Ginger and Sam

Lottie is almost 4 months and Bennett is almost 21 months. Time has been flying by these last few months. We love being parents of 2 kids. Sometimes a little bit of a handful but so rewarding. I find myself tearing up a lot with the little things they do and just thinking that I have never been happier.

We had Lottie's blessing in our ward a few weeks ago. It was such a special time. She looked so pretty in her little dress but was so much happier when it was off.

Lottie sure lets her personality shine through. She is happy most of the time like Bennett is. She is constantly smiling and is starting to laugh a lot also.

Bennett is getting so big and independent. He loves to climb anything in sight and gets into almost everything. He loves to help with Lottie and gives her an unlimited amount of kisses. He talks gibberish nonstop and will throw in a real word now and then. He is such a crack up.

While watching Frozen the other day Bennett just stood up during Love is an Open Door and sang "Open Door" at the right part. So random that I can't catch these things on video yet.

When Sam called my cell last week, I was putting Lottie in her bed so I wasn't around to answer the phone. Bennett grabbed the phone but missed the call so he swiped the phone and called Sam back. He also put it onto speaker because that is what I usually do. I heard Bennett talking nonstop from the other room and wondered what was going on. He ran towards me and kept saying "dada". I could hear Sam on the phone trying to get Bennett to bring me the phone. It really was so hilarious and Bennett was so excited that he was talking to daddy without me there.

First day of Nursery. He loves it in there.

Bennett loves these 2 stuffed animals. He always greets them with a kiss and will
make us kiss them multiple times a day.

Bennett and Lottie already love each other so much. Lottie is very cautious with Bennett around. She is really only safe when I put her in the swing and leave the room. Bennett can be overly excited around her sometimes and she gets hurt but he is trying to be gentle around her. Photo shoots together don't always work out but they end up being the cutest pictures.

Easter was so wonderful and we had such a nice day and look forward to so many more holidays with these two. Bennett doesn't quite understand what is going on yet but he loved his red pants!

Here is Lottie's birth story. It was a very crazy and exciting night. We are so happy Lottie is here now!

Ever since our last birthing experience we have been determined to get to the hospital early and have a nice, boring, stress-free delivery. Especially since Ginger would keep saying how she has heard that the first one is always the longest labor and each one after that goes a little faster, and if this was a movie this is where I would cue the ominous, foreshadowing music.

This last weekend Ginger started to feel some minor contractions, but they were pretty far apart. Sunday night they would get under 10 minutes, but then quickly go back to 20 and then to a half hour or more. Now I don’t know what’s wrong with us, but for some reason we are drama free people and we don’t get too excited about anything, because we were being super vigilant and paranoid from the beginning and Ginger was concerned at first, but then all of a sudden we weren't too worried about it. We were thinking about how Ginger’s sister just had a baby and went through Braxton Hicks contractions and Ginger had a scheduled appointment with her doctor on Monday and we just figured he would let us know what was going on.

Monday morning comes around and the contractions are getting worse and more frequent and Ginger tells me that this might be the day, so trying to get ahead of it this time, I stay home from work. Ginger makes it through the morning without a problem and gets to her appointment at 1:00. Of course, not a single contraction during the appointment and the doctor says she is dilated to about 3 cm and she is right on track, but not ready. Ginger then asks when we should go to the hospital after our first one came so fast and he says to come in around 5 minutes apart. So here we are with Braxton Hicks confusing the situation and a doctor saying she’s right on track and once again we just assume everything is good.

Later that night Ginger is unable to sleep with all the contractions, but by Tuesday morning they become less frequent just like Sunday night/Monday morning. Poor Ginger is exhausted, but we knew her sister had just gone through four nights of contractions and with them getting further apart we assume that Ginger must be experiencing the same thing.

It’s now Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning and Ginger wakes me up at around 12:30 AM for a blessing because, once again, we think this is probably just another night, of what could be many, of constant contractions and she doesn’t know if she can take it. The contractions are about 15 minutes apart and, while that is close, it’s just like the other nights when nothing happened and the Braxton Hicks are messing with our minds. We continued to stay up together (watching the bachelor, don’t judge) and soon the contractions get to less than 10 minutes and down to 5-6 minutes and we decide that we need to go. It’s now around 2:30 AM and we leave to drop Bennett off at some friends from our ward and just for good measure, after dropping off Bennett, I slipped on some ice and fell. However, apparently I’m old enough to go bald but not quite old enough to break a hip, so good for me and I was able to hobble back to the car.

We’re heading to the hospital and Ginger is now only 2 minutes apart and in her mind she’s already prepared to do this without the epidural… again. So I’m thinking about this too and everything from the first experience starts coming back to me and I start driving a little over the top, rolling through stops and at one point getting up near 90 mph and I’m having a serious déjà vu moment.

We get to the hospital at 2:50 and this time I grab the wheelchair immediately and wheel Ginger to the check-in. They get our paperwork done and tell us to meet the nurses by the soda machines and so we wait… and wait… and wait. It seemed like an eternity even though it was probably only a minute or two and so I start pounding on a door at some people at a desk that are obviously ignoring me. At this moment I realize I’m “that guy” as in “what is wrong with that guy” and “that guy has issues.” Have you ever been so emotionally charged that maybe you go too far and feel a little embarrassed, well this wasn't one of those times, I felt very justified in my behavior and I pounded on the door some more.

Finally some nurses come over and we tell them what’s going on and they lead us into the delivery area. I start telling them to start the saline I.V. right away because last time she didn't have time for the epidural, in fact, I must have said this three or four times, pretty much to everyone that we see. There’s no question that they all thought I was crazy. When we get there another nurse stops us and tells us we have to go back to triage because that’s protocol. I start telling her there’s no way because Ginger is going to have this baby, but she won’t be persuaded so I say, “fine let’s go” and start wheeling Ginger towards triage. On the way we run into the original nurse that was suppose to meet us at the soda machines and she realizes who we are and then Ginger says, “I can feel the baby’s head, I’m going to have this baby in triage.” So then they finally realize the situation and take us back to the delivery area.

Ginger and I are escorted into the room and they hand her a robe to get into and while she is changing and in serious pain she realizes that she’s dropped her clothes all over and calmly asks me to gather them up. You know, maybe my first thought wouldn't be to tidy up, but now you know a little something about Ginger. She then starts leaning against the bed because she tells me if she gets onto it the baby is going to come, so I hurry out of the room and yell that the baby is coming.

Now even though four or five nurses have come into the room, I feel like we’re the only ones in there. Not one of them is near us and they are all at the other end of the room going about their business. Ginger can feel herself pushing out the baby and then announces that she can feel the baby coming and still no one comes over. She looks at me and says, “I can’t help but push” and so we decide that she better get onto the bed. She then announces to everyone, “I can feel the baby’s head!” and I look and I can see the head crowning and I yell, “I can see the head!” It’s as if everyone is avoiding us on purpose, I don’t know if they were scared or what, but no one is coming to help.

Next thing I know the baby just squeezes out all in one motion, it was exactly like Bennett except there’s no doctor, just me. She slides onto the bed and we hear her crying and Ginger later told me how she was worried because previously a nurse asked her when she had last felt the baby and Ginger didn't remember, so she was a little worried and then felt relief when she heard the baby cry. That’s genius right there, when mother’s come in all stressed out from labor, let’s see if we can get them to think they may have a stillborn, perfect.

So the baby is on the bed and I’m thinking about how Bennett was born with the sac covering his head and so I start looking her over to see if there is anything unusual and I see the cord wrapped around her neck so I grab her and unwind it. Then I’m just holding her, checking her over, and making sure she doesn't slide off the bed or something. Imagine holding a floppy, long, skinny water balloon bathed in oil and now you know a little of what it felt like. The nurses finally come over and start wiping her off and one of them clamps the cord and cuts it. Then they all start congratulating the nurse who cut the cord, meanwhile, here I am with placenta and blood all over my hands and jacket… really? Not that I needed any kind of positive affirmation from them, but come on people. By this time one of the doctors shows up and helps treat Ginger, they go weigh and measure our baby, and I go wash my hands (I wanted to tell them that they hadn't suctioned out the baby’s nose and mouth yet, but I figured I’d done enough).

Earlier one of the nurses called the birth at 3:08, that’s right, less than 40 minutes from the time we left our apartment. We went from 5 minute contractions to birth in about the same time it takes to watch an episode of your favorite sitcom. She weighed 6 lbs 4 oz and measured 18 inches. Ginger says next time we’re going to camp outside the hospital, get a live in nanny, and for sure get an epidural. It was a crazy night, but Ginger was unbelievable and now having watched her go through this twice, it’s been amazing. We’re so excited for our new family and I’m really looking forward to the day when I see a woman in labor and I can run over and say, “Don’t worry, I've got this, I’m a dentist.”

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Picture overload time...