On April 19th at 5:10 in the morning, we welcomed Bennett Ryan into our lives! Let me tell you his story.
The week of Bennett's arrival was a bit of a nutty week. Sophia has been battling a double ear infection for a month and half. On Monday, April 15th, I had an appointment with my midwife. At this appointment, I learned that I was already 4 cm dilated and roughly 80% effaced. I also learned that Bennett was low, low, low and my waters were bulging. Nice visual, huh? I discussed an April 29th induction date as well as needing to make it to at least the 19th so I could have maternity coverage. My midwife just laughed and assured me I most likely wouldn't make it out of the week without a baby. Having gone through this with Sophia, I just shrugged it off.
Fast forward an hour... we also had an appointment for Sophia to check on her ears. Go figure, the latest round of antibiotics hadn't touched her ear infection. It was raging! So... they scheduled her for antibiotic injections... for the next three nights!! So, not only did I need to make the drive to the pediatrician (about an hour and a half round trip from work to school to pediatrician), but I could literally have Bennett at any time!
I panicked!! I then decided that there was absolutely NO WAY I could have him until Sophia's shots were over. I contacted our friend, Alicia, who offered to keep Sophia for us while we were at the hospital. She assured me that she would take Sophia to get her injections if I were to go into labor before Wednesday evening. That helped me to calm down some- but, I don't think I uncrossed my legs for the entire week.
Fast forward to Wednesday night... I was absolutely EXHAUSTED from all of the running I had to do during the week. I just wanted to collapse- and cry. When the alarm clock rang on Thursday morning, I was practically in tears. I made the executive decision to call in and stay home- which is something I never do. My body was telling me something, and I was listening! I took Sophia to school, rented a movie, and spent the day on the couch. I did manage to mosey into our room for a two hour nap. By the time Andrew and Sophia had arrived home, I had talked myself into a shower ("just in case I was going to go into labor"), and I asked Andrew if we could go for a walk.
We ate dinner- well, they did. I had no appetite. Then, we headed to Walmart and walked for a good hour. There was quite a bit of Braxton Hicks activity during our walk, but I didn't think much of it. When we got home, we quickly bathed Sophia, and I rocked her to sleep (how I wish I would have rocked her longer!!).
Once we settled into bed, Andrew quickly drifted off to sleep about 9. I laid there with my mind running. I started to drift off when- BAM! Out of nowhere, a pretty strong contraction hit. I thought, "Hmmm- that hurt!", but I tried to drift off again. Four minutes later, BAM! Another one. Still thinking nothing of it, I tried to drift off again. In 20 minutes, I had 5 painful contractions- all four minutes apart. Around 9:30, they started coming every 2 minutes. I'll spare you some other details, but one thing was for certain, these were no ordinary Braxton Hicks. I quickly logged onto Facebook after the first 4 or so hit because I knew my friends from Sophia's pregnancy would be close by. They were quick to tell me that I was posting every 1.5-2 minutes about another contraction. They urged me to wake Andrew up (I didn't want to wake him for a false alarm)... and told me if I didn't, we'd be delivering Bennett at home.
An hour after the two minute contractions hit, I woke Andrew. Still asleep, he asked if I could wait. I laughed out of sheer panic and told him that I had already waited an hour. We called the hospital, and they told me to come in right away. We called Alicia and she agreed to meet us at the hospital- she was ecstatic! I tried to shower, but Andrew advised me that we probably didn't have time. Bummer!!
On the way to the hospital, the contractions did not stop. We contacted our parents, but since it was so late, there was not time to contact our family. Upon arrival at the hospital, they hooked me up to the monitors and said that I was "banging out the contractions left and right". I was in active labor! They called my midwife, and she came right in to the hospital. They checked me & I had progressed to 5 cm and 90% effaced. I declined the epidural & decided to walk.
Once I had reached a good 6 cm, they told me that if I wanted the epidural, I better get it right then or else I'd progress too quickly to receieve it. Wanting some sleep, I decided to get the epidural even though I really wasn't in a WHOLE lot of pain. A natural birth is SO much easier than an induction. So, I got the epidural & in no time, it was time to push!!
I pushed for 15 minutes before Bennett arrived in this world! I was SO thankful for the epidural- Bennett was born with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, and as a result, they had to twist him around to safely get him out. Even though I didn't know what was happening, I knew that it HURT. I thought they were trying to get his head out. It wasn't until afterwards that I knew about the cord- scary!! He came out a bit blue & it took him a little bit to cry... Andrew and I didn't take a breath until we heard that strong cry.
Aside from the cord, he was born as healthy as could be! He quickly snuggled up to me & would only cry occassionally. Our little snuggle bug was here!! As family logged onto Facebook that morning, they were greeted with the good news. What a wild and crazy night- and what a surprise!!!
I will post later on about how well Sophia has taken to Bennett... until then, I hope you're doing well! I have a baby to snuggle!
