BEN IS EARLY

Well it has been a wonderful 3 weeks so far. The stress is high and the anxiety level is at a point of a little blue pill. School stuff has been interfering and I need to get a hold of myself to catch up at school and make a honeydew list. This post is mainly to be able to add some pics. we have taken. I will try an add all the other entries we have left off since early August.

BEN IS BORN

Benjamin Ray Santiago was born on October 12, 2008 at around 9:30PM, 20 3/4 inches weighing 6 lbs, 12 ozs. Labor was intense. My water broke at home at 8AM that morning, and i went into the hospital around 10. After 8 hours of labor, 4 of those on pitosin, i had only dialated 1cm! I was in so much pain. My contractions were excruciating and they were coming about every minute and a half. The doctor had pity on my and gave me an epidural. It's a very strange feeling to not feel your lower half at all, but i much prefer that to writhing in pain.

When it was time to push, i guess i pushed too hard, because Ben came out very quickly, but had some bruising on his face. He also had some fluid in his lungs, so the NICU nurses had to work on him for almost an hour. It scared me to death. I just layed there helplessly watching. Hector was able to stay close to him. Fortunately, they were able to get all the fluid out and he was able to stay in the room with us.

On the day we were supposed to leave, we found out Ben was jaundiced, so we were sent home with a billy light. But after 2 days, they made us go to Cooks because the light wasn't working and Ben's billireuben count was way to high. The next 24 hours was very traumatic for a mother. Ben had to lay in the billibed in his diaper with a blindfold on. He hated it. He screamed and screamed. We took turns singing to him to try to calm him down. That day seemed like a month. But after that, we were able to bring him home and the jaundice went away.

Praise God for the incredible gift He's given us!

Dinner of Discovery

Dinner has been an experience with the Grandmas. On our way to Galveston for vacation we decided to make a stop at Crackle Barrell for dinner. Dinner was o.k. but a the beginning of the meal Barbara had her hand on Jill's belly because she has not felt a real kick. She has felt movement but not a full on "Pele."
She was just sitting there in a steady conversation across the table, when all of a sudden Ben kicked a hole in her hand. Her expression was of shock and joy all in one. Her expression caused Angela to jump out of her seat as if it was not fair for her to feel Ben alone.
A few weeks later, Jill and I took my mom to Mi Tierra, a Puerto Rican restaurant here in Arlington. Well, the same thing happened, except mom was giving advice about babies when she got her first "PLAA-COW!!!" She smiled and giggled and we had a great dinner.

I Look Just Like Daddy!

Technology has come a long way. When my mom gave birth to me, she had to wait to even find out that I was a boy. Every color that she received for her baby shower was either green or yellow the universal colors for a baby. Today babies can be casted in their first movies while still in the womb. Of course we took the opportunity to get a movie of Ben, twice.
For the second time I had to leave school early the day of the 4D sonogram. I pushed two meetings up by two hours and worked through lunch. I had less than 24 hours until my students showed up for the first day of school. I had to be at that appointment, no way I was going to let Jill be the only one who knew what he looked like.
Jill kept telling me, "I understand if you need to stay, I want you to get your classroom stuff done..."
There is no way I was going to miss out on seeing my little boys face. The only thing I could think of is how much he would look like me.
At the first 4D sonogram, we attempted to get the video, but the star of the show was not cooperating with the camera.
He kept putting his hands in front of his face, and then turned upside down as to say to us, "If you want to look at something, look at my big butt!" My mother, Mother n Law, and sister n Law were all there to witness his inheritance of the bootay.
That was an awesome Monday, I saw my son clear as a summer's day. Unfortunately, it made me extra anxious to meet him and time has begun to slow down. Wait until you see him, WOW!
We're trying to get the video on the blog, but for now go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN4cPtJu650

Jill's thoughts: The first trip to the 4D sonogram was a little disappointing because we really couldn't see much. But the picture we did get looked EXACTLY like Hector's baby picture. It was the coolest thing to compare the two.

Then when we went back that next Monday, the baby was ready to cooperate and we got some awesome shots. It's amazing to know we've had our first glimpse of our son. His features, his eyes, his little tongue. We got to see all of that. I'm like Hector - it makes me that much more anxious to meet him in person! I know the next couple of months will fly by, but I'm ready to meet him NOW! :)

Grandpa's First Touch

We decided to go on a Santiago-Tappe family trip to Galveston. Jill just turned 7 months pregnant. It was an awesome get away. DD allowed us to stay at her beautiful Galveston home. We played games, watched the Olympics, talked, went to the beach, and we ate some good food. As far as I remember, we did not have one family blow out. No one called anyone any names (to their face) and no one left bleeding from an MMA elbow.
The trip was definitely a blessing but my favorite part of the trip was on our first night there. We were sitting around the dining room table playing cards. I did well against Jill this time around. Well Allen sat down and I did not know but Grandpa has never felt Jill's belly.
It was time for Grandpa's first touch. I don't know if he actually got to feel Ben try to punch or kick him. I do know Ben felt Grandpa's love. There is nothing like a Grandpa's love. I could see it in Allen's eyes, he was proud to be a Grandpa, he was excited, he was enamored, and he excited to be able to lay his hands on his little girls tummy again, just like he did when she was little. If he didn't feel Ben kick his hand, I am sure Ben will kick him in the shins someday.

Jill's thoughts: This trip was the best trip we've taken as a family in I don't know how long. We were all together, and awesome memories were created. This was also the first week that Meredith and Caleb got to feel Ben move. He's so active now that if you're patient, even for a minute or two, you'll typically feel either a roll or a kick. It's a little freaky but totally wonderful.

On a less fun note, this was the week that my third trimester heart burn kicked into high gear! This was also the week that Caleb and Savannah started calling me Prego my Ego!

Hector was fabulous on this trip. He took great care of me. He definitely won major husband brownie points!

I'm not Picasso but he was over rated anyway

Well it is now time to set up the nursery. Previously it was Jill's home office and a place for me to throw my crap in when school was out. Now it is going to be Benjamin's room. This will not be an easy project. The room was nick named the hunting lodge. For the reason that the walls were solid wood and not drywall. No, it was not paneling it was custom cut, beveled, stained, wooden cedar walls. I originally wanted to get the nail studded chairs and a couple of animal heads and skins and hook up the room. Ben changed my plans.
It is now time to paint and drywall the room. Jill asked a friend from her woman's devo group for some advice. She suggested a friend of hers to help with the new drywalling. Alex came by on a Saturday morning and gave us a quote on repairing the room.
Alex had very little English. I to communicate a bit to him in Spanish so that I was sure he understood what we where asking for. He suggested that we should just lay the drywall over the wood and paint over it.
We spent about 30 min. talking about details and cost and came up with a CLEAR agreement. We translated everything in English and in Spanish. Two weeks later, Alex showed up with his wife and a handful of tools.
It took him the two days he quoted to us, except for both days he was late hours. So he could have finished a lot sooner. At the end of the project the walls were lob sided, the floorboards where broken, the finish was extremely dusty and I just told him to go home paid him his 120 dollars and decided to finish the work.
I did not realize how much work it would take, but first had to paint. So off to Home Depot for paint. We chose the bedding and picked the colors from there. As you can see from the pictures I worked hard. (pictures to come)

Jill's thoughts: What an ordeal! We just thought the nursery was going to be fun and easy. Hector has had to work so hard, and it seems like we've faced crazy obstacles on every front. But I know it's going to look perfect when it's finished. All the work he's done so far looks great. It's so hard not being able to contribute, but Hector won't let me help because of the fumes and dust. Understandable! Aaron and Dad came over to help with some of the painting and molding, and that helped too. All I know is the before and after pictures will belong on Trading Spaces!

Hit and Run! And I AM Not Talking About Baseball

We just started working at day camp at church. Monday was awesome god really gave us an awesome opportunity to work with the kids from the church. Jill had to work a couple of days during camp this week but she planned on being there for three days to help with Noah. We decided to go eat out at Estella's, a small Mexican restaurant, down the street. After dinner I wanted to go to a game store to see if they had some karaoke games for Friday. As we turned on to Cooper st. from Arkansas, a diesel truck swung out and brought traffic to a complete stand still. Some how some jerk turned the corner and clipped the car behind us causing it to slam into the rear of our car.
"Honey, are you O.K!" I asked Jill as the white Buick zooms past us to get away. The car that hit us had a father and two kids. We pulled off the road and as soon as Jill got out they freaked. The back end of our car was worth about $9000.
We had the rental car for about a month. We called Jill's doctor and she had us go to triage and get checked just to make sure. Everything was fine but it gave me comfort knowing that we were for sure O.K. Jill was confident the whole time. Seems like being scare is going to be a regular thing with Ben growing up.

Jill's thoughts: This was definitely not the way we wanting to end the evening. It's amazing to me how expensive a wreck can be that wasn't your fault. In the end I think it ended up costing us around $750 out of pocket. Not to mention the decrease in value of my pretty car! But we really didn't care much, because we were just thankful that no one was hurt. It made me grateful to be driving such a safe car. Somehow the wreck broke my seat, but didn't hurt me! Sounds like another God thing! :)

When we were at the hospital making sure everything was okay, Ben kept kicking the monitor on my stomach. It was really funny. I don't think he liked being spied on! But he was perfectly fine, and we got to go home after a couple of hours.

It's Getting Bigger

More aches and pains. Jill is starting to get scared about her belly is getting bigger. There is more back pain, swelling feet, heartburn, and many other symptoms of third trimester joys.

"What am I going to do, I still have 3 months, I don't think I am going to make it!" she whimpered with frustrations.

I still get in trouble with the baby emotions, but I think I am handling them better. Everyone knows that I am the lazy one in the family, so this next month I will need to pray for a miracle. I know I will need some sort of mind change to adjust and come through with the extra help I will need to give to Jill. I will let you know how the nursery is starting to look on the next blog.

Jill's thoughts: There are definitely more aches and pains. My first and second trimester were cake compared to my third. Heart burn and swelling are my favorite. I'm even wearing a back brace now because I'm way to front heavy!

Hector can have his off day too, when I swear he forgets that I'm pregnant and expects me to be able to do everything I could before I was pregnant. He'll say things like "You can pick that up, it's not too heavy" or "Why are you tired, we haven't been walking long?" But those insensitive days are few and far between. For the most part, he has been an incredibly supportive husband. And the bigger I get, the more supportive he gets. I think it makes it more real with each pound gained!

Training for the Marathon

We got an opportunity to babysit a 6 week old. Noah is the newest addition to the family out our church. Elli asked us if we would babysit so that she could go back and work this week. We got him for just one day. So it gave us an opportunity to be with a newborn. Noah was an easy baby but we could not keep him awake. Every time we tried to feed him he would fall asleep after an ounce of milk. We did learn a few things:

• Warming milk times
  
• Changing diapers
• Handling boo-boos
• Burping
• Putting him in the Car seat
• Packing a bag
• how long a bottle should be used
• Schedules
• an how hard it is to get anything done with a baby around
• Our house is not baby friendly lots of work to do
  

I am pretty sure that we have learned alot more than that and hope to get more training time. I have faith that God is going to prepare us for everything.

Jill's thoughts: Getting to take care of Noah has been great for us. Noah is the precious baby of our friends Ellie and Aaron, and he will be about 4 1/2 months old when Ben is born. So we get a little practice before the real thing! Ellie and I plan on Ben and Noah being best friends!

I can't beleive how long it's been since either one of us has spent much time with a new born. But it's been a lot of fun. My favorite part is seeing Hector interact with Noah. He's going to be a great dad. He's incredible with kids.

It said it in the book, a Soccer Ball!

Week 25 has come and today it is gone. Jill is experiencing pain and fatigue. She is also starting to experience more of what I call emotional heigteness. In the book what to expect when you are expecting, and yes I do read. It states that in week 25 and 26 her Uterus is the size of a soccer ball. So I guess that means he is going to be an athelete. Well the growth uses a lot of estrogen, and we all know what a large amount of estrogen will cause. Happy space for the baby and a lot of apologies from daddy. We still take alot of opportunties to listen to the baby's heartbeat and talk to him. November 6, is coming fast.

Jill's thoughts: If I didn't put my 2 cents in, this blog would be incredibly biased! But I do have to admit that I've been a tad emotional lately. Not mean, as much, as teary eyed, definitely needing a little extra TLC.

Hector for the most part is doing a great job of loving me through it. Every once in a while I want to punch him, but not often! :) The fact that he's reading up on where we're at in each stage of pregnancy is great, but when he uses it against me, it gets very annoying! Why can't he be one of those ignorant fathers who doesn't know anything! Then I can tell him it's not the hormones, it's him! :)

That's a Big Butterfly

"Come here, give me your hand" she excitedly requested

She took my hand and plunged it into her stomach.

"Can you feel that?" "Right there!" "How about that?" excited that I would be able to feel the baby kick.

"Um, no honey I can't the doctor said that we may not feel him kick until after week 24" I stated to her.

"I'm telling you, I can feel him" she continued to repeat to me as she tried to convince me that I could"

For a few weeks now Jill could feel little butterflies in her belly. She did not feel strong kicks but could feel the baby turning and fluttering around. With an eagerness to have more communication with the baby we invested in a baby monitor. No, not one of the ones you get at Babies R' Us, but a real one a doctor would use. We went to a website called www.babybeat.com and rented one for a few months. Was the price inexpensive? NO, NO, and NO, but for every time Jill wonders why the baby is not moving it has come right handy.

After I came home from the hospital, I got another one of Jill's feel this. I kept telling her I won't be able to but I sat up in the bed and leaned into her. Again, nothing.

"Wait, wait" she hushed me and....

There he was my first kick, I felt my little boy kick me like three times. What a rush I think I missed twenty minutes of the movie we were watching. It passes by so quick, and you have this desire to make him kick on command. I found out that they are not that obedient in the tummy.

That was not a little butterfly kick, That's a Big Butterfly kick.

God bless the tip taps from the inside.

Jill's thoughts: This was the coolest moment. I had been feeling him move for several weeks, but I had no one to share it with! When Hector finally felt Ben move, the look was priceless. The side of his face was attached to my belly for the next half hour. It's such a blessing to see my husband so excited about this baby.

Being Sick When She is Pregnant

As the steam from the water filled the bathroom, I lied on the base of the tub wondering what hour it would be for me to see the end. I called out to Jill multiple times, with the shower running, a closed door and a television volume cranked to 9000, she was unable to hear my calls of despair. The door slowly cracked open as not to allow any of the hot steam out, and a concerned voice came from the other side.

"Honneeey, are you o.k.? I don't think you should be in here long you are going to throw-up."

I expressed that I am going to be fine and that all I needed was a bottle of cold water. A few moments later I had a glass of water and then a feeling of nausea. I turned off the water and stepped out toward the porcelain God and began to give him his sacrifice of water and Angel food cake. Within the next 45 minutes I was rushed to the E.R. with a Fever of 103.5 and diagnosed with a new friend called cryptosporidium. Over the next few days Jill will be tested.

On June 28Th, Jill and I took a journey with the church youth group to a local lake water park. A parasite by the name of cryptosporidium crashed the party and we never even knew it. The parasite caused me a major case of fever, diarrhea, and dehydration. And as my visit in room 5029 prolonged, "crypto" pillaged the church youth group to the number of 30 plus. Thank the Lord that only two people went to the E.R., everyone else traveled only to small doctor visits and some Imodium kept them at home.

On our first evening in the hospital, Jill spent her journey sitting in an uncomfortable hospital chair from 11 pm to 4 am in the morning, jocking with the nurses and doctor's to pump me with meds to cure me of any current pain.

"Can we have an extra blanket, he's freezing to death," " His cramping is pretty excruciating, can you give him something," "When can he get something for the fever, the nurse just took his temperature and it is still over 102" she sincerely probed for results and made all symptoms worse than they were so that I would get the most attention.

Four a.m., the doctor walks back in with his arms crossed and with a sense of exhausted thoughts, "Well we are going to admit him into a private room on the fifth floor."

Jill only heard "private room", her back and the position of the baby were crying for relief. As the ceiling lights rushed over my eyes, the short flashes of lights come to slow darkness as a pass through the threshold of room 5029. Ruby my night nurse took care of me, as Michelle my P.T. set Jill up for the night.

"This is 100 times better than the E.R." she softly stated as she fell into a light sleep at this six o'clock hour.

"I'm sorry honey, is there anything you need" a voice of selfish concern came from the dark corner. I responded to her with a no and asked her to back to sleep as that was my intentions as well.

Jill's journey with crypto began the next day and my competition began with her mom. You see you can't beat the nurturing care of a mother and her sick child. Jill spent the next day wondering if she was a bad wife because she could not come to the hospital. Her mother fed her, loved on her, and came to her beck and call. We spoke on the phone and she built my spirits up at night to help me to sleep. The days slowly passed and crypto continued to hang around like an wanted guest.

I worried about the baby but we found out that the baby is in the clear and nothing could happen to him. It just made it tougher on Jill. I would feel the depression and Jill's need for attention and care in a few days.

Jill was settled in on the couch one evening and beginning to feel the nausea blues.

"Can you get me a Gatorade" she quietly asked

I went to the refrigerator and brought it back sat down and the next morning when I woke up I felt the wrath of "I'm busting my butt to take care of you and all I need is a little appreciation"

Extra estrogen and the extra stress was a terrible experience for Jill. I sat quietly on the couch and then followed her into the room to comfort her and we talked it out.

Crypto is still vacationing at our house but we are blessed to learn through this difficulty.

Jill's thoughts: My hormones may be a little crazy right now, but my husband, as do most men, makes a pitiful sick person. The combination of the two made for an interesting week together. The good news is, we still love each other!

On a brighter note, right before the Crypto scare, we received some great news - we're having a boy!!!! Hector and I were convinced we were having a girl, but God had a different plan. I really wanted a boy first so that he could be the big brother, but for some reason, I really thought I was having a girl. But as you'll see in the sonogram, we're pretty darn sure it's a boy. When we went in to have the sonogram, she told us, "well, those are definitely boy parts". Hector and I looked at each other in shock. It was a very surreal experience. "We're having a son". Hector and I neither one have much experience taking care of baby boys, so this is going to be a very interesting adventure - one we are THRILLED to begin. See the sonogram below that shows the details!