Oh wait, I didn’t tell you how we broke the news to everyone! Well, this was a huge shock to all our friends and family because not one of them had any idea! There was one set of friends who I knew would be really excited for us, so we decided to tell them first, at about 10 weeks. I had a “pre-pregnancy” book that I was reading, and I knew my friend would want it for herself someday soon. So, we went out to dinner and I gave her the book and said, “I won’t be needing this anymore, I thought you might want it.” She said thanks, and then paused, and I pulled out the ultrasound picture! It was fun to tell people who were as excited as we were! For our families, we waited until Christmas and gave the siblings an ornament with the ultrasound pic on it that said Future Uncle & Aunt. For our parents we made them a photo frame of the ultrasound pic and us holding it, saying “Arriving July 2013″. We video taped all their reactions, it was great! We video taped some of our friends too. They were all very surprised. So much fun!
Anyway, I was due on a Tuesday and Friday morning before that I woke up feeling totally emotional and was crying for no reason, everything was very dramatic. I was never hormonal or emotional during my pregnancy. We went to the doctor and I was going to have her strip my membranes just to be sure I didn’t have to be induced. I had been dilated to 3cm and 80% since 38 weeks and there was no change one week later. But, then she told me that she wasn’t on call this weekend, and another doctor would cover my delivery. Wah-wah, begin the tears on this overly emotional day I was having. Well, no stripping for me. Then, Saturday I woke up to a few little contractions in the morning, but they stopped and we went about our day. We went to see a movie, made some yummy dinner and hung out, relaxing, just the two of us. My in-laws had come into town to be around for the week, just in case! My husband wanted to go out with them for dinner, but we had just had dinner with them the night before, so I said no! We need to spend what little time we have left as just the two of us together!
It’s a good thing we didn’t go over there! Around 5pm on Saturday I started to have regular contractions. (Who wants to co into labor in front of your in-laws, or try to hide it for a few hours while at dinner?!) I rocked my hips a lot and sat on the exercise ball, lots of hands and knees, hoping to get that baby down! Contractions weren’t the worst pain I had felt. You get a little bit of a break between them to rest, and it’s pain with a purpose. About 8pm I called the doctor, she said we should wait since I’m a first time mom, until they are a little closer together. Around 10:30 I started to feel nauseous and the contractions were starting to be a little closer together and more intense. Time to go! We got to the hospital and I was already 5cm! Woo Hoo- halfway there and I get to stay! They asked when I wanted my epidural, oh, sooner than later probably, so I can sleep! Well the anesthesiologist was in a C-section, so it would be a little bit! The contractions were really starting to be intense and closer together. Okay, where is that guy with the magic juice? Around midnight I got the epidural and the nurse said I was 8cm! Dang, this is going fast! What a relief that epidural was, though, am I right, Ladies?! Greatest feeling in the world. I was so relaxed after that. My water broke about 1am and I was 10cm, but the baby was still high. Take a nap and let that baby labor down they said. Okey dokey. Got about an hour of sleep, but was too wired to really sleep!
The baby had a few decels that were fixed with position changes. Then, about 4am, the nurse came and checked and the baby was nice and low. She had me push a few times, then said, stop! Let me get the doc. Apparently the unit was crazy busy that night. There was a rainstorm that had brought in a bunch of women! The doc arrived and two extra nurses. The lights were nice and low. I pushed for about 40 minutes and then HE was born! It’s a Boy! We were totally surprised! Wait, you weren’t surprised, you say? You knew it was a boy because of my blog title? You smarty-pants, you!
Yep, Benjamin was 7#7oz, born at 4:40am. Came out kicking and screaming, and refusing to breastfeed (see later post on that debacle). He was perfect.
I wasn’t as sore that day as I thought I would be. I had a small grade 2 tear. What hurt the most were the hemorrhoids. Yep, I said it. It was hard to sit in bed and breastfeed while trying to avoid pressure on those puppies! Yikes! I was taking ibuprofen around the clock and that kept me pretty happy. Until my blood pressure started to skyrocket. Well, it was high for me. Then my platelets dropped, then my liver enzymes were wonky. Pre-eclampsia, after baby? Yes, my doc said, it happens. It may have started before I went into labor and that is why my body kicked it into high gear for a fast labor. I felt totally fine, but the numbers said something else. You have to stay until the numbers go down. Thankfully that was only until the 48hr mark as my BP was still high, but labs had improved.
Benji had gotten down to 6#15oz on the second night, but seemed to be breastfeeding okay. All our friends and family came to visit and we were totally exhausted! My husband was a champ! He was so great at getting Benji to calm down when he was fussy. But when he would just cry and cry and cry, we were at our wits end. I was sore and couldn’t feed him anymore, so we begged the nurse for some sweeties (that magical sugar water!). He took that and got some sleep, but he seemed hungry. Keep breastfeeding they said. We sent him to the nursery for his nightly weight and he came back and slept for hours. I swear that nurse fed him something while he was back there because a few hours later, the screaming returned. We just decided that we probably have a fussy baby on our hands… great!
