First a little back story...Sunday the 6th I had a tough time going to sleep because little B was moving all around on my cervix and causing lots of pain. I was up pacing for a bit and chatting with him telling him how grateful I am for him but could he please stop hurting me? Hurting me was something he did a fair amount. He is definitely the most active kid I had in-utero. First time with ribs kicked and every night my belly was like a huge ocean tossing and turning. I woke up frequently to kicks if I laid on the wrong side. Basically it was pretty exciting and also reassuring and given all I'd been through to get him I was oh so grateful. Eventually he settled down but I'm pretty sure this is when he dropped. I went visiting teaching Tuesday night (the 8th) and the sister we were visiting mentioned it looked like I had dropped. I still wasn't convinced but I did say it would be nice of him to come the next day because 1. my sister had sick kids. My Mom was supposed to go there before coming to my house. She might have to cancel that trip so she didn't bring my sister's kid's sick germs to a brand new baby so really it'd just be nice if she could come to me first. (My Mom had to get there before Memorial Day Weekend). We didn't actually think that would work but that was reason #1. 2. It was going to be the 9th and with L born on the 19th and A born on the 29th it would kind of be fun to have all 9's. 3. It was my MIL birthday and would be kind of neat for him to share that with her (10 years since her passing). However, my earliest child came 5 days early and I never REALLY thought he'd come this early.
Well I slept well that night although a little shorter then I prefer but I don't remember any bathroom breaks or braxton hicks. At 5 I woke to a "real" contraction. Huh? I was 10 days early and while I know I'd thought of lots of great reasons for him to come on the 9th I never actually thought it would happen! After a bathroom stop (including some bloody show) I came down to the computer to research bloody show. Soon after I printed a list of what to take to the hospital because I was keeping my tradition I started with A of packing while in labor (oops!!) and I just don't think so great while in labor. At about 6 I told Kiley I was having real contractions. I was pretty excited to get things going. Between 6 and 7 my contractions were anywhere from 5-10 minutes apart- kind of all over the place but painful. I sent an email to the girls I had lined up the night before with people's #'s, addresses etc. and so that morning one of them asked if I was in labor. Ha- good thing I'd done it the night before!! After 7 my contractions slowed down to about 10 min. apart which was not what I was planning. I figured this labor would be just like A's which also started at 5 am and made constant progression. Just before 8 Kiley left to take L to school and A to a friend's house. I was bummed I didn't have any books to take to the hospital and the library didn't open until 10. I was sure I would be at the hospital by then! HA again. Since I was strep B positive and was supped to get penicillin 4 hours apart I was a bit obsessed with making sure I got to the hospital with enough time for that. With A I was only at the hospital 3 hours (perfect). I continued to pace the house while talking to my sister and Mom. I told Kiley there was NO WAY he was going to work (I couldn't believe he asked!!!). He proceeded to get on the computer and play GAMES. Really? Didn't he know we were having a baby? Okay I was being a little weird by this point- hyper, talkative etc. At 8:30 I dragged him out of the house for a walk. My contractions were still about 10 minutes apart- easy peasy but I wanted to get it moving!! The walk was...hot. Didn't seem to speed things up much but it kept my mind off things and was a nice thing to enjoy while anticipating my new little boy. When we got home I had to use oil to get my ring off my finger (did I mention it was HOT on my walk?). At about 10 I got soooooooooooooo tired. It was nuts. I just wanted to sleep but I was looking up books at the library. My contractions picked up to 5-7 minutes apart on our way to the library. I went in, grabbed a few books and decided I wanted to get checked at the hospital. I had an drs appointment that day and had talked to the office hoping to move it up (so I knew how far I was and didn't show up to the hospital any sooner then I HAD to but soon enough to get my drugs- oh the balance!!) but the doctor wasn't in until the afternoon. I could have gone and had the Physician's assistant check me but I decided to hold off.
We arrived at the hospital around 11. I went to the bathroom before we headed up (dumb). They brought me into triage and had me change and pee...right. Then they put the monitors on to check babies hb etc but they didn't check ME. For an HOUR I sat there...contractions of course slowing down without them checking. I was soooooooo frustrated because the ONLY reason I came in early was to get my medicine and an hour was wasted without them even checking. At 12 they finally checked me and I was a 4. The nurse told me I was making good progress considering how few contractions I was having (that's what happens when you make me lay in a flipping bed). They had slowed to 15 min. apart and weren't all that painful but since I was a 4 they kept me. Blah. At 12:45 they FINALLY gave me the medicine...and pumped me full of fluids. Come to find out this was to make sure I went the 4 hours because hydration often slows contractions. I spent 2 more hours in triage with few contractions FAR apart. At 2:30 they finally got me in a room with 2 nurses I really liked (Jen and Jessica). One was new to the hospital and she spent pretty much the rest of the time with me. We chatted as she filled out the paperwork and I requested a little pitocin since I had made close to no progress in 3 hours. She was the one who told me all the fluids are what had caused me to stall...and it was so I could get both doses of medicine. At 3:00 the anesthesiologist came in to say he was going to be unavailable for 1 1/2 hours (c-sections) so I could either get an epidural now or wait. I felt like a total wimp getting it right away because, well, my contractions had not been THAT bad and super far apart but I didn't want to wait and end up regretting it. So I got it. They gave me just a tiny bit of pit...and within 30 min. I was to a 7. They called the doctor and both nurses kept saying "good thing you got that epidural or we'd be having a baby now without your doctor." At 4 I was at 8 1/2 and basically my water was the only thing keeping me from being a 10. Dr. Groom showed up around 4:15 and filled out his paperwork- opting to wait so I could get my second dose of meds. At 4:35 they started my second dose of meds. They got the bed all set (read doctor friendly) and then Dr. Groom broke my water. I pushed with the next 2 contractions and B was RIGHT there. We all sat there waiting for the next contraction so I could push him out...and it didn't come. Dr. Groom said "you could push this kid out without a contraction" and so that's just what I did. As a side note, Dr. Groom knew I would rather tear then get a episiotomy but I knew my skin was not so stretchy after 2 kids and 2 repairs in about the same spot. I had told him I trusted his judgement. As we were waiting for contractions, he told me I could tear but I was starting to tear forward also so he recommended an level 2 episiotomy and I agreed. I'm so glad I had a Dr. who respected my opinion and let it be my choice- but I'm also glad for his expertise and avoiding a really bad tear. B's cord was wrapped around his neck so Dr. Groom had to cut the cord before he was all the way out. He also had me feel/see him coming out which was cool since with my other 2 I was a bit wimpy about that. Benjamin was born at 4:54 pm. I was surprised he seemed so big since he was 10 days early- I was expecting a 6 lbs kid and he weighed 6 lbs. 15 oz. Not too shabby. He came out holding his breath which made me super nervous. Dr. Groom was patting him on the bum trying to get him to just breath as he looked around and took in the world. Finally he started squawking a little so they put him right on me. He still looked pretty blue to me so I kept patting him telling him to breath more. Maybe a min. later (could have been less) the nurse took him to give him some oxygen (I was happy for that- he just wasn't pink enough). A few minutes on oxygen had him nice and pink.
On Mom right after birth
Dr. Groom did an amazing job sewing me up. When we had discussed tear vs episiotomy he told me he didn't think it really mattered which so much as how well (read gently) he sewed. He is big on gently pulling the tissues together but not doing the stitches too tight. I had little to no extra pain from the episiotomy so I think he did a great job!
A few notes-
The boys came with Aunt Viv around 7 to meet their new brother. They were both pretty excited! Aunt Viv, cousin Jace, and Grandpa Adams all came and saw him that night. Loved boy :) Kiley went home to sleep with the boys.
I ended up being in my L&D room until 1 am. They kept coming in and telling me they'd get me in a postpartum room but they were so busy and there were lots of c-sections that got rooms ahead of me. Had I known, I would have tried to sleep more. Instead I kept thinking I'd be moving and didn't want to bother with sleep. Plus- I'd just had a baby. And he could either be in my arms or on the cold, hard scale. Those were my choices if I wanted him close to me. I wish they'd just told me I could stay in this room until 5 am or something. Instead I got to wait for them to clean a room of people who left just before midnight. Ha.
We're so happy Benjamin came to our family!! I'll have a birthday post later when I have some more pics from today :)
