Cheyenne's 2nd Birthday

We had a little combined birthday party for Cheyenne and her cousin Austin who had recently turned 6. I made an ice cream cake and the kids wore party hats. It was fun. My mom got the prize for the favorite present... she got Cheyenne a little Dora microphone. It was great entertainment for the kids for the rest of the time they were there. It was so cute to watch the girls dance around singing "we did it!!" I can't believe Cheyenne is two already... time has really flown by. At the same time it feels like she has been a part of our lives forever. We love her so much!

Austin and Cheyenne with their presents.

Watching Cheyenne open her presents.

The ice cream cake... I messed up a little with the frosting writing... it is harder than it looks!

Cheyenne with her playdough. The 2 and the 6 candles were on the wrong side of the cake!

Thanksgiving with the Blum Family

We decided to stay home this year for Thanksgiving and we were so lucky to have family come spend it with us!! It was so much fun! Visitors included my dad, my mom and step-dad, Steve who all came from Washington. Also my brother Aaron, his wife Andrea and their three kids, Audrey, Austin and Ansley who came from Florida, and my sister-in-law Rachel and her two kids, Genevieve and Aubrielle, who came from Texas (my brother Jared is in Afghanistan, so he obviously couldn't make it). That totals up to 8 adults and 7 kids, all in our little house! I was really worried about how everyone would fit, but it actually turned out okay. We cleaned out our bonus room and put a rug up there along with a mattress and an air mattress. The first few days were great up there and all the kids loved to play up there, but the last few days were really cold, even with the space heater. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving and I am grateful that Cheyenne got to spend time with her cousins and got to know them better.

Rachel pushing Aubrielle and Cheyenne on the swings.

Cheyenne and Austin on the dragon at World of Wonder Park.

Genevieve, Audrey, Austin, Cheyenne, Aubrielle.

Austin and Audrey helping Grandma with the rolls.

Some of the cousins playing in Cheyenne's room.

Cheyenne and her cousin Aubrielle playing the bee game.

Aubrielle, Cheyenne, Genevieve and Ansley all in the tub together.

Audrey, Genevieve, Ansley, Grandma Sylvia, Cheyenne, Aubrielle, and Austin coloring around the table... this was all the kids except Berkeley.

This is Austin in front of our Tree of Thanksgiving... we all wrote what we were thankful for on leaves and glued it to the paper. There were so many great things to be thankful for, my favorite was I think one of Audrey's that said "self-defense." That cracked me up. Aaron also had to add a couple silly ones such as "Uncle Rico" and "not expired food." The majority of the leaves, however, had many many great things that we have to be thankful for such as our homes, our jobs, our families, the Savior and the Atonement, etc. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving activity- thanks Rachel for planning it and putting it together!!

Visit from Grandma Connie and Grandpa Frank

We were so lucky to have a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Bennum at the beginning of November. They were so helpful as usual. Friday night we went to Elberton and had Papa's pizza buffet and then watched the first round of state playoffs in the Granite Bowl. ECCHS lost in a heartbreaker upset by the private school Lovett. Lovett is now in the semi finals this weekend.

Saturday Frank and Connie took us to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. It was so delicious. Then we went and got Cheyenne some shoes since she had outgrown all her others. They kept asking what they could do to help and my number one request was for them to babysit so Jeff and I could go on a date. I was so excited, because we don't go on many dates. Our last one was the last time they were here! I had tons of pumped milk stored in the fridge and Berkeley took the bottle with no problem.

We are still trying to convince them to move out here by us, but I don't think Jeff's siblings would appreciate that very much since they all live near each other. It would be so wonderful to have family here all the time though.

Connie and Frank, Thanks for coming and for all of your help! We can't wait to see you again:)

Halloween

Cheyenne and her cousin Katie

Ward Trunk or Treat

Cheyenne and Berkeley

Cheyenne, Berkeley, and Grandma Sylvia

The basketball is my stomach painted orange, it is not a fake ball!

So I know I am a little late in posting this, but I couldn't forget our Halloween. The picture of me is from a little Halloween costume party at the beginning of the month. The others are from actual Halloween. I had just gotten home from the hospital from having Berkeley and I really wanted to go to the ward trunk or treat, but it hurt too bad to put a shirt on, let alone a bra. Hah... so I sent Cheyenne with my mom and sister and my sister's daughter Katie. They had a blast, and their favorite candy was the suckers. On the Saturday before Halloween, we took Cheyenne around the neighborhood, then on Sunday, actual Halloween day we handed out candy.

I was a little disappointed, because I love Halloween now that I have kids, and I wasn't able to get as into it as I like, but it was worth that sacrifice so Berkeley could come early. I am so glad she was born when she was! It was a fun Halloween:) Cheyenne LOVED it and talked about trick or treating with her elmo bucket everyday for the next few weeks.

Berkeley's pictures

Got newborn pictures of Berkeley last week by a VERY talented girl in our ward. I am so excited about them. I figured out how to snatch the picture from her blog- isn't it cute?

Berkeley Lynn Bennum

Well, I really don't feel like being on the computer right now, but I decided that I needed to do this blog post now before I forget all the important details. As you can see by my last post, I was in the early stages of labor, and in pain for a prolonged period of time! The next day I called my Doctor and we sent Cheyenne to church with some good friends. The Doctor had to be in Atlanta for the day, but he said if the contractions became regular to go ahead and go in because he had someone on call for him. The contractions never became regular, but I called his cell phone around 3 to let him know everything was still the same and the contractions were still irregular but very painful. He said to go ahead and go to the hospital.

My mom and sister went ahead and got on flights to try to make it in time. My sister bought a whole new ticket and my mom flew standby and barely made the flight. We dropped off Cheyenne's overnight stuff with our friends Robyn and Steve who were watching her then headed to the hospital. We checked in around 4 or 5 (I am already forgetting). The nurse said, "well, if you aren't going to have the baby tonight, maybe he can at least give you something to take home for the pain." I freaked out in my head because I thought, "I am not leaving the hospital again without this baby out of me!!" Luckily, when they checked me I was at a 5 and 90% effaced so they said I would be having the baby that night! I was so excited! I really had wanted to go into labor on my own, but I really didn't believe it was going to happen.

I asked for the drugs as soon as possible, but they said they wanted to wait until the contractions were more regular. Finally around 8 or 9 ish, I told Jeff (who was by the way watching the Seahawks game, but I didn't really care, because I wasn't paying attention to the tv anyway) that I couldn't take it anymore. I was seriously so tired. I had probably slept a combined 8 hours the past two nights and every contraction was so exhausting and painful. Finally the nurse came in and I begged for the drugs. She said that was fine. When she gave me the nubein ?? in my IV it felt SO GOOD!! But it only lasted about 10 minutes then I started feeling the contractions again. Plus, it made me floaty feeling. Then I got the epidural, which I didn't remember hurting last time, but it kind of hurt this time. After I got the epidural though, I couldn't stop crying because it felt so amazing. I told Jeff, I don't know why I am crying, but this is the best feeling in the world. It wasn't just that the pain was gone, but I felt like I was floating on a cloud. It was seriously amazing. I just really do not understand why anyone would not want the epidural... I wish I could have gotten it about 24 hours sooner!!

Mom and Heather arrived in Atlanta at about 9 or 10 pm, they rented a car and got to the hospital about 11:15-11:30, which was just in time because Berkeley was born at 12:09 am, which makes her birthday October 25. After they gave me the epidural, they gave me pitocin to make my contractions bigger and more regular. The nurse came to check me and her head was sticking out, which was the same thing that happened with Cheyenne, but Cheyenne's was a little farther out. We were all surprised at how dark her hair was. With Cheyenne, the Doctor kept telling me not to push, but with Berkeley I had to do two 10 second pushes. She came out so easily and I didn't rip or tear or anything. It was so wonderful. The nurses were saying I was built to have babies so I should have a lot of them... haha... or maybe that was my sister that said that, I don't remember now.

It was really weird that we hadn't named her yet. I don't want to wait that long again. We finally decided on the name the morning we left the hospital. We chose Berkeley, because it was a city name and we thought it was really cute. Lynn is Jeff's mom's middle name. I like for the middle name to have a meaning. After Berkeley was born, I have never been so tired in my entire life!! Then I had to wake up to feed her!! The recovery has been harder than with Cheyenne, but every day I feel like I have more energy.

The thing that surprised me the most was how quickly we fell in love with her and how she just fits so perfectly in our family. Jeff loves her because he can snuggle with her, which Cheyenne grew out of that about a year ago!! So far she is a good baby because she pretty much just sleeps and eats! haha... we love her though. We have had soooo much support and help from friends here and it has been so great. People volunteer to watch Cheyenne all the time, and we have had 3 delicious meals delivered to us. The kindness and generosity of those around us when we are in need always amazes me. I hope I will be so willing to serve when others are in need of me.

Just Because I don't know what else to do right now

So for baby girl #2 (still no name yet), I just really wanted to experience going into labor on my own... this morning (well, actually at this point I suppose it was yesterday morning, since it is now 5:30 am the next day) I woke up suspecting I was leaking amniotic fluid. I will spare the details, but pretty much it was all watery and I don't know what else it could have been. I woke up at 6:15 and didn't really know what to do, so I woke Jeff up at 6:30. He didn't really know what to do or say so I called my mom (it was 3:30 her time)... anyway, I ended up waiting until 7 am then calling the doctor. He said to go ahead and come into the hospital anywhere from 9 to noon. My sister and mom wanted to fly out for the birth, which we weren't expecting to happen so soon, so I got a friend to watch Cheyenne and tried to get into the hospital as soon as possible to find out if it was really broken and if I was going to be having the baby. My mom and sister started to look up flights and get ready to go.

I got to the hospital and checked in and at this point I still hadn't had any contractions. I did notice the night before at the football game that the baby's head felt extreme pressure on my bones, and it was more difficult to walk. Anyway, so I get my little gown on and lay down in the bed. I told the first nurse to come in my story with all the specific details and she was certain it was the amniotic fluid. I started to get nervous and excited because I thought, "holy cow" I am going to have this baby today! Anyway, the next nurse came in to check me and she tested the fluid with a strip and it turned yellow instead of blue, meaning it was not amniotic fluid. Then she checked and I was still only dilated to a 2 and a "little thick" (I was 60% effaced before, so I am assuming that is what she meant). Anyway, she could feel the baby's head and that it was still intact in the water sac, so she said she was confident it was not my water leaking. I called my mom and sister and talked to them for a little bit, then the nurse came back in and said Dr. Sepesi said that he feels comfortable with my exam, so if you want to go home you can, or we can just go ahead and induce you now. It was so tempting to get induced right then, since my bags were all packed, I was already hooked up and in my gown and I was getting excited, but I decided that I wanted to try to wait for my mom and sister to get here and just give the baby a little more time to make sure she was "fully cooked." They checked me out of the hospital so I called my mom who was almost to the airport in Seattle and she decided not to come. My sister was also planning on trying to change her flight to come and my dad had just gotten there to visit her, so she decided to stick to her original plan of coming on Monday.

I was sooo tired when I got home. I felt really bad because our friends had taken Cheyenne to Atlanta for the day with them and we pretty much got a whole day of babysitting. I was exhausted mentally and physically when I got home so I went to bed and took a 2 hour nap. It was the best nap ever! Thankfully, as you can see, I am not getting much sleep tonight! About an hour or so after I woke up, I started to feel really crampy in my back and uterus area. Not painful contractions that would come and go, just a constant crampy uncomfortable feeling. Then probably around 5 ish I started getting contractions that were uncomfortable and hurt but didn't take my breath away or anything. I didn't ever time them or anything because I knew they weren't very regular... I was probably getting about 1-4 an hour. They started getting more painful as the night went on, to where I couldn't concentrate on what I was saying when I started to have one, and I would start to sweat and need to go outside. By about 11 ish, they started getting extremely painful. Finally at 3:45 am I decided I would start timing them since I couldn't sleep anyway. Here is what I have had so far:

Began: Duration: Time Between:

3:45 am 95 seconds

3:59 am 90 seconds 14 minutes

4:10 am 45 seconds 11 minutes

4:34 am 95 seconds 24 minutes

4:49 am 45 seconds 15 minutes

5:07 am 45 seconds 18 minutes

5:18 am 60 seconds 11 minutes

5:27 am 70 seconds 9 minutes

5:40 am 85 seconds 13 minutes

5:55 am 90 seconds 15 minutes

6:05 am 105 seconds 10 minutes

6:17 am 90 seconds 12 minutes

They are obviously pretty irregular at this point, this is so frustrating. Another problem is that the pain isn't really going away in between contractions. Sometimes it does, but most of the time I am all crampy and uncomfortable. Also, sometimes it will feel like a contraction is coming on and then stops. I have felt the baby move, but it is little soft movements instead of the usual violent and extreme that have been happening daily for the last few months. My biggest concern is how long can this go on?? I don't know if I can handle more days with these. I have been looking on the internet and reading about contractions and they it seems that when you are having contractions this irregularly and far apart that they shouldn't be so long or intense. Everywhere is saying they get to be 90 seconds at the end of labor and strongest at the end of labor. I think I am just seriously a giant wimp when it comes to pain, because these are just about as painful as I remember having with Cheyenne. I don't see how they could get anymore painful, I could just have less rest in between I suppose... if you even can call this rest... well, I am just seriously uncomfortable and everyone else in my life is asleep right now, so I didn't know what else to do besides a blog post.

I am hoping this will turn into me having the baby just because I don't want to go through this for much longer!! These random contractions have now been going on for like 12 hours. I hope that wasn't my water that was leaking this morning because I have the Strep B thing and if it was the water, that is probably important for me to be on antibiotics... the nurse said she was confident though, so maybe it was just the mucous plug or something... either way at least this shows I am progressing right??? One step closer to not having to be induced, although right now, being induced was much less painful, because I only had to deal with the contractions for a few hours before I got the drugs!!

I seriously feel so wired right now, I am soo tired, but I can't lay down, my mind is racing and I keep having to bounce my legs... on top of it all, the Primary Program is tomorrow and I am supposed to do the sharing time lesson, which I had all planned, but haven't finished preparing, because of the distraction of the contractions... I feel slightly stressed out... maybe I should be doing that instead of this.

Little Pumpkin Baby Shower

Some good friends in my ward threw me a baby shower last night. It was so much fun! I am so mad because I totally forgot my camera and then luckily my friend Wendi had hers, but we forgot to take any pictures during the shower and I didn't even get a picture with Robyn, Beth and Wendi, who threw me the shower! Oh well, it was so much fun, the decorations were adorable, and the food was delicious. I got so many adorable gifts and lots of wipes (which was awesome because I hate buying them!). I am mostly excited because I got a baby book for the new baby and I have been meaning to buy one, but haven't yet, so I spent an hour today filling it all in with the information that has already happened. I was so excited to get a baby shower, because it is my second girl, so I didn't think I would get one. Plus, there are like 20 people a year that have babies in our ward, so it was so nice of people to come! That is one thing I love about the church is that you have automatic friends no matter where you go!

The four pregnant people at the shower... they are all due within a week of each other in March I think.

The adorable pumpkin cake that Robyn and her assistant made.

Some of the cute decorations

Me by the food table:)

Thanks everyone!!

In a perfect world I would go into labor naturally and have the baby on October 30... then it would be after Jeff's football game and my mom and sister would be here, she would have a birthday before Halloween (which I think would be much more fun than a couple days after), and I wouldn't have to be induced!

More than anything I hope she is healthy!!

Pumpkin Patch and Cotton Fields

We got a coupon thing off the internet for $10 worth of pumpkins for $5. So I bought that earlier in the week. We decided to go to the patch Sunday after church. Our church is about 20 minutes away from our house and the pumpkin patch is about 10 minutes farther. We had a great time walking around, but we only stayed about 15 minutes because it was upper 80's outside and we all were getting very hot. I had no idea how many pumpkins $10 would buy so we picked out two, which only added up to about $8.00 so then we got four tiny little squash pumpkins to put on our mantle. It was a good family activity. You can tell it is so hot out because Cheyenne's little cheeks are bright pink!

On the way home we drove by some cotton fields. Jeff thought that was pretty cool since you think of cotton fields in the South, but we didn't really know there were any around us. We pulled over to get a picture and Jeff picked one. It was really cool, it was like little cotton balls, but they had seeds in them. It is just amazing to think that is what the majority of our clothes are made out of!