Days 1 and 2 of Bennett's life...

Yesterday was Bennett's first day of life. Such an easy and laid back day for me. My poor mom was going to watch the big kids while Donald and I spent time with our newborn. However, about 30 minutes after Hope & Tanya (midwife and assistant) left our home (in the middle of the night), The Atrium called. The Atrium is where my grandmother, who has severe dementia, lives in assisted living. They called to let my mom know that they had called rescue to come and get Grandma. Grandma had been complaining of chest pain. So poor mom, having been awake since Friday morning, was off to the hospital to meet Grandma.

At the hospital, they ran tests and admitted her. All test results seem to be normal but they still want to do more testing on Monday. Mom has been at the hospital since. Grandma is too confused to be left alone at the hospital so now (Sunday afternoon) they have called in a "sitter" to sit with Grandma so mom can come home and get some rest. Mom starts her new job tomorrow after having been unemployed for over a year! She cannot miss the first day of her new job. Donald will be heading to the hospital at 9 PM (when the sitter leaves) to be with Grandma.

Donald has been caring for the big 4 all day yesterday and today on his own while I rest and sleep with Bennett. Poor Donald is exhausted as well after Bennett's labor and delivery being so late. We are thankful Donald hasn't found a job yet otherwise we aren't sure what exactly we would do right now with Grandma's situation.

As soon as she is back home tomorrow afternoon, we will definitely be getting hot and heavy looking for Donald a job.

Anyways, back to Bennett....

Bennett is a really easy baby with the exception that he whines anytime he is awake and he wants to nurse all night long. HAHAHA! Yeah, so basically, if he is asleep he is great! Today has been a "turn around the clock" day to keep him awake as much as possible today with hopes that he will sleep some tonight. The first half of the day that was pretty easy. Now he is wanting to sleep a bunch. I've let him sleep a good bit more this afternoon than I did this morning.

Tanya, the midwife assistant, came by around lunch time today and pricked Bennett's foot for his PKU test. I'm thankful that she lives nearby and we didn't have to load Bennett up into the car for a 30 minute ride tomorrow. I'll probably take him in sometime this week for a weight check though, just to see....

We've begun him on a pacifier. Alex and Nathaniel both refused pacifiers and there were soooo many times we had wished they took one so we decided long ago that Bennett would be getting a pacifier as soon as possible. The day after his birth he had one and had a hard time with it. Today he has done amazingly well and can keep it in his mouth. Yippee! Success!

Later this afternoon, Donald's mom will be heading this way to meet Bennett. She is bringing pizza for tonight and lasagna for tomorrow night. She is also bringing diapers and giftcards.

We had planned on having a "Welcome Bennett" party at some point. A way for friends and family to celebrate his arrival since we didn't do a baby shower this time around. Now we are debating it with how chaotic life has been since he was born. So depending on how fast things get to normal around here, we may still do it....

The big kids are doing fine.

Raymond is absolutely in love with Bennett. He has become the "big" to the "little." Raymond wants to be with Bennett nonstop and is super protective of him when the other littles get too close for Raymond's comfort. He wants to hold him continuously and walks around the house whispering and making everyone else whisper to keep from waking Benn. It's really cute. I have a feeling Raymond and Benn will be great friends. Raymond will be Benn's mentor of sorts. He has been the most excited about all of this.

Arianna is doing good. She likes Bennett. She is glad he is here. She thinks he is cute and likes to give him kisses and rub his hair, but she's not as into him as I thought she would be. But, she also isn't the "mommy" type. She took to Nathan when he was born and now I think she is all "babied out."

Alex could really care less. Haha. Seriously, he gives "Baby Vennett" kisses and giggles after doing so, but he could take him or leave him. He has wanted to hold him once or twice, but that was about it. He is more into Batman and G.I. Joe than Bennett. And that's okay as I think Bennett gets a little overwhelmed with so many hands touching him at once.

Nathaniel is, well, 18 months old. He enjoys poking at Bennett's eyes and shaking Bennett's body as if he were petting a dog very briskly. Bennett doesn't seem to mind and actually sleeps through it - although we are now holding Nate's hands to guide him as to what is okay when touching baby brother.

Bennett Josiah's Birth Story

Bennett Josiah Kaczowski was born August 7, 2009 at 11:51 PM. He was born after 6.5 hours of labor at home under water at 40 weeks 6 days. Bennett weighed 8 lb. 10 oz. and was 19 inches long. His head and chest circumference were both 14 inches. His APGAR scores were 8 at 1 minute and 9 at 5 minute. The proud parents are Donald and Tiffany Kaczowski. Bennett’s siblings are: Raymond (6), Arianna (4), Alexander (3), and Nathaniel (18 months.)

Tiffany had been having contractions off and on for days before actual labor began. She had given up hope that Bennett would be coming anytime soon as she was already almost a week past her due date. On Friday, Tiffany noticed a few very painful contractions, one every 15-30 minutes or so, from about 11 AM on. She had gone across town with Donald and had a few. She came home and got the 2 big kids (Raymond and Ari) ready and went with her mother to Palatka to see Carol & Roger. While in Palatka, Tiffany had a few more painful ones. None were so horrible that she couldn’t talk through them or move around.

The kids had a blast fishing and Raymond was ecstatic to see a real wild alligator in the canal behind their home. Raymond drew his first real picture that looked like a picture and wasn’t of ghosts and tombstones. Raymond drew an alligator in the water next to a waterfall. It turned out really great and he may even have a knack for drawing.

They finally headed home around 4:30 PM from Palatka and arrived home around 5 PM. Donald left to Publix to get the makings for dinner for that night. By the time he got back home, Tiffany was having very painful contractions every 15 minutes or so and by the time Donald finished cooking, the contractions were so painful that Tiffany had to stop what she was doing and concentrate. She started timing them and noticed no pattern - 8 minutes, 14 minutes, 7 minutes - they were jumping all over the place.

All it took to regulate her contractions was to get online and announce to Facebook that her contractions were coming but that they weren’t regular and she wasn’t sure if this was it or if they would stop again. A few minutes later they were coming every 5-5.5 minutes. At this point she thought about how fast they had changed from completely across the board to a precise 5-5.5 minutes apart and decided to give the midwife a heads up.

Tiffany called Fruitful Vine around 7:30 PM and the answering service forwarded her message onto the on call midwife. They informed Tiffany that the on call midwife was Hope. We love both midwives but were glad that Hope was on call as she had been the one to catch Alex 3 years earlier as a student midwife.

A few minutes later, Hope called. Hope asked a few questions. Tiffany and Hope decided that it still may be a little while and for Tiffany to call back when they were just under 5 minutes apart. Not even 15 minutes later, they were. They were regularly coming about every 4.5 minutes apart at this point so Donald called Hope back and Hope was on her way. Hope’s assistant, Tanya, was on her way as well and lived pretty close. She was here first. When Hope arrived, she checked Tiffany for dilation and discovered that Tiffany was already 7 cm.

Their chihuahua, Taco, was kicked out of the bathroom as he kept trying to climb into the tub with Tiffany and was licking her through contractions which just drove Tiffany crazy. He barked at Hope and Tanya for a long time. We discovered that Tanya was actually the owner of Taco’s sister and littermate, Sadie.

Right around 8:30 PM, the kids were going to bed an hour and a half late. They filed into the bathroom to say goodnight to mommy. Everyone gave mommy a kiss except Nate, whose new thing is to slap lips when asked for a kiss. Raymond was the most excited Tiffany had ever seen him. He was asked all sorts of questions about when Bennett will be born, etc... Nate tried to climb into the tub with Tiffany before Grandma Vicky whisked him away to put him to bed.

Tiffany labored in the bathtub and on her iPhone for a few hours and around 10 PM things changed.

Tiffany’s contractions became worse and she felt the need to push. Hope checked her cervix again. Tiffany was about 8-9 cm. Hope offered to break the bulging bag of waters because it was so large that it was hanging into the vagina. After she broke the amniotic sac, labor picked up rather quickly. Still feeling the need to push, but still being 8-9 cm, Hope checked to see how Bennett was positioned. And of course he was lined up horribly.

Bennett was facing towards Tiffany’s side and his head was lined up almost in a way for him to get “stuck.” Hope recommended that Tiffany get out of the tub and onto the bed for a few contractions in hands and knees position to get Bennett to turn some. Those contractions were the worst ones without a doubt. The pain of the contractions alongside losing the soothing properties of water during labor made for a difficult time for Tiffany and she was just working through each contraction waiting for someone to say she could go back to her tub.

After a few contractions, Hope told her she could walk over to the toilet and sit there while they filled the tub. Tiffany had 2-3 contractions on the toilet and by then the bathtub was ready. As soon as she got in, Tiffany felt the huge need to push with contractions. Tiffany pushed for 1 minute for Bennett’s head and 2 minutes for Bennett’s shoulders. Bennett was born looking sideways, coming out facing towards Tiffany’s thigh. He has a little moulding on his head from where he was banging against bone while in the bad position. He was still born in a “bad position” but at least he wasn’t being hung up on bone.

Tiffany moved to the bed to deliver the placenta, which had already detached and was ready to come out by the time she made it there and with 1 tiny push, it was out. Tiffany and Donald’s son was born on August 7th, but his placenta was born on August 8th. Tiffany held Bennett skin to skin for a little while and then took a shower and got situated. Bennett had a little bit of a rough time learning to latch on but is figuring it out fast.

Hope and Tanya performed the newborn exam, and all checked out normally. We opted out of all the gunk and vaccines. We will take him for his PKU test sometime this week I suppose? Other than that, life if good.

While Tiffany was in the shower, we allowed Taco back into the room. He did very well with Bennett and with Hope and Tanya. He stopped barking and growling at Hope and Tanya. He sniffed around at Bennett but ended up laying down on and next to Tiffany. That night he slept between his big pillow bed on the floor and right between Tiffany’s legs. He hasn’t left Tiffany’s side for more than 15 minutes since.

Bennett slept most of the night. We went to bed around 2:30 AM and he didn’t wake up until 6:30 AM when Tiffany woke him to change his diaper and nurse him. He’s been sleeping off and on all day and is nursing a little more frequently. He has a hard time sleeping in Tiffany & Donald’s bed right now but sleeps like a little angel in his bassinet. While they are hoping that will continue, they aren’t counting on it. :)

The next morning, around 7 AM, the brothers and sister woke up to meet their new brother. Ari came in first while the boys were still asleep. She came over and was a little afraid to touch him at first. She kissed his cheek and held him for a few minutes and then was done and ready to go play. Alex and Raymond came in together (they do everything together) and Raymond was so excited. Raymond has been waiting for his new brother for months! He was so glad that he was finally coming and is so happy he is finally here. Raymond held him for a little bit and then we got Alex situated on the bed to hold Benn. Alex didn’t really care about holding him - he just wanted to go play. A few minutes later, Donald went and got Nate from his crib and brought him in. Nate smiled at him and thought he was pretty cool.

Donald took the kids downstairs for breakfast and Tiffany nursed and updated/replied to Facebook posts. Currently, Donald and Tiffany feel like a million bucks with their little family of 7 + Taco.

He's Here! He's Here!

Announcing the birth of:

Bennett Josiah Kaczowski

born

Friday, August 7, 2009

at

11:51 PM

Weight: 8 lb. 10 oz. Length: 19 inches

Bennett was born at home in water.

Bennett is doing well. He is nursing great and is adorable. His days and nights are mixed up but we are working on changing that. His brothers and sister are completely in love.

Proud Parents: Donald & Tiffany

Big Brothers: Raymond (6), Alexander (3), and Nathaniel (1)

Big Sister: Arianna (4)