Watching the superbowl with dad

Bennett was rooting for the Cardinals with his dad this last Sunday... although it didnt turn out how they would have liked I think that Bennett enjoyed some guy time :)

Our friends Darren and Terra brought their Daughter down for the day for a quiet Superbowl celebration... What a cute little girl!

We are looking forward to seeing family this coming weekend!!

Like mother like son...

So some of you may recall that a certain someone had a few rolls that made her the chubbiest baby in town... well now there is a new little one that is running for the role of the chubbiest baby... although it doesnt really look like it here... he seems to get a little rounder every day.

With all of the problems that preemies can have with weight gain, getting too chubby is never one of them so we are just happy he is putting on the pounds. At his weekly Dr. appointment this last friday he had gained 1 lb 4 oz in 7 days, tipping the scales at 9 lbs even. The Dr. said he has never seen a 7 day weight gain like that before... ever.

Other than getting a little bit chubby he is continuing to just be a happy baby that makes us smile every day.

Family moments captured

This last weekend we had Alison from Horizon Photo come and take some family photos. She did our beautiful wedding photos and is a great family friend. Here are a couple but there are more to come. She did a great job... (check out more of her work at http://www.horizonphoto.net/)

Other than that we are just enjoying time with the little guy. He is just a happy little boy!

Just a little more fun with Bennett

Dad Feeding...

Wide awake at 4 am... but still pretty cute...

Grandpa Jones visiting...

Our outting to the store today...

Bennett is changing everyday and we are venturing out a bit more. We even went to the store with Aunt Katie today who has came up to visit him a lot lately. He has also enjoyed visits this week from Katy, Jania & Tony, Auntie Jeanie & Uncle Kip and Grandma & Grandpa Jones. We are also doing some baby pictures with Alison tomorrow and we cant wait to see the beautiful photos she will get.

At his pediatrician appointment this week he weighed in at 7 pounds, 12 ounces! He is growing great and the Dr. just said to keep up the good work :) He is awake more each day and seems to just love to cuddle and check out the world around him.

We look forward to seeing family on Febuary 7th at our house!

Bennett's new best friend

He has a new biggest fan... his dog Hurlie. She insists on sleeping under the crib and squirms out every time the baby makes a sound to make sure we didn't miss it. Hurlie has been amazing with the new addition to her family and although very interested she has been pretty relaxed. We have not let her get too close to baby and have just let her sniff his toes but I am sure slowly she will play with him nicely when he is up and running around.

So far so good on the home front. The pediatrician put Bennett on a strict three hour eating schedule to ensure he is putting on some weight. So we have been up around the clock hanging out with him and sleeping in two hour windows.

He had his first out patient pediatrician appointment at the regular doctors office this week and definitely made himself memorable by peeing all over his Doctors shirt. Boys will be boys I guess.

Our little man is doing wonderful and has seemed to give us a false sense of parenthood by sleeping soundly most of the time and crying just a second right before he needs fed. I am sure this will quickly change as he approaches the time when he actually should be in the outside world. He is waking up more each day and hangs out with us just looking around and making funny faces.

Our Journey here...

After...
106 Days of pregnancy bliss with our two boys
99 Days on strict bed rest
Countless fabulous home made meals from Grandma Ruth in bed including Thanksgiving Dinner
24 Doctor appointments and ultrasounds
11 nights spent in Labor & Delivery at St. Peters Hospital, Evergreen Hospital or Tacoma General Hospital
1 ambulance ride for mom and 1 for baby
5 Days in Tacoma General Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
7 Days in Tacoma General Intermediate Care Nursery
18 Days in the Special Care Nursery at St Peters Hospital in Olympia
....OUR FIRST DAY HOME AS A FAMILY!!

Bennett is one month old but it is still officially one whole month before he was supposed to be born. He is excited to get home and meet his dog Hurlie and see his new home!

Another thank you to everyone for your support through this difficult but wonderful blessing of a journey! I could not have done it without great family, friends, Doctors, Nurses, a mother who is going to be the most amazing grandmother in the world and a fabulous husband who's patience and stregnth astound me daily.

His first car ride!

Well not really... but we did pass the hospital car seat safety check!

He looked pretty happy and ready for his ride home :)

Getting ready to head home!

Look at us just being regular parents :)

We will soon be heading home!!! It sounds like Tuesday evening will be our first night at home as a family! He is doing wonderful and they have set a tentative discharge for the day after tomorrow.

We have gotten very used to functioning here on our own and we are really looking forward to getting him all settled into routine at our house. It is the end of a long journey and the beginning of an even bigger one!

Happy New Year!

Bennett has been upgraded to his last step of his hospital stay... we will soon be on our own!

We have been moved into an overnight room where I will be staying here at the hospital until he is discharged. It sounds like we will be out within a week.

He is doing wonderful with all of his feeds and has even started to give us some good cries lately (preemies are pretty silent) but we are still at the stage where we think his crying is super cute :)

He is doing wonderful and we are all excited to be out of 2008 and start a new year with our little man home and healthy.

Intro to baby heartburn... yuck!

What a grumpy boy...

Grandma stopped by to visit...

Bennett is doing great here in Olympia. He has been learning to eat and we are hoping to get rid of that yucky tube in his nose tomorrow. He is putting on weight like crazy and is officially tipping the scales at 6 pounds!

A little set back on our way to parole out of this joint has been reflux. Apparently the horrendous heart burn from pregnancy has carried over to our little one and he seems to be pretty miserable at times. It can be pretty hard on preemies because they havent developed a good way to stop it, while an older baby would just spit up. Other than that he is ready to go home so we will see how long this sets us back. It does sound like he will go home on some baby Zantac and a fancy crib wedge to prop him up when he sleeps.

We are really excited to get him home but we are more excited about taking home a super healthy baby so we are trying to be patient.

He does seem to get cuter every day and has so far got his skin tone from his mommy and the rest of his good looks from his dad. :)

We had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed sneaking out of the hospital for Grandma Ruth's famous prime rib dinner! YUM!

Bennetts first Christmas!

The holidays sure make him sleepy

Santa even made a stop at the hospital!

Bennetts big boy crib

Today Bennett lost one of his walls. He was moved to an open air crib and out of the isolet.

Such a big boy and a big yawn!

He is now officially an Olympian

Bennett was transfered to the level 2 nursery at St. Peters Hospital in Olympia today. He really lucked out because they opened the new facility last week and he is the first baby in his room. The facility is beautiful and we have a private room where he is still under great supervision of the fabulous nurses there. I can even stay the night in the room if I would like.

His pediatrician came to the hospital to meet him and said everything looks great, he just has to learn how to feed and it sounds like that can take a week or two.

We are able to hold him pretty much whenever we want and Joel was able to hold him for the first time today... such a natural!

Bennett's first snow day

Although he didnt venture outside, we told Bennett all about the snow and how it was causing all sorts of trouble for his mom and dad traveling to the hospital in Tacoma.

I havent driven since August and the weather is definately not too inviting. Joel has been driving me up and down to the hospital but has loved to get to see him everyday even if it is stressful for his work schedule.

Bennett is definately not too busy these days, just sleeps most of the time as he would be doing if he was still in the belly. He is doing wonderful and I had a Dr. say to me "Someone needs to tell Bennett that he was supposed to be in the womb for 8 more weeks, He is sure trying to act a lot older." An overachiever already I guess :)

We are working pretty hard on getting him transfered to the nursery in Olympia. The only big step left between now and his venture home is learning to feed. This is something they usually learn how to do at around 36 weeks so it may be a couple more weeks in the hospital and we definately want him closer for that time.

It is very hard to leave him there at night. But not to worry, the night nurses love the round the clock calls from Mom. They are very sweet to update us on his every move no matter what time of night it is.

I know he is changing everyday so I have been getting a ton of pictures. He is amazing and we definately feel like the luckiest parents in the world.

Bennett has graduated!

Last night Bennett graduated out of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and into the Intermediate Care Nursery. This is the nursery where he will stay the remainder of his hospital time. There we will learn how to feed and put on some more weight. We were expecting more time in the NICU so we were excited to hear he was doing so well that they transferred him.

Another great part of this new nursery is that I FINALLY got to hold him. I spent 3 hours this morning in a comfy chair snuggling baby :)

He is off all breathing support and only has monitors and a feeding tube left. He will just be working on putting on some weight but unfortunately this is sometimes the longest part of the battle and could take a few more weeks. There is a possibility he may get transferred down to Olympia so we could be closer to home. Until then we will be driving up everyday to be with him in this more comfy nursery.

More pics of Big Bennett

So it is getting hard to not update pictures everyday... he just seems to get cuter and cuter.

Getting used to life in the NICU

Bennett is loving life in the NICU except for all those scary looking monitors and tubes!

He is keeping up with the 32 weekers and getting stronger each day. He has Jaundice (very common for preemie babies) and gets to sit under warm lights all day. He is going to be tan like mom before we know it. His eyes get a little swollen from the air they are blowing on him in there too :)

It is hard to really do anything through the isolet but we are getting used to changing him and just waiting patiently for him to build up his strength so that he can come out and play. We are hoping we will be able to hold him this weekend.

We are just concentrating on taking steps forward each day and enjoying every second watching him do better.

Bennett James Olsen HAS ARRIVED!!!

He arrived Sunday December 7th at 6:03pm at 32 weeks, 1 day and on our 99th day of strict bed rest.

He weighs 5 lbs 2 oz and is 17 inches long!!

He decided he was tired of being in moms belly early Saturday morning. After trying to stop labor in St. Peters Hospital in Olympia with little success I was transfered to Tacoma General late Saturday night via ambulance.

At 4 am Sunday morning, after being up all night the Perinatologists decided that he was looking healthy and to take out the cervical stitch and see what happens. After seeming pretty eager to arrive he sure took his sweet time after that.

After arrival we got a few pictures and then he was wisked away by the waiting NICU team. After he got settled in we went to see him. He was really tired and taking a little bit more effort to breathe than they would like. This is completely normal for all 32 week babies. He was put on a CPAP (a little breathing helper tube, not a ventilator). This morning in between visits we got a call that he has been upgraded to "room air canula" this is just a small little plastic tube under his nose to remind him to breathe. He is doing well and very much keeping up with the other 32 weekers.

He is soooo cute but just a little sleepy. We expect him to be in the NICU for about 4 weeks. Everytime we visit him he is more alert and we can tell he is building his stregnth.

These pictures are not that great and I will definately update more after we get out of the hospital and can get some of the newer pictures off our camera.... the pictures above are just the ones after he first arrived taken by a very shaky husband. In his newer pics you can see he has a ton of hair! :)

We are excited and cant wait to get to hold him and have him home!!! I did get to change his diaper this morning through the isolet, that will definately take some practice :)

Bennett's first Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was wonderful this year. I dont think I will ever again eat off of our wedding china balanced on my belly while laying on a lawn recliner in my dinning room. But the food was still amazing thanks to Grandma Jones that cooked away all day in our kitchen.

After spending our second wedding anniversary eating pizza in bed on Tuesday, we went to see Dr. Moruzzi again today. We are officially 31 weeks, 4 days and on our 95th day on bedrest. He said baby looks big and healthy in there. He is still threatening to arrive before we would like him to but we are thankfully past the big risky stage where little Bennett could have severe complications. At this point he would probably be a healthy little man after about a month in the hospital.

We are still holding out hope that we will make it to around 36 weeks (January 3rd) where we could deliver at St. Peter Hospital here in Olympia with Dr. Moruzzi.

We are working away on our nursery and it is turning out really cute and making us very excited to meet little Mr. Olsen.

We hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!!

30 weeks, 3 days and counting...

Today we headed up to visit Dr. Wall, our perinatologist out of Bellevue.

Baby is still looking ahead on the growth chart and we are looking forward to 32 weeks. Baby seems to be anxious for the holidays and is trying to make a break for it. After a lot of concern on moms part due to an increase in contractions the Dr. informed us that this is normal but may be showing that our days are numbered.

We are just hunkering down and hoping to make it to the 32 week mark and keeping our fingers double crossed for christmas time still.

Good news is baby looks super healthy and would probably do ok in the outside world with just a few extra weeks in the hospital.

Bennett is looking forward to Grandma Jones' Turkey dinner, which Grandma will be bringing to me in bed :)

Have a great thanksgiving!!!

Still growing...

Day 81 on bedrest and 29 weeks, 4 days pregnant.

We visited Dr. Moruzzi today and he confirmed that Bennett is going to be a BIG boy. He said that due to the strict bed rest and my inactivity he is growing and packing on the lbs! Using a high tech tape measure he thinks baby's room for rent is measuring at 34 weeks. We listened to his heart beat for a while and spent some time making birth plans. So different and exciting to be at the point where we can plan a halfway normal birth!

There was no change as far as advancing to labor so we are excited and hoping to sail through Thanksgiving without any hickups. He is still completely stunned with how far we have made it. He is hoping for a couple more weeks and into the time where he would not need NICU support.

No baby pictures this time so I thought I would post one of Dad putting together a bassinett with the help of our first born "Hurlie"

Thank you Grandmas & Grandpas!!

This weekend Grandma & Grandpa Olsen came to help us assemble the Nursery furniture that all the Grandparents went together to buy for baby Bennett.

From my post on the couch I watched for hours as they assembled the changing table and dresser.

I cant wait to get them in the nursery and put together with all the quilting Grandma Jones is doing.

Thank you Grandma & Grandpa Olsen and Grandma & Grandpa Jones!!!

The changing table (and yes, I was also enjoying Steel Magnolias while watching them work :)
Grandma & Grandpa Olsen

28 weeks! We made it!

This week we headed up to visit Dr. Wall and get a full growth analysis on baby.

To our surprise baby is a bit ahead of schedule and in the 90th percentile for growth. He is weighing in at around 3 lbs 8 oz!! A baby at this gestational age is on average 2 lbs 10 oz so we were happy to hear he is growing like a champ in there.

After checking my cervix the Dr. thinks that we are stable again this week so that is good news in our quest for a Christmas baby. We are getting pretty excited and have switched back to planning for baby mode. We have begun buying things and planning a nursery again. We are just elated we have made it this far. Dr. Wall still thinks little Bennett could show up any day now but we are hopeful we will get to a point where we can avoid as much NICU time at the hospital as possible.

Thanks again for everyones good thoughts. We know it was everyones thoughts and prayers that have helped us make it this far.

Yep, He's in there...

Day 73 of Bedrest & 28 weeks, 3 days Prego!

So bedrest has not left a lot of time for looking pretty but grandma finally forced me to take a picture on our way to the Dr. so that I can "cherish" this time later on...

Bennett for Obama!

It is finally election day and day 66 of strict bed rest.

Since the baby is filling up a little more space in there it is harder to get those great 3D pictures but here are a few from last week

His mouth open

His Hand

His Foot

We went to see Dr. Wall in Bellevue last Tuesday so it was off to Dr. Moruzzi's here in Olympia this week to check on mom and baby. Dr. Moruzzi has seen us through everything since the beginning and is just thrilled we have made it this far. He said he is hoping we will make it to term and I nearly fell off my chair. Realistically I am showing some signs of impending labor but everything looked stable this week and we are hoping the little man will stay put until Christmas. We are aiming for my Aunt Pams birthday on Christmas Eve :)

We are 28 weeks this Saturday!

Thank you for all your continued support... we cant wait for everyone to meet him. And a special thanks to Grandma Jones for babysitting daily for the last 66 days. Baby already loves grandma's cooking :)

25 Weeks, 5 Days

Bennett's Little Face looking at us.

In 3D you can see the cord hanging out infront of his face.

Day 53 on bed rest.... Went back up to see Dr. Wall to do the weekly check on mom and baby. Joel was unable to get out of work so Grandma got to go and see Dr. Wall again. He was really optimistic as usual but still said that the next 2 weeks are very important. At 28 weeks little Bennett would have a good chance at survival with minimal long term effects from premature birth. This would also enable us to deliver at Tacoma General. University of Washington is the only hospital that will take babies younger than 28 weeks until then.

Baby definitely looked cozy in there. He was facing in so it was not as easy to get good pics of his little face. But I must say he was looking a little chubbier this week...This may be due to Grandmas pies.

We head back up to see Dr. Wall again on Tuesday of next week. We are thankful for everyday and continue to get more excited!

Visiting Dr. Wall at 24 weeks

Short video of the ultrasound. He looks like he may be singing in there.

Being cute at 24 weeks and 4 Days!

Sticking out his tongue...


And showing off his fists!

Day 45 in bed... Back up to see Dr. Wall in Bellevue today. He says that everything is still on track and the next 3 weeks are very important.

He spent a lot of time getting some great 3D pictures and another incredible video. I have posted a few minutes of the video at the top. He seems to be chatting to himself in there :) must take after his daddy. But we are wondering a bit where he got those great big puckery lips.

He did a growth analysis and he is weighing in at approximately 1 lb and 11 oz! This is just a bit ahead of schedule.

We got a shot of steroids that stimulate lung growth just in case he decides to join us too early... but we are hoping this will just be a precaution.

We are still praying for a Christmas baby and I feel like we are on our way.

Thank you for all of your wonderful thoughts and prayers!!

Still praying and waiting...

37 Days on strict bed rest and counting...During my time in bed my Mom has been here everyday keeping me in bed and feeding me lots of yummy food. All of our families and friends have been such great support with their prayers and care packages. We deeply appreciate everyone during this hard time.

Today we went to visit Dr. Wall at Overlake Hospital. We have been alternating between Dr. Moruzzi, our Dr here, and Dr Wall each week to check on Bennett. We love Dr. Wall! He is always so optimistic and really helps us keep our hopes up. We got a 15 minute long 3D video of baby Bennett (a 2.5 minute portion is above) He says that baby looks great and so far so good.

Getting through the next four or five weeks will be a huge milestone. We are 23 weeks and if we can make it to 28 weeks he will have a good chance of survival with minimal long term effects. I am hoping for a christmas baby :)