the 411, the low down, the skinny

july 14th: i went in to labor at 1:00am

1:00pm rolls around and because of some
scary complications the doc thought it
would be best to do a c-section

2:00 rolls around and cute sweet little
bennett is born and greeted by lots of anxious
family and the happiest mommy and daddy

july 15th: feeling great - a little out of it
but happy that everything went well, excited
about going home in 2 days

july 16th:
bennett: yellow, test were done and they found
he had a super high level of jaundice
catie: freezing, chills, then super hot
and sweaty
test were done and they found out i had an
infection...tack on 2 more days to our hospital
stay to get the antibiotics needed (that is, if no
fevers come back)
davey: the perfect comforting daddy and husband
who stayed right by our side making the stay a
ton more tolerable..on not a lot of sleep

july 17th:
feeling good, feeling excited to go home,
feeling happy bennett's jaundice is going down

july 18th:
bennett's jaundice is gone
catie's fevers are back (way bummed)

july 19th:
catie's fevers gone...but now has pnuemonia
new realms of bummed

july 20th:
things are looking up and we are getting really
anxious to head home tomorrow

july 21:
home at last! and with a crazy hospital experience
to tell

it wasn't all bad... i hate to sound negative
the doctors were amazing and knew exactly what to
do for us. the nurses were even more amazing. we
got to know several of them quite well because of
our lengthy stay and i can't tell you how impressed
we were.

we had family and friends calling and coming all week
to visit us. i got to talk to my sister, krissy, who is
all the way in germany. we couldn't feel more blessed and
loved and supported. we're so excited about our sweet little
baby boy. thank you everyone for your prayers.



ps another positive/funny thing is that dave got to
see catie on pain medication...i hardly ever take any
medication and they were handing them to me left and
right...anyway, apparently i carry on conversations
in my sleep.

The rainbow at the end of our storm

Catie just caught the sweetest moment with her camera.


Despite all the problems we've faced with this birth, we are so happy to have this little miracle in our family.

The world is my toilet

Yeah, we're still in the hospital and will be until Sunday night at least.
We have loved spending so much time with our new beautiful boy. Everything he does is so cute or funny to us. Like this for example:

I swear he knows what he's doing. Why else would he choose to pee at the exact moment his diaper is off? Or why does he poo 5 minutes after we change him? I think it is his idea of a joke.

The infinite hospital stay

Bennett wanted to let everyone know just how well he's feeling and how grateful he is for all your visits and prayers and support.

Catie will fill everyone in on the details of this amazing crazy experience we've been through.

Speedy Delivery...

Check this out

Bennett The Flash Pilkington

The contest we set up at the beginning of this blog is now officially over. I found out our child's name today. Allow me to explain.

You see, I feel our baby will be born on the opening day of The Dark Knight. This is due to the fact that he will be a superhero. and today, it just hit me:... Batman.

Think about it. Batman Pilkington.

Kids are often unhappy with their names. What little boy wouldn't want to be named Batman?

I was also toying with the ideas of The Flash (on the condition that it is always pronounced "the flash" not just "flash") Cable (aka Nathan Scott Summers- the time-travelling son of Cyclops and Jean Grey) and Hank McCoy (the Beast from X-Men).

So thank you everyone for your input, but we've got it all figured out.

Some names that were shut down:
Anferny - Cory
Wolverine - Catie
LeGrand - Dave
Esquire - Catie (wasn't originally aware that it is actually a title and not a name)
Rex - Dave
Curtis - Curtis
Cory - Cory
Don - Don
Leon - Matt
Aquaman - ...

happy feet

no these are not the feet of the pillsbury doughboy
sadly these are my feet
i'm now about three weeks from having
our sweet little baby boy and
the heat+pregnancy=crazy swelling for catie's
feet...and what were once ankles
my feet may be horrifying to look at
but please note the fabulous paint job
cory willey surprised me with a
fantastic pedicure (and was patient enough
to sit through my laughing fit...i'm a bit ticklish)
so thanks to cory for the pedicure and
dave for the endless foot massages
my feet might make it to the very end

ps i got fitted for compression hose today because
my doc thinks my swelling's a bit outrageous...wonder
what those are going to feel like

"Made in China" - a 4th of July celebration

We had an unforgettable independence day celebration last night.
Like much of the general public, my Dad spent over $90 on fireworks and we went to my grandpa's house to light them off with the whole family watching.

Fireworks are funny.
They are all the same. Then, when one stands out amongst the rest (usually the ones with the random purple sparks), someone says, "ew, that was a good one. Remember to get that one again next year." But that, of course, never happens.
So I took it upon myself to write down the name of this particular firework. It was "Mystery sparkling fountain". Then I read the rest of the names. "dazzling fountain", "giant burst", and other such generic names. No wonder these things are never remembered. I want to meet the Chinaman who's job is to look through a chinese-english dictionary and come up with these names.

But one particular firework stood out this year. Highly recommended by the 14-year-old booth manager.
It is a hexagonal box with a giant tail made of fire crackers. So you light the tail and when it gets to the top, it spins. This is what the instructions on the back say:


My favorite part is the first frame "Hang up in the open area". Yeah, as if every household has a random horizontal metal poll, 15 feet away from anything, to hang a bursting firework from.

This very issue posed a problem for my Dad who was so excited about this firework in the first place.

Solution: hang up firework in a tree directly above shrub bushes.

I don't know which is funnier, the excitement over this solution, or the surprised look on my dad's face as my grandpa's precious shrubs started on fire.
This is one firework we will never forget.

Anyway, fireworks are funny.