6 Weeks Old!!

Today Benjamin is 6 weeks old. Isn't he one of the cutest babies you have ever seen?? Actually, are not they two of the cutest boys you have seen?? We love every minute we have with these two little boys, even in the midst of our crazy lives, and Jacob's insane curiosity.
We were suppose to go down to Illinois for Easter, however the major snow storm of March of 2008 made us change our minds. We had enough driving after trying to get Molly to the vet, Benjamin to the doctor for his 1 month check-up, and picking the car up from an oil change. Saturday, we decided to get a home improvement project done that we probably should have had professionally done. Let's just say it was an experience we will never forget. In the midst of the project we did decide to go down to Illinois for the day so everyone could take baths and showers and to see Great Grandma Schultz. The project took much longer than expected and Josh had to take 2 extra days off work. Josh is back to work and we have now completed the project and will probably never do it again.
Benjamin weighted in at 9 lbs. 6 oz. at his appointment and was diagnosed with a severe case of cradle cap. I thought cradle cap was only on the child's top of their head. Oh no, Ben had it all over his face, neck, sholders, upper back and chest. Poor boy needs to be lathered in Vaseline twice a day. Supposedly it is in the same family as eczema. Besides that he is doing well and growing well. He has almost gained 3 lbs. from his birth weight!! Not quite were Jacob was, but not far behind!!

Adjustments

As we are all adjusting to the addition of Benjamin into our family, we are finding that what little time we had before has become even less. Benjamin is 18 days old and I feel like where has the time gone. I will try to update how things have gone since the night we went into the hospital before Benjamin was born.

1-14-08 Valentine's Day
What is today? Oh yes, it is Valentine's Day, the only reason I knew what day it was, was because Jacob and I went to Walmart to pick up a few things before I went into the hospital and saw the galore of Valentine's balloons, cards, flowers, candy and etc.
My friend Becky and her fiance' Brian were going to watch Jacob for an hour or so before my parents came down to take care of him. Unfortunately, Becky became sick and didn't want to get us sick. So, we called our friend Karen Good to take care of Jacob. But neither Karen or Becky needed to come because Grandma Pat and Grandpa Tom had a huge snow storm at their house and left super early to get down to our house before we left for the hosptial.
So, Josh and I spent our Valentine's Day night at the hospital, checking in , getting an IV (can I tell you how much I don't like IV's) , getting medicine to start labor. I started to have steady contractions after the first dose of medicine, they didn't need to give me the other two. The contractions were not strong enough though to get me to go into active labor though. So, needless to say, we didn't get much sleep that night.

1-15-08
At 6 a.m. after getting a very few precious hours of sleep they woke me up to get a shower. Yeah!! Then they started the heavy duty IV medicine to start labor. At 8 a.m. the on call Dr. , Dr. Dolan came to break my water. Wow, I thought things were moving much quicker than with Jacob. Then maybe not, the doctor would not break my water, because the baby was too high and there was a possibility that the umbilical cord could slip down below his head and come out first. If that happened the nurse said that it was an emergency C-section. So, we waited, and waited. After 2 and half hours of pretty intense contractions, I asked for pain medicine. I would take whatever I could get. Thankfully, they called up to my doctor's office and talked to Dr. McAvoy (I had seen this doctor throughout the last 2 months of my pregnancy). Dr. McAvoy said I could have an epidural if I wanted. So, they gave me the epidural, I thought now I can make it. Once you get past the whole having a needle in your back for a couple of minutes, life is good. No more pain, just pressure. Dr. McAvoy came down to check on me and decided they could break my water. So at around 12:30 p.m.ish they broke my water. The nurse we had at the time was going to be sent home early and said, you have to have this baby before I leave so I can see what he looks like. I thought, no way, he is going to take his time. Suprise!! Benjamin made his arrival before the nurse had to leave. He almost arrived before the doctor came down. I pushed like 3 times and they were like, you better get the doctor, we see the head. Then Dr. McAvoy showed up (Dr. Dolan was on call, so we are not sure why Dr. McAvoy kept coming down. Maybe he was curious to see what Benjamin looked like too, since he had seen me towards the end of my pregnancy. Dr. McAvoy was also a resident under Dr. Kuhlman who is the perinatologist who I see for my Factor V Lieden, which is why I give myself shots in the stomach when I am pregnant.). Dr. McAvoy had me push once, then he was going to have me push again and said, wait, here he is! So, our tiny little 6 lb. 8 oz. boy with a full head of hair was placed on my chest before they washed him up and checked him out. Praise the Lord!!
After about two hours they took us up to the post-pardum floor and Grandma Pat and Grandpa Tom brought Jacob to see his baby brother. Jacob didn't know what to make of Benjamin at first. He was more excited to see mom and check out all thing things in a hospital room that he could get into. My brother Uncle T.J. stopped by also to see Benjamin.

2-16-08
Josh and I got some sleep the first night. They circumcised Benjamin in the morning. Poor little guy it took quite a bit out of him. Pastor Brian Mitchel stopped by to say "Hi!" Grandma Pat, Grandpa Tom, Jacob and Uncle T.J. stopped by to visit again.

2-17-08 Going Home
There was a huge rain/ice storm in the night and morning. However we were all ready to go home. They tried to check us out as soon as they could. I think that we left by noon. We all missed Jacob, Ben didn't realize he did, but his did too. It wasn't too bad driving home when we did, but we had heard it was worse earlier. Grandpa Tom and Grandma Pat decided to stay one more day before they headed home to their enormous snowfall. Thankfully their neighbor had plowed their drive once so they could get to their house when they got home on Monday.

2-18-08 1st Doctor Visit and our little Glow Worm
We took Ben to his first doctors appointment since he was not seeming to be hydrated. He weighed in at 6 lbs. 0 0z. They also sent us to have his jaundice checked with a blood test. After going to a second lab, we finally got the blood drawn that was needed. The first lab did not accept Aurora Health Insurance. Josh was a little upset to get turned down for service because we didn't have an accepted insurance, it was like we didn't have insurance at all.
The doctor called with the results and they were higher than they wanted them to be so they prescribed a Billy Reuben blanket for Ben. The blanket was delivered by the visiting nurse association that night. He had to be on it at all times until the doctor said he did not need it any more. So, we carried Ben wrapped in a blanket connected to a cord and the machine that needed to be plugged in at all times. Needless to say we were glad when he was done. It was quite the experience.

2-19-08 Home Sweet Home
Tuesday was the only day this first week, that we were able to stay home. Yipee!!! We did however have to keep Ben on the Billy Reuben blanket
2-20-08 Doctors Appointments
Today was a very hectic day. We tried to get my low molecular weight heparin drawn. The lab was backed up and we needed to get Ben's blood drawn for his jaundice and Jacob had an eye doctor appointment. We were able to get it all done, we were a little late for Jacob's eye doctor, but we made it. Thankfully Jacob's eyes are great. He has a little astigmatism, but otherwise they are fine. Praise the Lord!! We were hoping he did not need glasses.

2-21-08 Another Doctor Appointment
Today we were back to the doctor to make sure Ben was gaining weight. At 6 lbs. 10 1/2 oz. he passed. He also was released from the Billy Reuben blanket. Yipee!!!

The rest of the next couple of weeks and days are kind of a blur.

Nana and Papa Toepfer came to visit on 2-23-08.

Grandma Pat and Grandpa Tom came to visit on 3-1-08. Aunt Becky's wedding shower was that day. Grandma Pat, Ben and I went to the shower. Grandpa Tom stayed home with Jacob. Josh was at a seminar from Friday afternoon till Sunday afternoon. Plus our garage door broke prior to that weekend also. Things were kind of crazy around here.

Jacob, Ben and I went to visit Grandma Pat and Grandpa Tom on 3-5-08 thru 3-7-08. On the 7th we went to Sheboygan to see the new Super Wal-mart. It is were Grandma Pat works now on the in-stock team. Grandma Pat was able to show off her two adorable grandsons. Ben and Jacob also got their pictures taken for the official Faust Family tree records. Both Ben and Jacob's names are Faust family names. My grandmother Matilda Koenig was a Faust.

3-9-08
Sunday was the first Sunday we made it to church and we were not to bad for time. We kind of had a whirlwind day though. We went to church first service. Then we rushed to Panera to eat lunch. Did I mention that Ben is not a fast eater, actually, none of the boys are, including Josh. Then we decided to go thru Madison to go down to Illinois for Josh's grandfather's 90th birthday. Let's just say, it took a very long time to got that way. We made a 45 minute stop in Lake Mills thinking Ben had a dirty diaper and didn't (Josh thought he heard something) then when i got back to the truck, Jacob had woke up and was screaming, so what did Josh do, promise him French Fries. So I went back for French Fries to one of the slowest McDonalds I have ever been to.
Finally we made it down to Illinois, to with Josh's family for an hour or so and then head back home. The trip home took half the time as it did to get down there.

3-10-08 Wagon
Jacob and Josh put the wagon Jacob got for Christmas together. Jacob was in heaven. He sat in it the whole time. We weren't sure we would get him out of it. We thought he might even sleep in it.

3-13-08
Which brings us to today. We were able to get out of the house and pick up a few necessities and take Jacob to the Chiropractor. Besides that, we hang out here at home, changing lots of dirty diapers, feeding and trying to fit in some playtime with Jacob. Nothing can prepare you for the addition of another baby into the family. It is an adventure and I we are trying to enjoy every minute of it as it seems to fly by quickly.