The birth of Bennett.

Around 36 weeks, my doctor did an exam at my weekly visit and told me that I was 1 cm dilated and already 60% effaced. I was thrilled! I was already so uncomfortable, exhausted, and ready to meet my little man. Each week I made a little more progress and by 39 weeks was 80% effaced. Michael and I took many walks around our street, I bounced on a yoga ball, cleaned like a mad lady, ate all of the food that supposedly help induce labor, etc. (This was all during March Madness, and Michael wanted this baby out just as much as I did so that he could watch some games with him and put him in his first KU gear...) I was at the end of my rope and feared that I would be pregnant forever and that my child would be 10 plus pounds, even though I had not yet even reached my due date and was measuring on track. I just knew that he was getting big. At our 39 week visit with the doctor, she got out her calendar to look at her on call schedule for induction dates should I go past the due date. She hinted that it is safe to induce past 39 weeks and that she was not opposed to doing so if "the cervix is favorable" (showing signs of progress) and if the mother is at her wit's end with being pregnant. She was confident that our baby was fully cooked, though she guessed that he may be about 7.5 lbs at birth. I was skeptical about that but it did reassure me a bit. Nevertheless, I jumped at the chance to deliver as soon as possible and we scheduled the induction for Wednesday, March 28th, one day before the due date. I was, however, very conflicted about this as I had heard differing opinions about elective inductions. I read as many birth stories online as I could and decided that every woman is so different and has to make the decision that is right for her and her baby regarding induction. I felt a lot of pressure from others to just wait and let things happen naturally, but I was a nervous wreck with the uncertainty of when this baby would come and how everything would go down. After an exhausting bout of "false"/prodromal labor with regular painful contractions for hours one night, I was incredibly relieved to set a date and have an end in sight.

We spent the night before the induction getting the house in order for a new baby and finishing up final preparations for the hospital. We both stayed up later than planned and did not get much sleep that night, but definitely got more than we would have had I been in labor! We woke up around 4:30 am and Michael made me my requested breakfast of IHOP style whole grain pancakes with nuts. It was delicious and I thoroughly enjoyed it, knowing that it would be my last chance to eat for quite a while. We headed to the hospital and arrived at 5:30 am. We went through the registration process and signed paperwork, then were escorted to our room where we met our wonderful labor and delivery nurse, Marlene. I LOVED her! She was with us until 5 pm and I wished I could have kept her through the birth.

I changed into a tent sized gown and got in bed, where Marlene started an IV and put all of the monitors on me. I bled a lot when she started the IV in my arm and got quite dizzy, even though I was in bed. I could feel sweat dripping down my sides and felt awful but quickly recovered with some juice that Michael fetched for me. That was one of the worst parts of the whole experience. They started the pitocin at a low dose around 7 am and upped it every 30 minutes or so until I was having strong, painful contractions around 1 pm. My doctor came and broke my water around then and the anesthesiologist arrived immediately after to the insert the epidural. The water leakage was incredible and of course I was sitting up on the edge of the bed to have the epidural placed. It was quite a messy deal and I felt like Niagara Falls. I felt great after the epidural and tried to rest a bit. Michael and I watched a marathon of "Animal Cops: Houston" throughout all of this and Marlene enjoyed listening to it when she came to check on me each time. I made some progress over the next few hours but felt like I was not progressing as quickly as I wanted to. Around 4 pm I was 4 cm dilated. At 6 pm, I started shivering violently. My new nurse, Brittany, came to check me. She said, "I think I know why you are shaking. You are at 10 cm and the baby is right there!" We quickly called my mom and sister who were getting ready to head to the hospital anyway but rushed a bit after hearing this news. Little did we know they had plenty of time as I would push for over 2 hours before the baby would come!

With every push, he would move down a bit and then scoot right back up when I would rest in between contractions. This got old fast and I tired quickly. Two different nurses tried various pushing techniques and positions with me but kept saying that he just wasn't moving down much. I tried watching what was happening in the mirror, which was horrifying but did seem to help a bit. I was at my wit's end and was feeling overheated and irritable by the time the doctor arrived around 8 pm. She felt my belly and decided that the baby was a lot bigger than she had originally thought. She commented that it felt like he was so big his body was all the way up to my chest. As she started having me push, she noticed that I felt very warm and had the nurse check my temp. It was over 103. The doctor got serious quickly and seemed to know just what to do to help me push more effectively. She got the stirrups out and got my legs and hips positioned in such a way that the baby stayed put better. (Side note: the next day she told us that she had her assistant in position ready to push on my belly and get the baby past my hips, and possibly dislocate his shoulder in the process. Do they really do that??) Anyway, suddenly with some huge pushes he was crowning and I was told to "STOP PUSHING AND WAIT!" while the doctor got into her gear and got her team in the room. This was nearly impossible. The pressure was so intense and all I wanted to do was push him out! Finally she was ready and with one or two more huge pushes, our little boy Bennett came flying out into the world and was placed on my chest. He came out screaming with a huge cone head and a very thick layer of vernix. He was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and the tears of joy flowed. Everyone was shocked by his size of 8 lbs, 11 oz and 21 inches and 14.75 inch head circumference and by how much he looked like his daddy. Michael cut the cord and had a hard time with it because according to the doctor it was particularly thick and "juicy". I got to hold Bennett for a few minutes before they took him to the warmer to be cleaned up and weighed. I pushed out the placenta, which was also huge. I did have a third degree tear so the doctor worked on that for quite a while. In the meantime, they discovered that Bennett had a fever as well due to the infection I had contracted and informed us that as a result, he would have to go to the NICU for treatment and observation. That was hard news to hear but things certainly could have been worse. Michael and I were both worried, especially Michael. His papa bear instincts kicked in right away and while he was concerned about me, he knew that I wanted him to stay with the baby. We got to keep Bennett in the room for about a bit while we nursed. That little dude latched right on like a champ and actively sucked for over an hour! The nurse kept coming to see if he was done but he was not giving it up. Finally around 11 pm I reluctantly gave him a big kiss and handed him over. (Before he went to the NICU, we got to spend some more time with my mom, Kyle, niece Sophie, who were all there for the birth, and my brother-in-law Israel, who arrived after the birth.) I didn't let anyone but Michael hold Bennett yet because we knew we had limited time with him and they were all more than willing to oblige. Once Michael went to the NICU with Bennett, I found myself all alone in the room. Fortunately I had a ham and cheese sandwich, pickle, and pina colada smoothie to focus on scarfing down and it was so delicious. I also chugged about a gallon of water and finally started to feel my body cool down with the help of the antibiotics and fluids.

Eventually Michael and the nurse came back and helped me get out of bed and use the bathroom. I got pretty dizzy again so rested for a bit before they wheeled me to our postpartum room. Once there, we got settled and met our nurse, then went to visit Bennett in the NICU. I tried to nurse him but he was too sleepy and would not wake up. His awesome nurse, Kim, explained that I should pump as much colostrum as possible every 3-4 hours and then bring it to the NICU for Bennett, or try to nurse him again as often, which of course was my preference. We went to the NICU at 2 am, 5 am, and 8 am and got very little sleep in between, if any. We were preoccupied with worry about Bennett, I was having to pump, and it seemed like a nurse was in our room constantly to administer antibiotics, pain meds, check my temp, massage my uterus, etc. We knew that if Bennett's fever was down, he'd be able to come back to "room-in" with us around 10 am on Thursday and thankfully he was able to. I was ecstatic when they finally brought him to me. His NICU nurses came to check on him every few hours and to take his temp, and he had to go back to the NICU each time he needed a dose of antibiotics. We were also taking his temp regularly and recording all of his diapers and feedings for their records. We really did love his nurses, with the exception of the very last one he had who forgot to escort us out and made me walk out of the hospital on my own without a wheelchair! That was not so fun. Bennett cluster fed ALL NIGHT LONG on Thursday night and once again I got very little sleep. He was also spitting up a lot of amniotic fluid pretty violently so that was a little scary. The poor boy got stuck many times when they were inserting the first IV in his hand. Supposedly it's harder to get to the veins of bigger babies with more fat. Unfortunately on our second night in the hospital his IV fell out of his hand and when they couldn't get a new one started there they put one in his forehead. It looked awful but the nurses said that it was fairly normal to do that and did not hurt him. The whole NICU experience was fortunately very brief and minor and made us so unbelievable grateful that our baby was born full-term and healthy. He was a beast compared to most of the other NICU babies!

On Thursday and Friday we had some friends and family visit throughout the day and enjoyed that. We were anxious to get home and get some more rest (and spend time with our friends who were in town visiting and staying with other friends) but we had to wait 24 hours from the time of the first culture they took from Bennett to make sure the the fever was not caused by something serious, so we were not able to leave until after 11 pm Friday night. They went ahead and discharged me Friday morning but we were able to stay in the room until we left. A NICU nurse also detected a heart murmur while listening to Bennett's heart Friday afternoon so he had an ultrasound (which Michael dilligently supervised) and some extra attention from the neo-natalogist and we got a referral for a follow-up with a local pediatric cardiologist. That was a little curve ball but they assured us that they did not think it was anything very serious and was fairly common in newborns.

proud papa!

waiting to go home...

We left the hospital Friday night around midnight after waiting for what seemed like an eternity for the culture results, which were fine as we suspected they would be. The ride home was peaceful, but as soon as we got home it was complete chaos! Bennett was hungry and the dogs were freaking out, and we had to get everything and everyone ready for bed. It was heavenly to sleep in at least one or two hour increments without someone knocking on the door and coming in constantly. My milk came in around 4 am Saturday morning. Wowza. That was something else! The first few days/weeks are a bit of a blur but overall were amazing, and here we are almost 9 weeks later. A little more catching up to do...

going home!