So I'll start from the very beginning.
In October I found out I was pregnant. It was hard since I wasn't planning on having more kids for at least another year or two. I wanted to round off our family with two more kid but really wanted a break before I tackled that. Well sometimes we learn the difficult way that Heavenly Father's plans are different than ours. But I sit here now looking at our new little guy and I am grateful that things worked out how they did.
So pregnant I was and it was definitely a struggle. On the one hand things with this pregnancy were a little easier, on the other I had three young kids plus this pregnancy to deal with and I often found myself wondering how I was going to survive. But survive I did.
The last month or so of this pregnancy became increasingly difficult. With a pinched nerve in my back and an injured foot, boat loads of contractions and difficulty breathing I found myself constantly praying for the end.
During week 37 I was feeling extremely uncomfortable. The baby was sitting so low and everything just hurt. I started having painful contractions periodically and they worried me because they weren't labor contractions but they were already so painful. Tuesday morning, the day after the 38 week mark, I woke up at around 2 in the morning because the contractions were hurting so bad I just couldn't lay down anymore. I knew I was in for a long day because the contractions weren't getting any closer together and they weren't really consistent. Honestly it felt like hell. Compared to Bracken's labor these contractions were a nightmare. They were really strong and burned through my back. I had thoughts of doing this labor naturally since Bracken's labor seemed so manageable but I knew I would do anything for an epidural and I spent all morning praying for God to have mercy on me and thanking him for epidurals that I couldn't wait to get. Finally after a day of random yet fairly frequent and excessively painful contractions they started to become consistent around 4 in the afternoon. We hung around at home til about 7:30 when I just knew this had to be real labor and they had to accept me at the hospital. I called up my friend Brooke and she watched our kids while Mark and I ran to the hospital. Another thing about this labor, every time I got up from sitting down the pressure from the baby sitting so low would cause a massive contraction that was even more painful than the ones that came consistently. The same thing would happen if I tried to lay down. And when I started walking I would get one big massive contraction that sort of fluctuated but never went down until I stopped walking. I don't really know why it was that way, or even if it is a normal thing but a gracious man in the hospital grabbed me a wheelchair after seeing how I could barely move so Mark could wheel me up to Labor and Delivery.
Once they checked me in they took me to triage and I was dilated to a 5 and decided that was good enough to keep me, especially because the baby's head was sitting so low. They hooked me up to everything and got me the blessed epidural and I was finally able to relax. After having 4 kids I've had 2 different kinds of labor. One kind I am in so much pain that I can't get my body to relax no matter how well I breathe through my contractions and tell myself to relax. Because I can't relax I don't dilate very quickly but when I get the epidural and I can relax everything happens quickly. The other kind is contractions I can breathe through and force myself to relax through and I dilate consistently throughout the labor. This labor was the former. Once they got that epidural in me my contractions really started picking up and the first time they checked me after the epidural I was dilated to an 8 so the nurse said we could bring the midwife in and break my water and for sure have this baby tonight if I wanted. Well yes I wanted! So the midwife came and broke my water and discovered that the baby was posterior. She tried to rotate him but he wasn't really having any of it. She tried flipping me onto my sides but he didn't like that either. So she said she'd flip him while I was pushing.
Fast forward to pushing and the silly little guy had decided to flip on his own. The midwife was delighted until he decided to just keep on flipping as he was coming out. Mark said you could literally see the baby's head turning as he was coming out. So his head ended up coming out transverse. Little stinker! He came out in 5 short pushes and delighted us with being only 8 lbs. 2 oz. I'm sure that seems ginormous to some women, especially with him coming 2 weeks early but to me it seemed perfect and quite small compared to Bracken's 9 lbs 11 oz. I'm pretty sure if I ever had a 5 or 6 lb. baby it would just fall right out of me ;)
So Hale Ryder Bennett was born at 10:38 p.m. a quick 2 1/2 hours after arriving at the hospital. The midwife said I was the ideal patient and almost felt like she should have done more. I was happy to be so accommodating but really just happy to finally be done and hold my baby.
While I was pregnant I had to get a few extra ultrasounds because Hale's kidney's were a bit dilated. Basically they said that they would monitor him after he was born to make sure he was urinating regularly and that generally this sort of thing fixes itself once they are born. Well Hale didn't leave us waiting even a minute. Just as soon as they plopped him on my belly he peed all over me. Then when he was struggling a bit with breathing they took him over to the warmer where he proceeded to pee on the nurse as well.
So far Hale has been pretty chill. In the hospital he didn't wake up for a single test or blood taking or anything. He slept a whole bunch and didn't cry a whole lot. Now that we are home he has definitely found his lungs but so far he only uses them when he's hungry. When he isn't eating or sleeping he is very contentedly discovering the world around him. Each day he is getting more alert and we even got a 3 hour chunk of sleep last night which was glorious compared to the previous nights.
If you are curious how my other kids are dealing with our new addition so far the answer is great. Audree and Arya just love him and are always asking to hold him and kiss his cheeks whenever they get the chance. Bracken seems the least affected. He's really just been A ok with living his life like he was before. As long as he gets to do the things that feel normal to him he really doesn't even seem to notice that Hale is here. He'll stop by occasionally and give Hale a look and a laugh and then he runs off to do Bracken things.
At the risk of sounding too sappy I just wanna say how blessed I feel every time I look at Hale. I can truly see God in this little miracle of life and I can't help but shed a few tears over this truly amazing gift that I have been given. How lucky am I to have 4 amazing little kids to help me learn and grow and love more than I ever have before!
1 comment:
Great post! Thanks for sharing!
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