Claire

Our baby is here: Claire Oletta Bennion. The last week is kind of a blur, but I'll do my best to recap her birth story:

We went in for an ordered non-stress test on Friday the 14th (day after my due date) to make sure baby was still doing good and had enough amniotic fluid. Baby looked great and the midwife said that it looked like I was more than ready for labor and even offered to induce me. We thought about it but decided to wait it out to let it happen on its own time. Before we left she stripped my membranes (basically an aggressive pelvic exam that separates the amniotic sac from the rim of the cervix). As soon as she did that I started getting more crampy and I could actually feel my contractions that were beginning to come more regularly (6-20 min apart). Saturday was a frustrating waiting game. I obsessively timed my contractions (a watched pot never boils!) hoping they'd get closer than 5 min apart consistently. The contractions were uncomfortable and I'd pause to breathe through them, but were still manageable. That night they started to hurt a lot more - enough that it scared us into going to the hospital, even though they were 5-6 min. apart and not terribly consistent. Of course, we got sent home :( It was especially frustrating because they were starting to hurt so much, but a nice shot of demerol and morphine helped me get through the night.

Sunday was climax day. Once the pain medication wore off I started to get a little panicky. I'd cry through contractions even though I was trying to breathe and stay relaxed. The cycle of crying and tensing and fear leads to more pain and is not an effective coping mechanism. Things changed 180 degrees after we called Christian's mom for some advice and when my mom came over. We turned on some peaceful instrumental church music, my mom massaged my back and talked me through contractions, and then Christian and I put into practice some progressive muscle relaxation exercises we had read about. It made a HUGE difference. By 2:30 contractions had finally begun to work in my favor - they were under 4 min. apart consistently and getting closer together. My mom told us she thought it was time to go to the hospital, and even though Christian and I were hesitant because we didn't want to get rejected again, we were quickly convinced.

At the hospital I was at a 5 and 100% effaced. It was go time! The anesthesiologist was called and three hours later I was ready to push. Something I never thought much about beforehand was the physical endurance it takes to push! Especially when you're pushing for 2 1/2 hours! There are times where I was tempted to give up, but when you're so close and you've worked so hard already, you give yourself no option but to keep going as hard as you can.

When I heard that little baby cry and saw her on my belly, I was in awe. I used to think I would cry out of pure joy when I saw her, but I started to cry from a mixture of joy and exhaustion! She was finally here - beautiful and perfect.

I'd like to leave the story at that, but unfortunately I experienced a little trauma in the days after Claire's birth. I was the lucky 1% who experienced a complication of the epidural. When the anesthesiologist went in with the epidural needle, he overshot his target and punctured a hole in the dura which surrounds the spinal fluid. That leads to leaking spinal fluid which messes up the pressure which surrounds your brain leading to massive headaches when you sit straight up or stand. That meant it was extremely painful to feed Claire or take care of her. It was debilitating to the point of crawling on my hands and knees. At the hospital we decided to try and wait it out so it could heal on its own, but after less than 24 hours at home we decided to go back in to have another procedure done - a blood patch - which is 90-100% effective at fixing it. Injecting 20 cc's of my own blood back into my back did the trick and I'm now headache free. Whew! I have to say how blessed I am to have such a loving husband who did so much during that difficult time at home and who still does so much - I love you!

Having a baby is hard work - from morning sickness, discomfort in the final months, and then labor and delivery, but when you look at that innocent little face that depends wholly on you, you know you've done one of the most important things in your life. I love you Claire!

Born Jan. 16, 2011, 9:21 pm. 7 lbs, 9 0z, 20 inches long

What happens when mommy can't dress her baby and dad has to step in :)

And the winner is....

ARIZONA!

Christian was accepted to his top pick - Midwestern University in Glendale, AZ. We are SO excited. It's is unbelievable to count the many blessings we've received this past year. From zero acceptances our first year of applying to four interviews and four acceptances this year - crazy. We'll be moving the end of July or first part of August. We're very ready and excited for an adventure on our own outside of Utah, but it will be difficult to leave family behind, especially with a little one under a year. I've been spoiled to live close to my family my whole first 24 years of life, but I know this will be a wonderful, growing experience for our little Bennion clan. The good news is that we have friends and family in the Glendale area too!

Like I've said, changes come in waves, and this year is one big wave. I'm due in 7 days. I'm mentally preparing for her to be past her due date but definitely won't complain if she makes her debut early (I just better wrap up some important things at work..time is ticking - yikes!) A busy week at work has definitely been nice to make time pass faster. It's hard to comprehend what it will all be like. I just know I'm probably going to cry when I finally hear and see her. Any time I see a video of a baby being born, I cry. When I listen to the Saturday's Warrior song, I break down. It's overwhelmingly wonderful. So, stay tuned...we'll post pics on here hopefully not too long after the birth.

As for Christmas, it was great. Since I found out I was pregnant I looked to Christmas as a landmark in time. When Christmas was here, the baby would be not far behind. Now that Christmas feels long gone, the long-awaited date is staring us in the face.

Check out some of our limited Christmas pics:

A sleepy Christian next to our first full-size tree

We celebrated Christmas together on Christmas Eve morning

Christmas Eve we went to Temple Square.

And Christmas morning was spent with the Raleigh fam. Christian surprised me with a video camera! I had spent December transferring Raleigh family videos to DVD as a gift for my parents and had commented on how we needed to capture Claire's early moments for posterity's sake. Well, now we can!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too and I look forward to sharing the next couple exciting months with you!

Waves of Change

So it seems that changes come all at once. We're five and a half weeks away from holding our sweet Claire (which will change our lives forever) and on top of that, we just found out that Christian's been accepted to dental school!!!! He was accepted to Temple University in Philadelphia and Midwestern which is in a suburb of Chicago - Downer's Grove. We are so blessed, I can't even describe how joyful and excited I feel about our future. There are lots of blessings we've seen from our extra year in Provo, and I know Heavenly Father always knows what will be best for us.

So, we need to make our decision by the first week in January! Pressure! They require a $1,000 deposit so changing our minds later would cost us big time. His first choice is Midwestern in Arizona, but we haven't heard from them since his interview, although he felt it went well. Univ. of Southern Nevada's new South Jordan, Utah campus may interview him as well this month - they're way behind the rest of the schools. If we were to hear from any of them before our deadline, options may change. In the meantime we'll have to seriously pray and weigh the pros and cons of Temple and Chicago. For any of you who've had to choose between job offers or graduate school options in different parts of the country, what helped you make your decision?

On to other news, we got back last week from our trip to California for Thanksgiving. It was so fun as always to spend time with the Bennions - and nice we could squeeze in one last trip before my pregnancy winds to a close.

Christmas tree at Pier 39 in San Francisco

Christian and his mom :)

34 weeks.

Now on to Christmas! We've got the house decorated (and bought our first big Christmas tree) and are ready for this beautiful, special time of the year.

Philalicious

Philadelphia was delicious and amazingly fun!!! This was probably the best trip we've been on together. We got to see family but we also got plenty of time to explore the city and do whatever we wanted to do! Thank goodness for our GPS - it navigated us to all of the following awesome places:

First up we traveled to Amish country in Lancaster, PA. So beautiful! Enjoy the scenery:

Us sneaking pictures of carriages going down the road. It is actually considered sinful for Amish to pose for a picture - a graven image.

Next we went to Valley Forge:

The home Washington and Martha lived in during that cold winter

Beautiful valley forge - filled with colorful trees, deer, and lots of open space

Old headstones falling and sinking into the ground.

Laurel Hill Cemetery

Rocky Statue at the Museum of Art

Looking out at the city from the steps of the museum

The triumphant Rocky pose

Standing in line at the famous Geno's Philly Cheesesteaks. They were so yummy. Especially ordering them "whiz with" = cheese whiz with onions

Elfreth's Alley -

The oldest homes in the US where people still live!

31 weeks - beginning my eighth month

Nephew Jonah loved us. This is him laughing at Christian

The boys standing underneath a statue of a man with a familiar name :)

Some other highlights: breakfast and lunch at Reading Terminal Market downtown. AMAZING blueberry pancakes at the Dutch Eating Place :) Also, I got to stroll the museum of art while Christian was at his interview. Four and a half hours and there was still lots I didn't get to see. So much amazing history. It's making my reading of John Adams a lot more meaningful.

After two trips to Philadelphia in a year, I'm really growing to love the east coast! Going to dental school out there would be quite an adventure but at least we have some of mine and Christian's family a couple hours away. His interview went well but only time will tell if it's meant to be.

The Countdown

When you were pregnant did you find yourself paying a lot more attention to babies at church, friends' babies' pictures on facebook, random babies in public, etc? I can't wait to hold our little Claire in my arms!!! Only a little over two months to go! (69 days to be exact). I know Nov. and Dec. will fly by (they're crazy busy) but I can't help being impatient. Just can't dwell on it too much.

The things that will be keeping us busy? Back to Philadelphia!! I used to complain to my parents all the time how I was so deprived because I hadn't been outside of the western US, but college and work has brought numerous opportunities to travel. Christian has a dental school interview in Philadelphia at Temple so we're going on a babymoon to the east coast. While we're there we'll get to see Christian's twin bro and wife Ida and their beautiful baby Jonah. When I went last spring I was there for work and didn't have much time to enjoy the city (and when I did I was by myself :( Now we'll get to party it up! Can't wait.

A week later we leave for Monterey, CA for Thanksgiving! It was our turn to go out there for Christmas, but that's not happenin' at 38 weeks pregnant! I can't wait to enjoy the beautiful coastal weather out there again.

Oh, and work just doesn't stop. Whew - before I know it I'll be saying "where did time go?" Until then, 69 days and counting.

Jonah and dad John