Life With a Newborn

I can't believe Bennett is already over a month old!! Time seems to go by so fast. I'm sure most of you know what life is like with a newborn - I have felt like I didn't have much to blog about because I'm basically at home taking care of him all day. I wouldn't describe each day as exciting, but I'm enjoying - and trying to remember - the little moments each day. It has been so fun to just watch him - the peaceful look on his face when he sleeps; his "wiggle time" as Nate calls it, when his little arms and legs move all over the place; and the funny faces he makes throughout the day.

There isn't anything especially noteworthy to blog about (no rolling over or crawling yet), but I figure what blogger people want to know is the same as what other people want to know when I talk to them, so here is a summary.

The labor and delivery went well - I went in to the hospital to be induced around 7pm and he was born at 8am the next morning, and wasn't actually in labor until around 1:30, so I was pleasantly surprised at how quick it went, considering that it was my first and I had be induced because I was late. The doctor / nurses had set the expectation that it would be sometime that afternoon / evening, so it seemed to go really fast. The one downside / complication was that I hemorrhaged (I had to spell check that) afterwards and ended up having a blood transfusion a couple days later before I left the hospital. It made me very grateful to live when I do - if that had happened in the "olden days", I very likely could have died.

Let's see...what else have people asked about. I'm feeling pretty well now. It has felt like a slow recovery, but my hematocrit (red blood cell count - a term I became very familiar with) is back to the low end of the normal range, so I don't have an excuse to be extra lazy anymore :) The past week I've had more energy to get out and do things - grocery shopping, going to lunch with coworkers, going to a wedding reception, going on short walks to enjoy the amazing weather we've had the past few days. I probably still don't have enough energy to clean the bathroom though ;) (that's what I should be doing right now and am procrastinating).

A lot of people have asked how we came up with the name Bennett. Unfortunately, we don't have a cool story or much significance to the name. We've been asked if it's because of Pride and Prejudice, and if it was from the combination of our two names (Be from Becky and nnett is kind of like Nate). The true story is that I saw it in a baby name book and really liked it. I like that it's a little unusual, but has a common nickname if we/he ever decide to use Ben (for now, we're sticking with Bennett but we'll see). And we don't really know who he looks like. People say he has my nose, and I can see that when I look at my newborn pictures. He kind of looks a little like each of our baby pictures, but I can't really pick out specific things.

Here are some pictures of him recently.

Wrapped up in his swaddler

Playing with Uncle Dave

Hanging out with Aunt Anna

Taking a nap on the couch

Bennett's Newborn Pictures

My sister-in-law's sister Lesley took some fabulous pictures of Bennett, and some family ones, a couple of weeks ago. You can see some highlights here. Thanks Lesley - they turned out great!!!

Boring Video

This video is mainly for my dad and sister and her family, who haven't been able to see Bennett in person yet. Anyone else is free to watch it, but I do have 3 disclaimers: 1) my narration is nerdy. I realize that. 2) one-month-old babies don't do too much besides eat, sleep, cuddle, look cute, and wiggle. Of those options, I figured wiggle time would make the most entertaining video, but it's still not too exciting. 3) I had to pull out my old camera because my new one doesn't have video capability. Apparently in the 4-5 months since I've used it, it has developed a purple strip across the top. Ugh. Not sure how that happened.