious cute baby." And James actually did pretty good with him too. He was gentle, and leaned in and sort of kissed his face a couple of times. Kimmy tried to get a video of it, but I'm not sure how it turned out.

Anyway. Glad everything's fine, and excited for the pregnancy to be over!

Baby Update

Well this is Daniel posting from the hospital room. It's now almost 8:00 pm and still no baby. Kimmy's evil plan of being induced at 1:30 and having me able to pick up the kids by 5 is not working out. For those of you who know what it means, she's at 5 and 80. She had the epidural a few hours ago, which was a fun bit of excitement I'm sure she won't be able to resist telling you the story. I'll leave it to her to tell. The good news is - she's not in pain and I got a delicious glass of juice and some wonderful graham crackers out of the deal.

Anyway, we just feel bad for the Mosses - who are watching our kids. They can thank us later for the natural birth control method we supplied them with.

I'm sure we'll have a baby within the next few hours. I'll be sure to snap a few pictures of his smushed, wrinkled little head, and post them here for your viewing pleasure.

Easter

Yesterday the kids woke up early in anticipation of finding their easter baskets. They were so excited and spent the morning playing with their stuff. Toast was a little confused though, cuz he told me, "the easter bunny still left me treats even though I've been bad."-- I had to point out the easter bunny brought him treats for the times he has been good, hoping it inspires him to try harder at obeying and being nicer to his siblings. Anyway- I am getting ready to head over to the hospital and next time I blog I will be the mother of 4- Scary thought! I'll have Daniel post some pictures of Ben tonight, assuming this labor goes quickly! TTFN

Content Communicating

No baby yet, although I was contracting all freaking night long and am now too exhausted to even think about labor. I just found this on my friends blog and cracked up- For our anniversary my sweet mother gave us a certain audio cd about marriage which basically points out that the way I expect Daniel to read my mind and understand what I am really saying when I say something totally opposite is just so wrong- but I figure he has been through the frustration of figuring it out, and now has it figured out mostly, so why let that go to waste?- Anyway I read this and feel justified in my dysfunctional communication-

9 words women use:

1. FINE-This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

2. Five Minutes-If she is getting dressed, this means half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

3. Nothing-This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with Nothing usually end in Fine.

4. Go Ahead-This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!

5. Loud Sigh-This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A Loud Sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about Nothing (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of Nothing.)

6. That's Okay-This is one of the most dangerous statements a woman can make to a man. That's Okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

7. Thanks-A woman is thanking you; do not question or faint. Just say "you're welcome." (Note: this is true unless she says "Thanks A Lot"-that is PURE sarcasm ans she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say "you're welcome"...that will bring on a Whatever.)

8. Whatever-This is a woman's way of saying DROP DEAD!

9. Don't Worry About It, I Got It-Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing herself. This will later result in the man asking "what's wrong?" For the woman's response, refer to #3.

another update

I havent had a connection for a while now, so I havent been able to blog, and there have been a lot of things that I wanted to write but alas my mind has failed me.I will just be quick with this little update on BR- he still isnt growing, and finally they have scheduled the induction date for monday the 24th. I am really hoping that I go into labor this weekend sometime cuz I am getting really worried as it isnt normal for a baby to not grow for three weeks--so I want him here so I can make sure he is ok. We have been trying everyting we can think of to get him to come, but he isnt budging. I am hoping after a long vigorous walk tonight I might finally get some action. We shall see. Anyway- thanks again for all your prayers on his behalf! And hopefully the next time I blog I will have a healthy baby boy that I can post lots of pictures of!

Update

I had to put this picture on here cuz it cracks me up. Yesterday on the drive home from getting Kylie she saved her treat from her lunch and shared it with James. When I got him out of the car this is what I saw.
Kylies school had some kind of a creative arts contest, but I didnt worry about it as it was optional. But unknown to me, Kylies teacher had each of the kids write a story and entered them in. It just so happens that Kylie scored second in the Kindergarten-2nd grade group. Way to go Kylie!
I went to the dr. today and was expecting him to schedule the induction date within the next few days, but alas he decided not to. I am really confused cuz two weeks ago he told me if there wasnt enough growth that they were going to induce me. I have since had to go in for two AFI's, 5 NSTs and had another u/s yesterday. And from the results of that u/s, Ben is now below the 6th percentile and weighs less than 5 lbs. The dr told me that even though he hasnt grown, the fact that his fluids are normal and his heart rate is strong, and the fact that his head and body are in the right porportions to each other those are good signs, so they are gonna let me continue on in the misery of the last 2 weeks of pregnancy. Joy. They arent going to let me go over my due date though, so if I dont go into labor on my own, they will induce me sometime during the week of the 24th. The ultrasound also showed that he has hydronephrosis due to urinary tract reflux, which is the same thing James had, so we will have that to deal with after he is born. So there is the latest.
I just wanted to thank you all for your prayers on his behalf. Even though he hasnt grown, he still seems to be doing ok, and I think your faith and prayers are the reason for that. Thank you. We are truely blessed with wonderful family and friends~!

Zoot-suit

Its official-- Michael is gay. The rumor has been around for a while now, but I am confirming it. Sure I have overlooked the fact that he is heavily into fashion, has a closet that houses thousands of dollars worth of clothing, and spends 100 times more on his hair care than I do. Sure I have overlooked the fact he is crazy into interior design. I have even overlooked his spa addiction. And I was severely disappointed when he broke of his engagement to Katie just two weeks prior to the wedding date, but attributed that to the fact he isnt in the right place in his life to be making an eternal commitment. But last Sunday he came over with a belated b-day gift for Daniel, who at the time was home teaching. He didnt stick around, but when Daniel arrived home and unwrapped his gift, Michael made a screaming statement with his choice of giving- a zoot suit. Now if you dont know what that is, let me describe it. Its a freaking unitard! Its hideous! And the thing that really makes this gift say "HEY I AM GAY" is the fact that he has a matching one just like it. He actually thinks that he and Daniel are going to run the marathon together in matching blue unitards! The guy is truely wacked out of his mind! What more can I say?

Kylie-ism

Today I am driving home from picking up Kylie and she asked me a question. I started to respond, but completely lost my train of thought and couldnt remember what she was even asking about. After a moment of me not responding she asks me "Dude, whats wrong with your brain?" Good question! I am just hoping that after I have this baby I get some of my brain cells funtioning again cuz I really am loosing it!