Bennett's Birth Story

This will be long and boring to everyone, but I want it recorded for memory's sake. 

So, I'd been dilated to a 4 for about a week. I was having some contractions, but they weren't regular and weren't enough to stop me from working or going to birthday parties or getting things accomplished before Bennett's arrival. 

We went to bed around midnight on the 18th. I remember waking up to some contractions, but I'd go back to sleep. And I went to the bathroom and could tell I was losing my mucus plug, so I knew Bennett would be arriving sooner rather than later. 

Around 5 am on the 19th, I woke up to stronger contractions. I decided I'd better start timing them just in case I needed to know how close together they were. They were anywhere from 5-8 minutes apart and getting stronger. I got up and started packing my bags and waited until around 6:30 to wake Dusty up. By that time, the contractions were about 5 minutes apart. 

He started getting ready and I got Avery Claire up and ready. Dusty called our people and told them we were about to head to the hospital. I sent Becca a message and asked her if she could come to the hospital at some point just in case we needed someone there with Avery Claire. I really didn't think it was necessary, but just in case. When we left our house, contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and they were hurting enough to make me have to stop what I was doing and wait on them to end. 

We got to the hospital around 8:00 am. We stopped for a quick last picture of our family of three.

Labor and delivery was quiet! The nurse told me to get settled in the bed and she'd hook me up to the monitors and check me to determine "if I would need to stay." Dusty and I just looked at each other. I thought "dear God, IF I need to stay? I can't go home like this!"

So, she checked me and I was dilated to a 6, which definitely meant we were staying!! She said they could go ahead and get my epidural ordered while she admitted me. I'd have to get an entire bag of fluid before they could do the epidural. Avery Claire hadn't had breakfast, so I told Dusty to take her to get eat. Obviously, it'd be awhile until we had a baby, right? 

So, while they were gone, I answered a zillion questions and Becca arrived. By then, my contractions were really intense. And I still had no epidural. If you are one of the crazy people who have had a baby with no epidural by choice, you're just that - crazy. And I think I have a pretty high tolerance for pain. I refused to be one of those screaming women, but I so could've been. The anesthesiologist came in to introduce herself at some point and said they would be back to do the epidural. I don't know how long I waited, but it seemed forever. I remember telling Becca that I couldn't even take a breath between contractions because they were so close together. I finally told the nurse that I was feeling so much pressure and that I REALLY NEEDED THAT EPIDURAL RIGHT NOW. She told me they could give me something in my IV for pain while we waited. So, they did. All that did was make me cross-eyed. Literally. I had to close my eyes because I couldn't even see straight. Y'all know I'm pretty calm most of the time, but I buzzed her back in there and told her that hadn't taken one bit of the edge off. So she decided to check me. She said I was an 8-9 and that the only thing holding baby in was my water sac, which still hadn't broken. This didn't alarm me until she high-tailed it out of the room, yelling into the hall that I was a 9 and then tons of nurses started wheeling in the all of the blue sterilized stuff that you need for delivery. And they were urgently asking where "the daddy" was. I was still urgently asking WHERE MY EPIDURAL WAS. I told Becca that I didn't think they were going to let me have one and that they just wouldn't tell me. 

So, at some point {I'd completely lost track of the time}, Dusty and Avery Claire came back. I later learned that Becca had taken my phone and texted him and demanded that he get back NOW. And she told him she was pretty sure that they weren't going to let me have an epidural and that he was going to have to break that to me because she couldn't. 

About 1 minute after he and Avery Claire got back, the anesthesiologist came in and asked him to leave so they could administer my epidural. She and the nurses kept telling me that I could do it without it because I was so close. No. Absolutely not. I'd already felt WAY MORE than I ever intended to or needed to. 

Dusty kept saying they'd given me a placebo and that it wasn't real. It was real. Trust me. After 2 contractions, I felt nothing. This epidural actually worked a lot better than the one I had with Avery Claire. The doctor and all of the nurses were already in the room. That's how far along things were when I got it. As soon as it was in and done, I started pushing. I think I pushed for around 15-20 minutes. You'll have to ask Dusty about it, because it's way better coming from him. But the anesthesiologist and some of the nurses had to pay more attention to him than me because he got very pale. They were bringing him cold rags and ice cold cups of coke and had him sit down for a minute. He says he was absolutely fine. He's been working on this story for Christmas, family, so get ready.

Bennett Dale was born at 10:10. 

It's so amazing how, as soon as you hear that sweet baby, you forget about every second of pain you just endured. We got to spend over an hour skin-to-skin, with just us. Dusty went and got Avery Claire and she came in with us for a bit. 

I'm quite certain there won't be a next time, but just in case, I will head to the hospital much quicker!! I wont' chance having to do that with no epidural!!