Ben's first hike!

We took Ben on his first hike on Christmas morning... up San Ysidro Trail to the waterfall. Steve wore him on the way up and I strapped him on for the trip down. Wow, hiking w/ a little 11-ish pound munchkin on your chest certainly makes for a strenuous hike. Needless to say, we were both a bit sore the next day... all in all we had a great Christmas... here's a few photos.

Ben says Happy Holidays to everyone! :)

Ben has alot to say..

Steve and Sara interview Ben about not being able to Poo...

Sarah and Jordan Mia interview Ben...
Check out those homemade microphones

Ben's new bear outfit (Thanks Stacy) :)

Ben has a new outfit that is too cute not to put on the blog... he is starting to smile too! He is doing awesome and we are finding the parenting role much easier as we are headed into our 6th week of Ben's life... hard to believe! Sleeping & Eating are becoming much more routined for all of us and motherhood for me is becoming much less full of worry and wonder and more about exploration and fun! Steve is a great daddy and very helpful and wonderful w/ Ben. They have a definite bond, which is so fun to watch grow. Here's a few updated pics I wanted to share... I think we are also going to start doing a once weekly interview with Ben on video so be sure to check back for that. Sending lots of love from all of us. xoxox

Meeting of Ankerberg's, Nelson's, Olds', Miller's and Caputo's

Thanksgiving was spent down at Sara's Aunt and Uncle's house.

It was Ben's first sleep over and he handled it like a seasoned traveler.

Or maybe it was Avery serenading Ben that made him feel so relaxed...

Ben says.... Happy Thanksgiving

Ben has finally met his maternal grandparents... my parents are here for 2 weeks from Minnesota and they are loving their new role as grandparents... (first time for them). Here's a few shots of them as well as Ben with his cousins, Alyssa & Mia and Uncle Mike & Aunt Anne... wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving... We truly have SOOOO much to be thankful for this year!!

Ben Meets his MN Grandparents and wakes up

Here's a few videos...


Peter and Franci meet Ben for the first time...







Here's Ben waking up the other day...

Ben's New Friends....

We've had many friends stop by to meet Ben and tonight our friend Jean Steel stopped by to meet & greet Ben and they became BFF's really quickly... here's a few of Ben's visitors... also, couldn't help the cute picture of Steve resting w/ Ben on his chest!

A few new pics of Zen Ben...

Here's a few new ones from this week - it's been quite an adjustment, but I think we're all settling in nicely... Steve goes back to work this next week and my parents arrive, so that will be really nice and they are excited to meet and spend time with their first grandchild. I can't believe he's already 10 days old! He's doing great and we are loving him like we never knew we could! Enjoy a few pics... Thanks again to everyone who's dropped off food, gifts, etc... we love you.

Our first Outing... & Many Thanks!

Hello to you all - just a quick thank you to everyone that has been so sweet w/ your emails, phone calls and love that you've sent my/our way... I keep forgetting that I had surgery on top of bringing home a new baby, so really trying to get healed up, which is going really well... It feels great to be home (slightly overwhelming at times), but we're all doing great and just trying to figure it out as we go. Any new parent advice you'd like to send our way would be great -- we love hearing from the pro's out there!

We had our first outing yesterday - unfortunately Ben slept through it all, but it was great for us all to get some fresh air and get my body moving after surgery - we went down to the bike path and walked for 30 minutes, which was great! Also, Bennie had his first bath.. and we started w/ a pacifier b/c he has such a high need to suck and well... if any of you have nursed a baby, then you know what it feels like to be a human pacifier, which I dont' want... so, we use it in times of fussyness and he doesn't need it that often.... Here's a few pics... Enjoy and sending you all much love!

Ben and Sara Dance for Steve's Birthday

This was too cute to not send along...

Thanks for the b-day greetings Jess... (She's dancing too!)

You and only you can call Ben that.

Even that is pushing it. :)

Follow this link:

http://www.jibjab.com/starring_you/receipt/2588359

Also, thanks to everyone who called or sent cards wishing me Happy Birthday.

Special thanks to Bill Ankerberg and Rolando Mia for serenading me with wonderful renditions of Happy Birthday. I think that we need to get you two together for the next America's Got Talent.

Oh by the way we should include a picture or two or four of Ben too...

Our First Day Home

Well we finally checked out of the "baby hotel" aka the hospital yesterday.

Lots of paperwork, visitors, and instructions.

And about 4 trips to the car - our stuff seemed to expand - with the last trip being the most valuable cargo. We were straped in and we were ready to roll.


It was an odd sensation to have Ben in the car.

I refrained from driving with my flahers on. It was harder to refrain from using "adult words" especially when I entered the Milpas round-a-bout.

I told Sara it will take some serious concentration to not let an F-bomb out one day when someone decides to just stop in the middle and let someone else in.

Ben is already doing a good job of teaching me peace and flexibility.

Within 5 minutes of being home we both looked at each on and said,
"Now what?"

When in doubt read the manual!

Last night was a rough one.
Little Ben fed and fussed and fussed and fussed and...
Then as I practiced the 5 S's and he calmed down and we wondered what changed he was so mellow yesterday...
Can you tell we are new parents and don't realize that he will change everyday?
Finally he chilled and became Zen Ben again and we relaxed.
As we talked to the nurses this morning they said, "Did you read the booklet in your material that talks about the first 3 days.
24-48 hours = "Fussiness" (feeding cues) calmed by feeding and skin to skin contact.
Sara then said, "I read alot but it become real when it's experiential."

A few new videos...

Ben loves to suck!
Here he is just a few hours old...




Ben playing with Sara!

The first family interview

Ben's First 40 Hours!

Ben's First Interview

The strong silent type...
For now...

Welcome To The World Baby Boy Caputo!

Benjamin Nelson Caputo

Born 11/01/07 at 11:02PM

Weight: 7.15

Length 20.5 inches

After about 27 hours of labor and no real progress on Sara's cervix dialating, it was time to get Ben out and about. So a Caesarean section was done.


Sara is doing well. She needs some rest but you can see already in the picture that they are bonding very well.

We will post more later... right now it's later (or rather early) and we all need rest.

Stalled....

We are trying to be patient.
Everything looks good.
But the baby is just too comfortable and doesn't want to come out.
Sara feels great.
By looking at the monitor we can tell that she is having great contractions, both strength and quanity (thanks to the epidural Sara doesn't feel them)
However, Sara is still stalled at about 1cm.
We have a meeting with the Doctor in and hour.

Sara is not allowing any pictures at the moment so you will have to paint your own picture.
Here's some details to help you paint.
Sara has been in bed on and off since Tuesday night.
She is wearing a beautiful hospital gown.
She has a head band on her head.
And she is wearing red shoes.
ok I lied about the shoes...
She does have a lovely pedicure and alot of tubes going into her viens...

More to come...

Contractions were painful

Key word was were.
Since 9:00 Sara has been on Pitocin and every half hour the dosage went up.
The labor from 9 to 1:15 was tough and couldn't have been handled without the support of Sara's great friend and doula Janie. I thought this morning that it takes a village to raise a child and Janie is certainly one of the villagers.

As the contractions got stronger Sara made the decision to have an epidural.
A wonderful anesthesiologist came in and described the entire process before and as he was going through it and within minutes Sara got wonderful relief.

Still no baby... and we figure we are still on for later this evening.
But we do know he has hair thanks to Rachel's long reach :)

More to come later...

A night filled with contractions, walking and little sleep.

We are on our 4th nurse.
They work 12 hours shifts.
So far we have had Cindy, Edrie, Nicole, and now Rachel.
Do you think Sara wants to be done?

Dr. Shaikh was just here and discovered that Sara is 1cm dialated and 75% effaced. That's good news in vagina talk (which is the language of L&D). I thought when I went to the Vagina Monologues that they talked about Vagina's alot... now I know that was nothing.

So we will be having a baby today. More than likely late in the evening... but today none the less. They just gave Sara pitocin to kick it up things to the next level.

Sara's not up for having a picture right now..

The Dam has Burst!

Sara's water just broke... Still not dialated so it could be awhile longer... Quite awhile. But the water breaking is movement in the right direction! Here's a little video I shot about 5 minutes before...

still waiting....

hey all - thank you SO much for all of your phone calls, emails and blog posts... it's so fun to be loved when you're stuck in a hospital room! Steve just went to grab a quick workout at the gym, so you can tell - we aren't moving along very fast. I'm heading towards my 3rd round of an induction helper, called cytotek (sp?) - it's in the middle between cervidil and pitocin for those of you that are familiar w/ this path towards labor... it's a pill, so it's really easy... we'll see if after my 6 pm dose if I open up more... if not.... well.... not sure... we'll see what other tricks my doc has up her sleeve. I have to say that if there were a day to be in the hospital, this would be the one... Halloween. We have seen tons of great costumes as we've been roaming the halls and even were able to hit the employee costume party this afternoon! Of course, it adds a level of comfort that Steve works here and knows almost everyone that we pass, so that support feels great as well... thanks again everyone for your support - hopefully this will be the last time I"ll feel like blogging while I"m here b/c it'll all kick in soon!

Happy Halloween!
Here's to all the candy and spookiness that you can handle!

xoxo

Labor and Delivery but no Delivery

Sara and I got to the hospital last night....

I didn't realize that Sara had never stayed in a hospital before.

She was a little anxious. I told her it was just like checking into a hotel.

We arrived at 7:30pm and Sara brought yummy carmel brownies for the nurses.

Our nurse Cindy was awesome. She really made Sara feel very comfortable.

I'm not sure if it's because Cindy and I have worked on several projects at the hospital or the brownies but after a few hours Sara felt so comfortable she was sleeping!

Sara is doing well... She is having some small contractions but nothing she can't talk through. According to the monitors the baby is doing OK. Great would be on the outside!

I am doing OK too. Just had some coffee and that always makes for a good day. Here's a little video from last night...

It's official....

Well, the eggplant parmesan didn't work and here we are on Monday morning with a "still very closed cervix" is what my doctor just said when we were at her office...(sorry if that is TMI for some of you) :) Soooo, we're heading into the hospital tomorrow night (tuesday, oct 30) at 7 pm and I will be induced slowly & gently until he's ready to come out! I'm guessing that he'll arrive on Thursday at some point... keep us in your thoughts & prayers this week ~~ it's going to be interesting and quite the adventure, I'm sure!

Update....

Here's the latest... we had an ultrasound yesterday to make sure the fluid was good and check the baby's weight... (which is totally wierd to know), and the fluid is getting low "you're about a quart low" is what I was expecting Dr. Soffici to say... but he refrained. Apparently it's normal at the end of the pregnancy to be low in fluid b/c the placenta just kind of starts puttering out and that is what supports the fluid. That being said, I will definitely be having this baby next week. Back to my regular OB on Monday morning to make the final decision. In the meantime, Steve and I will be enjoying our last weekend as just "us".

There are many myths and wivestales out there on how to naturally induce labor and one that worked for friends of ours was eggplant parmesan, so we went to Pascucci's last night and indulged in a big 'ol plate of it. The funny thing is that I really am not a fan of eggplant, but whatever it takes, right? Well, here we are the morning after and nothing, so guess that wasn't meant to be for us. I'll keep drinking my raspberry tea and see if some talk therapy can't get him to "come on down"! :)


If you know of any tried and true secrets, send 'em on over our way!

Today's Doctor Visit

Here is a quick glimpse into what happens in an OB doctor appointment when you're 38.5 weeks pregnant! Our doctor, Dr. Shaikh (she's awesome) is listening for the baby's heartbeat and of course Steve is in the corner to capture the moment!

Countdown 10...9...

Here's a thrilling interview... could I be more swollen? For those of you that don't live in the greater Santa Barbara/California area, it's been abnormally hot for the past week with the fires down south and the Santa Ana winds a blowin'. NOT fun to be pregnant in this weather!

Baby Shower For Steve

Steve's awesome staff and colleagues threw him and his co-worker, Diana (who is due one week after me) a very sweet baby shower and it was so fun to be a part of... here's a few pics! The cake consisted of all cupcakes it was the BEST! These onesies say... I heart mommy and Steve's says I heart daddy... SO cute!

Baby Shower

Our last getaway...

We wanted to thoroughly enjoy ourselves outside of Santa Barbara one last time before the baby came, so we went on what is officially called a "Babymoon"... it was delightful. We made sure we did things that we loved to do while relaxing and enjoying the peace. We were about 90 miles north on the coast at Pismo Beach... here's a few pics from our weekend in early October.

Registering at Babies R Us

If you have never registered for your baby gear, it is quite overwhelming... seriously, like make sure you are fully nourished and well rested and hydrated when you head on over to the Babies R Us... what a mecca of stuff that was, well, let's face it, if you haven't had your own child, a lot of this stuff is foreign - poor Steve, I think he might have hyperventilated at one point in the store... luckily, our awesome buds Rachel and Jeff Bridge came with us and have since become our A #1 Parental mentors when it comes to gear, stuff and what we really do and don't need!

Steve and I, both being non-shoppers were clear that we wanted to be in and out in an hour - we wondered why Rachel and Jeff smirked when we said that... almost 3 hours later, dehydrated, starved and needing fresh air, we emerged.... here's a few pics to commemorate our day.

Thanks Rachel & Jeff - we love you & aspire to be as awesome parents as you both are!! ;)

The day I peed on a stick...

February 24th... peed on a stick... saw 2 lines....PREGNANT! But anyone who's ever peed on a stick (POAS) never takes the first stick to be true - I peed on at least 4 more sticks throughout that weekend... here's a picture of me the night I got the confirmed test results at the end of February...I can't tell... is that expression shock, awe or fear? ;)