She's here

Caroline Bennett Webster was born on February 26th, 2008 at 3:38pm. She weighed 6lbs 7oz and was 18 3/4 inches long. It's really hard to tell what her hair color is, but strawberry blonde is about the best we can tell at this point. She is an incredibly sweet baby and hardly cries at all. She really only cries when she isn't swaddled, but our friend Anthony says that's because she's just modest. We are so incredibly happy and words really can't describe how we feel.

We're on our Way

We are heading to the hospital in about 4 hours. We took this picture yesterday in the nursery. I really don't think I could get much bigger, so thankfully the time has arrived. Beyond the obvious joy of bringing Bennett home, I am looking forward to being able to SLEEP without acid reflux or the feeling of having a ten pound weight on my chest. I know, I know.... you all scoff out there and chuckle to yourselves over poor naive Lauren who has no idea what a lack of sleep looks like. Let me clarify. I know I will be up every 2-3 hours with Bennett for the first few weeks. However, what I am hoping is that I will get 2-3 hours of deep sleep. As it is now, I get about 20 minute increments, and if I am very lucky, I can go 45 minutes without waking up.

So, anyway, it is time. We are so ready. Rob and I had a very long prayer time last night and we ask for your prayers over the next week or so. We pray that the blood clot won't cause any problems, we pray for wonderful times with family and friends, and we mainly pray for a healthy baby girl. We can't wait to see her and find out if two recessive genes cancel each other out. People don't believe me, but I honestly think she might be a brunette. :-)

A Fun "Shower"

So, how many of you can say that you had your wedding reception in a hail storm and your baby shower in a tornado? I can! I love this picture of me and Kim because she was called into the studio to report on tornado damage about 1 hour after this pic was taken. And if you look in the background you can see the severe weather alert on the TV. Yes, in the middle of my baby shower, we were hit with a tornado. It was actually very interesting opening little bibs and onesies with tornado sirens going off. We had a great time though and it meant so much to me that so many wonderful friends didn't care about life threatening drives on stormy roads and spent their afternoon with me. I felt very loved and blessed. 3 days and counting!! Oh, and they are predicting storms on Tuesday. Of course.

The Ramblings of a Third Trimester Insomniac

You know how everyone tells you to sleep as much as you can before the baby is born? I wish I could count how many times I have heard that I need to take naps now, rest now, sleep while I can.... Well, I'm trying, but it sure isn't working. My nights usually go something like this-

11:00 Bedtime
11:20 Bathroom trip
11:45 Bathroom Trip
12:15 Bathroom trip
1:00 Rob comes to bed
1:05 Oh no.... Rob woke me up and even though I don't have to go to the bathroom, I MUST GO!!
1:15 I'm still awake and everyone tells me I need to be sleeping. Is Rob wearing a breathe right strip?
1:20 Even though I don't have to go, maybe going to the bathroom will help me go back to sleep
1:30 Is everything ready for Bennett? I am so nervous. Why in the world did I get pregnant? I really want to reconsider this.
1:45 Hmmm... sleeping on my side hurts. And I have acid reflux. I think I'll go gag now.
1:55 That didn't help, but I appreciate Rob getting up and giving me water. I'll get up and play Spider Solitaire until I have blurred my vision so badly that I am kocked out.
3:15 I'm still playing spider solitaire and it's not working. I wonder what the Tivo recorded today?
4:00 Crap! I'm still up and I know I need to sleep. That was a very funny Colbert Report though. Where are the drugs that are safe for the baby?
4:15 Drugs taken. What if Bennett comes tomorrow? I'm not ready. I'll never be ready. What am I doing?
4:30 Great episode of Jon and Kate Plus 8. I'm glad I am only having one.
4:45 One last bathroom trip and I can sleep. Ah, yes... I am sleepy....good night.
5:00 Bathroom Trip
5:45 Bathroom trip. Look at clock. Wow! I got 45 minutes of sleep. Cool.
6:15 It still hurts to sleep on my side, but that's where I keep ending up. Oh, no! The alarm is going off in 30 minutes. How can I work like this? Must sleep... shouldn't those drugs work better than this? I am seriously considering writing a letter to.... someone.
6:30 Still awake. Why am I having a baby in a week? I can't remember to feed my dogs! What if I forget to feed her? What am I doing?
6:40 Bathroom trip.
6:45 Alarm goes off. Must get up for work. I hope my boss understands when I pass out at my desk.

The sad part about this blog is that I am not exaggerating too much. I am posting this blog at 2:15 (even though the time stamp says midnight. It's not. Trust me.) So anyway, I will get back to Spider Solitaire now. I wonder if Colbert will be funny tonight?

A Fun Surprise

So, I thought it was another taping day on Tuesday, but the kids surprised me with a party for little Bennett. I am usually hard to surprise, but they did it. The best part of having so many awesome kids in my life? An endless supply of babysitters.

I have decided that I will never ever compare my pregnancy to another womans unless specifically asked. Maybe it's because I'm nine months pregnant and cranky, but if someone asks me how I am and I say that I am tired, I want some stinkin' sympathy. I don't want to hear that I couldn't possibly be nearly as tired as they were on their sixth child because they had five other kids to take care of. Or that I don't know what tired even is because their cousin-in-law just had sextuplets and that's some tired stuff. Or that I have no idea what being tired is because when they were pregnant, they were working 80 hour work weeks while running marathons and tending to the elderly just up until two hours before they delivered. Sigh.....

I have learned that every single pregnancy is different. And even though I am not carrying multiples, even though I am not caring for six other children, and even though I am not running marathons, dangit- I'm just tired. Maybe I'll get off the computer and go to bed.

3 weeks and counting!!

Okay, so we are ridiculously blessed. We cannot thank everyone enough who has blessed us with so many beautiful things for little Bennett. This is one spoiled chick and we couldn't feel more overwhelmed. This is a picture of Rob checking out the goodies Bennett got at her shower today.

On the health front- all is back to normal. I was told I would be in pain until the baby was born and that going back to work wasn't really an option, but I have been back full time for 3 weeks and am able to do everything I did before that dreaded day in December. I know I am only this strong though because so many people have been praying for me. I know now more than ever that prayer works and we will need as many of them as possible to get her here safely without any complications- in only 24days!! But who's counting?