At Long Last...

Benjamin's Here :-)

So this post is quite late, as little Ben turned two weeks old yesterday, but, well we can see that intentions don't do the work themselves.

On Monday, October 18th I made the trip to the OB's office for my 39 week appointment. I had started feeling a little off days before. Lightheaded, a little crampy, backache, and the swelling in my hands and feet had really increased and was causing pain. They took my blood pressure and it came back pretty high. The OB thought it best that I head up to the hospital for testing to rule out Preeclampsia. I was hooked up to some monitors for a non-stress test and had some blood drawn and urine tested. A couple of hours later, the OB met us at the hospital and did another ultrasound to make sure that Ben was still head down, he was :-)

They also discovered while I was hooked up to the monitor for the NST that my contractions were coming every 5 minutes. At that point, they checked me for progress and I was about 1.5 cm dilated. The OB gave me the option to be admitted and walk the halls at the hospital, or go home and labor there. That either way, she suspected that he may be coming that night.

I called my parents and let them know, since our plan was to have mom here to be a labor coach. I didn't feel very confident that he really was going to come that night, but they headed down anyway and were here by that afternoon. Mom and I walked the block and I bounced on my exercise ball to try to bring on active labor. Mom made a nice meal for us and we just sat around, waiting for something to happen.

Nothing did. The next morning, we headed back to the OB's office, as she wanted to see me if I hadn't gone into labor to check my blood pressure again. Once again, it was high. At this point, she mentioned to us that her preference would be to have me go to the hospital, walk the halls and shower to see if that would bring anything on. If not, she would be up there later on to "move things along". She also gave us the option to wait and see what happens, but mentioned that she felt that moving things along would be the best option with my high blood pressure.

We decided that I would head up to the hospital. J went back to work to shut his computer down and wrap things up while my mom and I met my dad back at the house and got everything together to take to the hospital with us. My dad snapped the last pregnant picture of me in front our house on our way out.



We settled into the hospital and dad headed back to the house. J showed up a little while later. I was hooked up to the machines and of course, the contractions were no longer coming regularly. We checked into the hospital around 11 am. By noon I was walking the halls and taking showers to try to make some progress. I wasn't feeling the contractions getting stronger pain-wise, but I was definitely having them and each one seemed a little more tight than the last.



All of the nurses were wonderful, except for one who I had most of the day that day. She made the decision to share with me that I wasn't in "real labor", she wasn't sure why the OB had me come to the hospital because I wasn't three cm and that she doubted that the contractions that I was having were making any progress with dilation. Talk about discouraging.

The OB met us at the hospital around 4:30 and checked to see if I had made any progress. That morning I had been 1.5 cm and at this point, I was now only 2. She mentioned to me that yesterday had been her day on call at the hospital and because she wasn't planning on being there that day, she had dinner plans. She asked if I minded if she left for the dinner plans and then came back later that night to break my water and get things started. She didn't want to start the process and then not be there as I progressed. I told her that was fine (even though I had been looking forward to the afternoon all day thinking that is when things would start). I was just grateful that she wanted to be there to deliver the baby and not another OB who was a complete stranger.

She didn't return until 11 pm. They had not let me eat anything all day, so I was pretty miserable. She came in and broke my water and the nurses started the pitocin 20 minutes later. They continued to monitor me and up the dose every 20 minutes. I labored like this for about 5 hours until I asked for them to check me. The intense pain that I was having had to be doing something! Only three cm. I immediately asked for meds for the pain. I wanted to see if there was a chance that I could avoid an epidural by trying the medication that they say "takes the edge off". They administered the stadol first. Within seconds of them pushing it through the IV line I felt like I had just drank a bottle of wine. The relaxation that came over me was fantastic. However no more than a minute later - the next contraction came. It didn't take the edge off of any of that pain. In fact, I felt like it prevented me from preparing myself for each on-coming contraction. I hated it and couldn't ask them to get me the epidural fast enough.

Luckily, the anesthesiologist was on the floor administering another epi, so it didn't take long for him to come into the room. I didn't anticipate how long the actual procedure takes, either. They made J leave the room (actually, they made him go out into the waiting area) while the two nurses that I had held me up on either side. I was so loopy from the Stadol that again I felt like I couldn't prepare myself for the pokes and prods of the procedure. I got a bit light headed but was able to lay down as soon as I thought I might pass out.

The epi didn't start working right away. In fact, the anesthesiologist came back in and pushed some through the line for some more immediate relief because the contractions were so strong at that point. They had to tilt me to the right because only the left went numb at first (such a weird sensation!). The relief was wonderful. I actually finally got some sleep at that point for a couple of hours. The OB came in around 7 am to check the progress. I was 9.5 cm dilated and fully effaced! The nurse that I had at this point had been a midwife and pushed for me to be able to do a "Passive Descend". Basically they just wait as long as possible before actively pushing to avoid stress on the mom and the baby.



Around 8:30 the OB and a few nurses came in and it was time to push. They set up a big mirror and a spotlight so that I could see what was going on down there through the birth. The nurse had me reach my hand down and feel the head. I remember thinking that it felt squishy, not hard and like a little ball. They wanted me to push whenever I felt pressure from a contraction. However, I really couldn't feel much, so it took a ton of concentration to try to decipher a contraction. I thought this was odd because I would have thought that they would tell me when a contraction was coming so that I would know when to push. They didn't. I asked them to, and they still didn't.

I think I must have been pushing for about a half hour when I started hearing some concern in their voices. Then the OB mentioned to me that she might have to use the vacuum pump to get him out. I told her to do whatever she had to do. It was at that point that they lost his heartbeat. They started moving the monitor all over my stomach trying to find it and nothing. That is when I heard them say to prep the OR. It was at that point that something came over me. I grabbed my own legs and pushed with everything that I had. He came out with three tremendous pushes. He started crying immediately and they placed him on my chest. He was there for almost an hour. It was the most amazing feeling I have ever experienced.



Benjamin Emory made his entrance to the world at 9:16 am on Wednesday, October 20th weighing 7 lbs 14 oz and measuring 19 inches long.

We spent the next two days recovering in the postpartum wing. We were extremely impressed with the hospital and all of the knowledgeable nurses. Ben ended up with a touch of Jaundice, but the nurse practitioner felt confident that he wouldn't need any light therapy after they drew his levels and they came back elevated, but low enough to just keep an eye on it. We were released on Friday afternoon. Ben screamed the entire way through the halls as J carried him in his car seat. Of course, people turned to look and smiled and I know that J was nervous and feeling like all of these people are saying to themselves that we don't know what we're in for! Of course, the second that his car seat clicked into its base in the car, the crying stopped and he fell fast asleep :-)






Dad had to head back to work later in the day on Wednesday and came back down on Sunday to bring mom back home on Monday. He brought along my nephew, Isaiah who is six years old and was dying to meet Ben. He did such a great job holding him and helping us change his diaper. He says that he is going to teach him "and lots of things, but not dangerous things because that would be bad."





Benjamin is a really good baby. For the most part he only cries when his diaper needs to be changed (screams when it is actually being changed), when he is hungry and fusses a little when he wants to be held. We had a couple of scary days when we couldn't seem to wake him up for anything. We used cold wash cloths, took of all his clothes, basically tried making him as uncomfortable as possible so that he would wake up and eat. All to pretty much no avail. When the visiting nurse came when he was about a week old, he hadn't gained back any weight and was still about 5% below his birth weight. She said that she was going to come back this past Tuesday (one day shy of turning two weeks) to weigh him again and make sure that he was gaining. However, she has had to cancel twice now - so we aren't sure when the second weigh in will be.

We spent a nice Halloween at home. Only wound up with about 5 groups of trick or treaters and I was feeding Ben for three of them, so I didn't get to see them :-( Now we have a giant bowl of candy that is making it's way into J and I's tummy! Ben seemed to enjoy his festive outfit :-)





We are in love!!