The Prayers of our Friends

Thanks to all of you who said a quick prayer for Benjamin today.

Not only did the tests rule out pyloric stenosis and acid reflux, he did remarkably well having to be messed with.

He was just as calm as could be during his ultrasound, and once we had him strapped into the rotating mechanism for his upper GI, he drifted off to sleep.

Waiting on what the doctor says to do next, but hopefully it's just a matter of making sure he doesn't eat too much or too fast. With breastfeeding, you have no idea how many ounces he is getting.

Thanks again. Relieved to know all is well. More later.

TB

Going in for Tests

Just wanted to let our faithful readers know that we are going in to Children's Hospital Wednesday morning for an upper GI and an ultrasound for Benjamin. 

He's been having some projectile vomiting, and the doctors want to rule out pyloric stenosis. Hopefully, all that comes of this is that he has acid reflux and this can be treaded with medication. 

Keep us in your prayers tomorrow morning. 

Todd, Jenny, and Benjamin

Life in the Bunch House...The First Week Home.

Well, we've officially been home one week, and it's been pretty great so far. Jenny's mom stayed with us through Wednesday night. She cooked, cleaned, did laundry, and all the other mother-of-the-mother things. Benjamin's Bunch grandparents came on Thursday, and were very excited to see him again.

His Great Grandmother Williams has come by, his second cousins Wendy and Lana popped in, as well as friends from church, his great aunt Carolyn, the Davlins - our friends from Waco, and 4 out of the 6 of his mom's fruity friends...Suzanne on Wednesday (bearing all sorts of gifts of course); Katie on Tuesday (who brought Benjamin a Red Hog Onesie); and Laura on Friday (who also brought Ben a Hog T-shirt, this one white...he's going to be ready for his first War Memorial experience this fall!).

Auntie Suzanne (Duncan Bartolomei)- the "First Fruit" to see Benjamin - here in the

hospital when he was about 6 hours old. Suze also

popped by the house this week - where was the camera then?

Benjamin in his Easter outfit today.

Benjamin met his second cousin, Harrison. His mom

is Todd's first cousin Ashley. Benjamin and Harrison were

born in the same town on the same day, weighing

8 pounds 4 ounces and 10 pounds 2 ounces, respectively.

Harrison lives just down the road in Hillcrest, and he and Benjamin are going to

be best buds, and laugh at their Dad and Mom's crazy antics

growing up in the Bunch family.

Grammy popped down from Jonesboro to continue falling in

love with Benjamin on Thursday. Granddad came too, although he

thinks he might love Ben more than Grammy does.

The Easter sun today was too much for Ben.

Thanks to our family friend Robin for giving

us his first Easter outfit.

Ben slept through his first meeting with his

other best bud, Zach. Zach's mom, Fruity Katie, is one of

Benjamin's mom's oldest and closest friends. Zach beat Benjamin's arrival

by nearly 4 months, but at least they'll be in the same grade.

Auntie Laura, another Fruity, came in from Dallas for Easter, and

of course to meet little Benjamin and see how much Zach has grown.

Sampling of Pictures

Just a few pictures from the last few days...enjoy!

First time in his car seat. 

First car ride. 

Meeting Bailey (and Annabelle) for the first time. 

First bath.

Mommy washing his hair. 

Home. And slacking on picture taking.

Okay, so we're not the type of people who are going to just forget to take pictures of our kids, then kick ourselves for having no pictures of them. Honest. 

We have about two hundred pictures from the hospital. And we have pictures of him in his car seat, and coming in the house the first time, meeting the dogs, etc. I just haven't loaded them yet. 

And I hear some of you already, saying, "well, in the time he took to write this explanation of why there are no pictures...we could have pictures." 

The fact of the matter is simply this - I am sitting in the bed typing, and too exhausted to go find the camera, take out the card, and so on and so forth. I'm sleeping in the guest room this week while Jenny's mom is here. And that's a good thing, I know, since I would likely not get any sleep in the room with Benjamin and the baby...I had seven hours of sleep last night and still feel as though my head could roll off my shoulders at any given moment. 

And besides, it's difficult to take pictures of the little guy when he spends all day latched onto Mommy's boobies. Seriously. The kid never stops eating. He'll eat for 30 minutes, burp, eat for another 30 minutes, poop, we'll change the diaper, he'll poop again, we'll change again, he'll eat for another 30 minutes, then nap for about 15 minutes before we start the whole cycle over again. And again. And again. And I'm falling asleep as I type................................

Bilirubin Blues

Well, we're singin' the Bilirubin Blues here at Baptist Health. Benjamin's little tummy and kidneys are not excreting the excess bilirubin fast enough, so he remains under the UV phototherapy for another day. 

We are hoping and praying that his levels will be below 12 in the morning when they re-check, and we can go home. 

We are getting really tired of being here. Jenny's mom is going to stay tonight so I can go home and be with our pitiful dogs who have essentially lived in their crate since 7:30 Tuesday night. 

Jaundiced.

Just a quick note to update you all. Jenny is doing well, Benjamin is terrific, nursing very regularly, and has quite an appetite. 

Unfortunately, he also has jaundice. We are going to be here one more night while he is under phototherapy. Jenny has been discharged but since Benjamin is still here we still have our room, and Jenny still gets a food tray, although she is no longer being given 

medication or having hourly blood pressure checks, so at least we are being left alone. 

They bring Benjamin back in every 3 hours to nurse, and then he goes back under the lamp. He's such a chill little guy that it doesn't seem to bother him, although he definitely is getting used to being held all the time. 

Delivered.

After a rapid progression from 1 to 10 cm, a successful epidural placement, and 45 minutes of pushing, Benjamin John Bunch arrived today at 12:51 PM. 

Ben weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces, and was 20 and 3/4 inches long. 

We had a problematic delivery, as his head was large, his shoulders lodged, and his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. Jenny had a pretty severe complication due to the head and shoulder delivery as well. Due to his final position and cord placement, Benjamin was not immediately okay, and we spent the next 20 minutes with Jenny being sutured while Benjamin was being worked on.

 

It was absolutely the hardest thing I have ever had to watch, and I am completely emotionally drained having been present for all of it. 

Mom and Baby are doing remarkably well. Jenny is still on pain medication through her epidural catheter and will remain on it until Thursday. We will not be going home until Friday because of Jenny's condition. 

He has taken to his feedings like a duck to water...it's amazing to watch. 

Enjoy the pictures from today, and I'll write more as I can. 

Thanks to each and every one of you who prayed for us today. Join us in a prayer of thanksgiving for this perfect creation. 

Epidural In

Well, we are moving right along. At 7 AM she was 3cm dilated and 100% effaced. We had a brief scare thinking she might need a blood transfusion before they could place the epidural, but her platelets were back to normal and she is resting...the contractions are not bothering her too much. 

As always, stay tuned. 

TB

Yes...I blog from Labor and Delivery

So, here we are. We arrived at 8PM as instructed. They weren't ready for us until 9:30...such is life. It is 11:38 and the medication has been given, so it should start its magic soon. She has just taken an Ambien and hopefully will fall asleep soon. I am feeling the discomfort of the pull out sofa that I am sleeping on, but I am so excited that I can't imagine that I will get any sleep tonight. 

Keeping you posted, 

TB&J

Last Date...for a while.

Well, this time tomorrow night we'll be checked in at Baptist and Jenny will be starting things up. We had our last date as just the 2 of us tonight. Jenny's friends sent us a gift card when her grandmother died, and so we went to Macaroni Grill and enjoyed a quiet dinner. The romance didn't stop there. We came home, I sat in the living room floor, Jenny sat in one of the dining room chairs directly behind me, and gave me a haircut. 

She told me last year that she thinks she is a "frustrated hairdresser in a teacher's body..."

Whatever the case may be, she's really good at it. And with what she pays for her haircut these days, we can use the savings from not paying for mine. 

So here we are. Waiting to see what the next 24 to 48 hours will bring. Jenny is dying from boredom but as she puts it is..."sick of seeing people and talking to them." You can only answer the question "how much longer" so many times before it starts to wear on you. So, she's planning on staying in tomorrow while I make a mad dash to finish a week's worth of work by tomorrow afternoon. 

She did get to see one of the Fruities, Sarah, today. They had lunch near the house and she had a blast catching up and watching Sarah be a mom to THREE kids while chatting away...amazing. 

More as things develop. 

Finished Nursery

Here is the finished product.

1. Below:

The armoire was in our living room. Originally, it

went with my bedroom furniture. I painted it white, changed

the hardward, added blue accents, and painted his initials on the 

center drawer. The curtains are not over a window, 

but cover the doorway into the guest room. 

2. Below:

The Tidball Grandparents (Pippi and Pappa) paid to have the 

bedding made, and they bought the crib mattress. 

Jenny and I painted the letter canvases on the wall. 

The 3-drawer chest is new, and I put a fresh coat of paint

on it and changed the hardware. The crib was a 

closeout from Bombay Kids and was given to us

by Grammy and Granddad Bunch.

Lucky for us, the wood blinds were already in the room.

3. Below:

Jenny painted the moon and stars canvas on the wall. The chair rocks, 

glides, swivels, and reclines. The changer is from Bratt, 

and was about the only piece of Bratt furniture 

we could afford. Rug is from PBKids but we bought it

new from someone on eBay. 

39 Week OB Visit

Okay, so we're used to it by now. No change. No dilation. No effacement. No nothing. But, he has dropped, and he is in position, so that is good news. 

Even better news is that we won't go past next Wednesday, March 12. We are scheduled to go in on Tuesday night the 11th, at 8PM. Jenny will be given medication to start her dilating. She'll then be induced around 7 AM on Wednesday. 

It's exciting to know that he will be here by Wednesday night. It's also crazy to think that he could very likely decide to pop out any time before then. 

We bought the last thing on our list tonight...the video camera. I had picked it out a couple of months ago, and when we went to get it tonight it had been discontinued. After checking with the guy working the department, they sold me the display for 30% off. WHAT A DEAL!

We're anxiously awaiting this massive snowfall we have been hearing about for three days now. 

Will post more as it happens. 

Snow Hits Beverly Place

Well, we finally got some snow. We've been wishing for it all season, and it arrived! Jenny and I celebrated the snow by going out for an early breakfast at Sattelite Cafe, one of our neighborhood faves. We caught a few pics before I had to head in to work.

Enjoy!!!

In the front yard....

Preggo in the Snow...39 weeks today.

End of Basketball, Beginning of Week

Well, Upward basketball has officially ended at Calvary, with the awards ceremony scheduled for Tuesday night. It's been a fun few months coaching first and second grade boys. I am actually planning on coaching this group again next year, assuming they all come back for another year. It's been so much fun to watch them progress, and watching their faces on gameday when they make a play or score a basket is priceless.

Jenny's grandmother passed away in her sleep late Saturday night, which is a blessing of sorts. She has had COPD and CHF for some time, and has been in a nursing home for the past couple of years. Her own mother died just in 2005, and she has not been the same since. She was ready to go home, and we're counting it a blessing that she did not suffer.

We begin what will probably be a busy week - number 39 on the pregnancy calendar - with meetings and family events related to the death, but we are excited to be bringing a life into the world as a loved one passes.

Hoping all who read have a terrific week.

TB