What a wild week I’ve had! This is gonna be a long post so will have to type then take breaks and come back to it. Our little Benjamin arrived Feb 28th, 2017 @ 8:10AM / 8lbs 4oz / 20 1/4″ long! I couldn’t wait to finally sit down and tell his birth story!!!

So, I went to bed Monday night- well early Tuesday at about 1AM. I woke up once or twice just for a sec with slight period type cramps and maybe a contraction but I was able to go back to sleep but then I woke up again at 4:30AM or so and had to get up because the period type pain was worse and once I got up I was having contractions again. I went into the living room to sit down at my desk and write down the contractions on a piece of paper. I did not want it to be false labor and have to go to the hospital, only to be sent home again. I started at 5:01AM and then decided It would be easier to track them with an app so I tried to do that while still bracing contractions.. so I started timing on my phone at 5:54AM until 6:17AM. Back up- and I had taken my thyroid meds at about 5:45AM since I wasn’t sure If this was going anywhere, as far as labor (lol) and then I tried to get up and walk around to start to get Katie’s breakfast/school stuff ready but It was pretty painful but I still tried. Brad woke up, came around the corner into the kitchen, and saw me- I pointed to the contraction timer on my phone and said- I need help… getting Katie’s stuff.. ready. Brad’s like, “Why didn’t you wake me up sooner?!!!” I eventually sat back down at my desk and was trying to just work through each contraction and then he handed me the phone with the help line nurse and I told her the situation and she said, “If you are having the contractions every 2-3 minutes and are 4-5 centimeters dilated then you are in active labor and should go ahead to the hospital.” Brad started getting our bags together and got Katie up and started to get ready for school then sometime in there drove quickly over to pick up my Aunt, who was going to take Katie to the bus stop. By the time my Aunt got there I was standing in the kitchen bracing contractions and realllly feeling them, which meant I was making slight noises. I just kept thinking- I wish I was at the hospital already! I still just had my PJ pants and gray night shirt on but there was NO WAY I was changing into anything else so Brad got my house shoes to just slip on. He went around making sure we had everything. I could still talk between contractions so we were ready to leave so getting down the stairs in front of the apartment was not exactly fun- neither was getting into the car or sitting back down, lol. As we drove off, my Aunt and Katie were headed towards the bus stop.

Brad had the GPS going and It said about 11 or 12 minutes to get there. He did well with trying to stay calm lol but I was making more and more noises/sounds and it really helped me to get through them- to be vocal. I had a death grip on the top side handle of the car with each contraction. Brad put on his flashers and tried to navigate through traffic as fast as possible. Between contractions I remember sitting there seeing the beautiful view as the sun was rising. It was a beautiful sight and then more contractions! I looked at the GPS timer- 7 minutes left. I thought- come on, come on. Eventually I was slightly saying, “Owe owe owe owe” and then when the contraction would die off a little I’d have a slight whimper. We thought we were gonna get caught in traffic on the Interstate, but luckily the sign on the side up ahead at one point displayed, “Accident just cleared” THANK GOODNESS… or else we might have had a baby in the car incident! We get to the turning point towards the Women’s Center of the hospital and there’s a pretty big downward hill- ugh. Brad drives up and around the circle entrance and then jumps out and says to the guard or whoever, “Wheelchair! Get a wheelchair!” So the guy brings the most uncomfortable wheelchair with no cushion, only a bottom that was made of criss crossed metal- Brad later said they use those in case the woman’s water breaks while in the chair then there wouldn’t be a mess, since the seat is open- if that makes sense. Anyway- that was HELLA painful trying to sit on that and be pushed. I was vocal once pushed into the building and the walls are very echoy so everyone heard me LOL! We rolled over to the front desk and I was just trying so hard to work through the pain. The minute we got to the front desk I put my health record in front of them so there would be no questions. Brad got my ID and insurance card out while we waited and finally a nurse came to wheel me back to the room. I got in there and had to try to change into the gown. I walked into the bathroom and had a hard contraction so I was standing there naked in the bathroom lol. It subsided so I quickly put the gown on and tried to get up on the bed. I laid back and was just getting through the contractions and the nurses were hurrying around to get things set up/hooked up lol and then the midwife came in and said I was fully dilated and a 0, which meant babies head was pretty close! I started to feel a little bit of pressure and everyone was still moving around the room trying to get everything set- and the midwife said, “Feel like you’re ready to push yet?” I was like, “No, no, not yet” And she’s like, “It’s not gonna feel any better till you push that baby out!” Lol. Then my water broke while the midwife was somewhere else in the room and I was like, “My water broke!” It felt a little better/relief when that happened and then we got set up to push so feet in the stir-ups and time to push him out! Midwife did an AH-MAZING job coaching me but I kept losing that take breath in/hold/push rhythm but I finally got it going and they told me not to stop! I remember the midwife telling Brad, “Encourage her Dad” lol. Then when his head was coming out I felt her put her fingers around the skin/his head- Y’OUCH. That was the worst part, I think. Not long after that- our little Benjamin was born! We entered the hospital at 7:36AM and he was born at 8:10AM- yup.. I kept up with my family history of fast deliveries, for sure.

To be continued… =)