Ben's Birth Story

Monday morning, on the way to take Jordan to daycare, we got the call at 7:15am to come in for my scheduled induction. Get there by 8, in a room by 8:30. They got me changed, hooked up to the IV and started pitocin and the penicillin drip. My doctor came in at 9am and did a check. I was still only 1 cm dilated and my cervix was not at all ready. She scared me because she kept saying that she should have checked me last week before scheduling my induction... made me a bit worried that Monday would not go well at all! However, they had already started, so no going back. She stuck this little soft gel tab thingy inside me (miso something???) to get my cervix ready and stopped the pitocin. After an hour, contractions started. After 2 hours, they were stronger. At noon (3 hours later) I was 2 cm dilated and the doctor broke my water. Not a pleasant feeling, though the random gushing throughout the afternoon was entertaining. At 1pm, they started the pitocin again and another penicillin drip. Half an hour later the contractions were coming much stronger than I had anticipated and were 1-2 minutes apart... time for the epidural!! I had a great doctor (well, doctor in training!) and his supervisor. The epi went in fine and I loved that this particular doctor prefers to have patients control the dosage instead of a continual drip. It was heavenly =)

I wasn't pressing the epidural button much as my right leg had gone numb and I got a bit paranoid about taking any more so I felt all my contractions. Around 4pm my doctor came in and checked me again, 4+ cm. She kept saying "this baby is coming soon!!" I was more skeptical as I couldn't imagine going from 4 to 10 cm terribly quickly. However... around 4:30 the nurse kept asking if I had any pressure. What are you talking about lady??? I never felt that with Jordan because of the strong epidural so I had no idea what she was referring to. A few minutes after the nurse left the room I felt like I HAD to push! Dave ran out into the hall to get the nurse and within minutes I was ready!! It was SO QUICK! 4 pushes later, and lots of crying and uncertainty on my part, Ben had arrived! Proud daddy cut his cord!

We had a bit of a scare. His cord was wrapped around his neck twice. The NICU team rushed in and checked him over. After a little oxygen he was ok. Monday night he spent a few hours in the NICU because of some strange grunting noises he had been making since birth. XRay showed nothing wrong and eventually it cleared up. He was returned to me by 4am. He nursed like a champ and spit up the nasty formula bottle that they had given him in NICU. Good boy! After 2 nights we came home!

It all went so quickly and I couldn't be more pleased with my birthing experience. I am amazed at how little my boy is. He was born 6 lb 9oz and 20 inches long. He is a gorgeous gorgeous boy! He is also quite the nursing champ and my milk was in by last night.