Bennett Michael made his debut on April 26th weighing in at 8 pounds and 5 ounces and was allegedly 18 & 3/4 inches long...I will get into that a bit later. It is hard to believe I have 2 children!
Bennett's labor was fairly uneventful...I will spare you any of the grosser details...I was contracting on a regular basis-but really wasn't dilating...which is pretty important if you are going to be delivering a baby...so my doctor made the executive decision to start the maximum dosage of pitocin possible. Now, I am no stranger to the pitocin-as I was induced with Hannah and things progressed very nicely and her labor was actually pretty easy...I don't recall having too much pain-in fact, the most painful part was getting the epidural...probably because I called for it before I was in actual pain- don't get me wrong, I was experiencing discomfort when I asked for it, but not real pain...because of this, I tricked myself into thinking I has a higher pain tolerance than I really do...that and one of my very dear friends delivered not 1 but both of her sons naturally without an epidural so I thought, hey-maybe I can too...wrong.very wrong.could not have been more wrong if I tried.
Because I was not dilating, I was at solid 4 centimeters for a long time...for about 98% of my labor actually...(hence the decision to dial up the pitocin) and because I had tricked myself into thinking I could try for a delivery sans epidural, I took the nurse (who was amazing by the way) up on her offer of a drug that would "take the edge off.." I was having very regular contractions-about 2-3 mins apart, and they were incredibly painful...to the point that I thought I was going to throw up so I hovered over the trashcan for a while...now, when the nurse described this drug to me she told me it would make me sleepy and allow me to take a nap so I could be rested for the actual delivery- that I would still feel some pain but I would be able to sleep through it...um, ok, seems like something I could deal with, and a nap sounded like a great plan since it was 3 pm and I had been there since 6 am with no dilation progression...so she injected it into my IV (which btw, was the most painful IV I have ever had I am pretty sure was due to the actual placement of it...in the side of my wrist...)
I was laying in the bed waiting for this edge that the nurse spoke of to be taken off…and apparently I was already over the edge…perhaps I even jumped off the edge in an effort to end the pain well before I got that drug because it did not help with anything…in fact, the only thing it did was make me sleepy…so there I was, unable to open my eyes because they were so heavy, but feeling the worst pain I had ever experienced in my life, but I couldn’t tell anyone because I was all drugged up and sleepy…terrible-I would not wish that on anyone…after about an hour, I was able to coherently tell the Hubs that I was ready for my epidural…so the Mister tells the nurse I am ready for it…and that dang anesthesiologist took his sweet time getting up to my room-no lie like an hour and 15 mins-my contractions are about a min apart and yet, I am still only 4 cm…that man finally gets to my room and was, quite possibly, the slowest talker I have ever met…and I know I was not the nicest person to him, but seriously, had he of made his way to the room, even 30 mins sooner, I would have been able to be nicer…none the less…if you have ever had an epidural, you know that you cannot have one administered if you are contracting…please recall I said mine were a minute apart and I was only 4 cm…so that means…it was a difficult time to try and get the so desired epidural…I am not kidding you when I say that that man stuck me 8 times…8 times people, with that larger than life needle in my back-at one point I turned around and demanded that he tell me if he was almost done...
At this point, I was not cranky because of the contractions at this point, I was cranky because I could feel an incredible amount of pressure…so much so, I was pretty sure Bennett was on his way out…if he wasn’t partially out already…FINALLY the anesthesiologist was able to get my epi in, just in time, because the nurse checked, and sure enough I went from 4 cm to ready to push in about 10 mins…we are pretty sure it is because I sat up to get the epidural, if I had asked for one sooner, then Bennett would have likely made his appearance sooner…oh well…that poor anesthesiologist was still in the room when Bennett was born…I was able to benefit a little from the epidural…
Because I was at 4 cm for so long, my Dr. did not think I was going to be delivering as quickly as I did…but really no one thought I would so who can blame her- I should also tell you that my Dr. alone had 6 women in labor that day…6…and unfortunately, she was delivering another baby when I was ready to go…luckily the hospital has their own doctors on the floor for that very reason, and one came to my rescue…a woman I never met before delivered my baby…and I am so thankful for her! My doctor came to my room about 30 mins after Bennett was born…
Now, you may recall that I said Bennett was allegedly 18 and ¾ inches long…well when we went for his 2 week appointment, he was 22 inches long…our pediatrician firmly believes he was measured incorrectly at birth, but it doesn’t matter because that is what is on his birth certificate…at 2 weeks, Bennett was also 9 pounds and 6 ounces…Little Mister eats…a lot…
He is so different from Hannah when she was a baby. He fusses more and always wants to be held…always…even when he is sleeping. Hannah rarely fussed and LOVED to spend time in her swing. Bennett basically cried whenever he saw the swing…Hannah loved her bouncy seat…Bennett will scream until we rescue him from the bouncy seat…but when he is not screaming at us for putting him down, he is the sweetest little boy who loves to cuddle with his mommy and stare at everything…he is very curious. His hair is thin and light…whereas Hannah’s was thick and dark…he seems to be taking after the Hubs when Hubs was a baby and Hannah definitely took after me.
Hannah says she likes being a big sister…though her actions do not match her words…we are having a bit of a difficult adjustment-she has had us all to herself for nearly 5 years and now she has to take the back seat to the baby for a while…and she is not a fan of that. We are trying to be patient with her because it is such a big change for her…and she has been attending summer camp to ensure that she is getting to do a lot of fun things with other kids her age and not feel like everyone is focused on the baby all the time. Camp seems to be helping her adjust…
We have been a family of 4 for almost 7 weeks now…well 6 if you include the 2 hounds…so I will try to give more regular updates, but I can’t make any promises as it is difficult to type with one hand-
