Lets start from the very begining

So my goal of writing every Sunday has not kept... We have had just so much going on I haven't had time...first it was Ben's B-day, then Easter, then Ari's Blessing, then mothers, day, etc etc etc... But today is my starting day and I am going to start from the beginning from the day we went to the hospital to have Ari.

On what was supposed to be my last appt. my Dr. came in and felt my belly and said whoa, you look really big! (gee thanks ;)) She got out the measuring tape and measured, I was showing 44 weeks and I was only 39, so she checked me and I was barely, maybe a 1, and just a little thinned. So she started to get worried. Cathy is just a midwife so went and got the Dr. to see what his opinion was. He was also concerned that the baby was too big for me as well. I had gained 5 Lbs in one week and the baby had obviously grown fast as well. They were worried that since I had not progressed any that by the time I did have the baby she would be WAY to big for me and that I would have to go C-section. I really did not want to go C-section.

So they decided to have me come back in the next day and have the Ultra sound tech do a thorough Ultra sound to see how much she though the baby would weigh and if I still had enough fluid. The Ultra sound tech said I had good fluid, and she thought the baby was going to weigh about 8-8 1/2 lbs. YIKES!

No you all have to know that Ben's family has history of large babies. They are all 8,9 & 10 pounders, one of his sisters was 11 Lbs!!!! (and not C-section btw) I did not think that it would carry through to me, I thought that my weight as a baby would be and indication of how my own babies would be. Now I don't know exactly how much I weighed but I was not 8 lbs!

So any way after the ultra sound check, I came in the next day again and still had not progressed. Even though my sweet sis in Law Dana made me try everything in the book... bouncing, foot messages, eating crazy food and all the other things we try when we are desperate to get that baby out!:)

So when my Dr. saw that I hadn't progressed she suggested I schedule and induction, which I really did not want to do, but I also did not want to have a C-section. So I agreed and she scheduled it for 5:30 am Sat. Jan 22. 2011.

So I kind of freaked out because it was actually here! I was going to have this baby. I stayed up till 3am cleaning my house Friday night. Then we woke up late and we were an hour late to the hospital, I was so upset and frustrated, Ben had to calm me down and tell me it's ok we are going to have our baby, be happy!

When we got to the hospital the got me all hooked up to the machines and got me going on Pitocin.

From there I progressed very slowly, they kept turning the pitocin up and up but nothing was happening, I was in pain and having lots of contractions but I was not dilating. I finally decided to have my epidural at about 7:30pm, and it was GREAT. After a little bit I was finally to a 4! About an hour after that my nurse came in again to see how I was doing, she asked if I wanted to be checked to see if I progressed any,(they were all a little skeptical and thought I wouldn't have the baby until the next day around 6am.) But when she checked she was like "Oh! Your ready to push, I'm going to go call you Dr.!"

From there it was a whirl wind! nurses running in and out bringing in all the machines and tools and what not, then our families got there and our Dr. came in and got all suited it up. By this time it was about 11pm. I pushed for an hour, then my Dr. said she was going to have to call the O.B. , she was worried I was going to need to do a C section. When he came he put the vacuum on and I pushed for another hour, all the while they kept saying if your tired we can just go C section, but I kept refusing, I did not want to go. Finally the Dr. said ok one more try and then we are taking you C section, no question about it. He yelled to the nurses to get the NICU nurses ready. I finally gave one more push and something actually happed and she started coming.

The Dr. laughed and said "well guess that did it for you".... I was just like oh shut up....

She was finally born at 1:02 am Sunday Jan 23, 2011.I was exhausted and starving, I held Ari for a minute then passed her to Ben I could barely hold her I was so tired.

And that is the very LONG story of Ari Jane Sims.

Ari Jane Sims

Introducing...

So I know I am way behind on my blogging.... My goal is to do a post every Sunday from now on. I have lots of stories and pictures to share of my sweet little baby. But in the mean time here is her annoucement. Enjoy!(Because we sure do!)

NYC

So back in September Ben and I decided to go to New York City for one last hoorah before the baby. We had a goal to make this trip before we started to have kids, so since the baby came a little earlier than we planned we had to hurry and squeeze this trip in!

We has so much fun and we able to do the trip for relatively cheap. My friends husband works for the airline so we were able to get buddy passes. They were a great price, but we had to fly stand by which was super nerve wracking!!! We were never sure about our flights, and were always on the edge of our seats waiting to see if we were going to make it on the flight. Luckily we made all our flights and made it to NYC on time, and obviously made it back.

I also have a good friend who lives in NY, she and her husband were heading out of town so they ever so kindly offered their apartment to us while they were gone. This helped out a ton, hotels in NY are ridiculous, luckily our neighbor works for Marriott so she got us a discount for the night that we did have to stay in a hotel.

We has so much fun we tried to see just about everything possible!! The Pictures below are a bit jumbled but I think you will get the point.

We went to: bubba gumps, The Seinfeld restaurant, Yankees game(probably the highlight of our trip), FAO Shwartz(the toy store from BIG), Dylans Candy Store(Dylan is Ralph Laurens daughter, and she opened up her own candy shop. Soo cute!), Crumbs (the most amazing cupcake store! I think I still dream about those cupcakes), serendipity, central park, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and every where in between.

We went and saw a Broadway show called American idiot. I have to say it was not the best.... it was a little much for me with the loud music and the language. I did like the singing in it, the singers had really great voices. I did not love the choreography though... you can only do a head bang so many times! I like Greenday so it was fun to hear all their songs, over all I give it a 6.

Ben served his mission in New York so he took me to see one of his areas in Spanish Harlem. The area was interesting, I think we were the only Caucasians around and Ben pointed out a drug transaction to me... good times. We stopped by one of Bens apartments, then Ben took me to a pizza place he and his companions would frequent for lunch. The pizza was soo good, and it was huge, it covered my whole plate, I always wondered why New yorkers liked to fold their pizza... not just because they are weird New Yorkers but out of necessity!

Well enjoy the pictures!