He's Here! The Birth Story

Welcome, Benjamin Robert Paradis!
   Born at 8:24pm on 9.24.10 weighing 7lbs 6oz and 20" long!
  We scheduled an induction for Friday morning since my contractions were slowly getting stronger but still irregular. I felt it was time for him to come. That morning I was excited until it was time to get in the shower and for some reason, I got really nervous. Talking about labor was one thing, but actually starting the day where I knew it was inevitable that it was happening was kind of scary.
  I couldn't eat much, and they advised me to keep it light, so I had a banana and off to the hospital we went. I got there and got all johnny'd up and tried my best to relax. Rob and I were both tired and nervous and a bit unsure of how the day was going to go. We only knew that at this point, we weren't leaving the hospital without a baby!
They started my IV, which wasn't easy or pain free. Then the inducing drugs to get my contractions regular and stronger.
  A few hours passed and they were getting pretty painful, so I asked for the IV pain killers which made me loopy and really tired. About an hour after I got that it started to wear off and they noticed my blood pressure was low so the nurse gave me a dose of ephedrine to get it back up. Well, she didn't tell me it would hurt so bad! It felt like fire through my veins going up my arm and through my shoulder!
  After a while they checked the progress and decided it was time to break the water which would get things moving along.  It was the weirdest feeling, to have so much warm fluid gushing out and there's nothing you can do about it!
  Then the IV pain meds had worn off enough that I asked for the epidural. Soon after the anesthesiologist came in and set up a little tray with who knows what. Needles make me queasy so I decided not to look. I sat up and leaned on Rob's shoulder and tried to breathe through the contractions that were strong and about 2 minutes apart, as best I could. The epidural didnt go flawlessly either, he numbed the spot which hurt, but not as bad as when inserting the catheter he did something wrong and I felt the worst shooting paing in my right hip, it was terrible. He fixed it and started the meds and I felt my lower body slowly go numb. The nurse and Rob had to turn me side to side every hour to even the numbness and everything else.

  Hours passed and with each check I was making some progress. I lost track of time but at some point in the evening my doctor came back to let me know that the baby wasn't handling the contractions very well. She said his heart rate was dropping after each contraction and that wasn't good. She let us know that if tings didnt change soon we could be looking at a c-section.
  Ugh, I really wanted to avoid that! They put me on oxygen and put a saline drip into my uterus to give the baby more cushion for the contractions.
20 minutes later the Dr was back saying that it hadn't really helped. I begged her for more time as she let us know that a c-section was very likely in our future. She said she would be back in 15 minutes and I took that time to breathe in the oxygen deeply, to rub my belly, and try to focus all my energy on our son.
  As time is going by I keep a closer eye on the clock, awaiting the dreaded news to come walking through the door one more time. 40 minutes passed and I could feel more pressure down low, I figured it was his head coming down, but didn't know if that was enough to keep us off the operating table. The Dr walks in to give us one last check... "10cms dilated, 100% effaced, and station +2, time to push!"
  That was the best news! I gave one click to my epidural, let Rob and the nurse position my limp legs. Then the nurse began coaching me on every contraction that I could feel to push with everything I had. I did, I think because of the epidural, the good news, and Rob's happy face it was relatively easy. I could feel the progress being made with no pain. The nurse told Rob and I that part of his head was visible. Rob looked at me as if he needed my permission to see, I told him to look, it was the only time he was going to see his first son born! Then the nurse told me that I was a pro at pushing and that I had to wait for the Dr to come in because she didn't feel like delivering our baby by herself! I tried my best to wait out the next contraction but as soon as the Doctor opened the door I told her I was going to push again! I did and felt a bit more progress. She quick got suited up, and sat down to go to work. I think I maybe pushed 3 more times and he was out! They said that the cord was wrapped around his neck... twice. That's why his heart rate would go down every time there was a contraction, it was smashing the cord! She unwrapped it and put him on my chest and got the clamps so Rob could cut the cord. It all happened so fast, all I can remember thinking was that he was so wet and warm and my husband was crying and smiling so much at the same time!
The nurse took Benjamin and Rob followed to watch him get cleaned up and I.D'd. I had to remind him to get the camera but he got a bunch of pictures, of things I couldn't see because I was still so numb!
  As I watched Rob and Benjamin across the room the Dr delivered the placenta. She told me that I barely tore, she called it more like an abrasion than a tear. She only put in 2 stitches to help it heal and said the stitches should dissolve in a week. It was quite a relief considering Benjamin's head was 12 3/4" in circumference!
  After he was cleaned and weighed and the bed was put back together they brought him to me so I could start feeding him. I wasn't 100% sure what to do, but he showed me the way, latching on like a pro! I couldn't believe it! I was so ready to have problems with feeding him, it seemed so weird that it happened naturally!
  We were up late that night, just staring in awe at our little prince, talking about what features were whose... not hard, he's 99% Rob's spitting image! We were texting and calling family and friends. We decided after a couple hours that we better try to get some rest while he was sleeping. Rob pulled out the bed in the room and got snuggled in, we put his bassinet between us so we could both see him and be close. Then just as we relax, Benjamin coughs and I saw something fly out. I got up to see, and to make sure he was okay and still breathing when I noticed 2 little jelly bean type things on his chest. I picked them up, showed Rob, quite bewildered and paged the nurse. By this time the day shift had come on and the nurse said she had never seen anything like it before, she took a glove and sort of smashed them with her fingers. She still couldn't figure it out so she brought it to the nursery to see if the pediatrician could tell what it was. We found out the next day that they didn't know so they sent it to the lab who couldn't figure it out either. The nurse came back to ask if I had implants. I kind of chuckled and told her absolutely not! We found 2 more "jelly beans" behind his shoulder soon after the nurse brought the others to the pediatrician. They sent those to a specialist who was to look at them on Monday.
  We were discharged on Sunday and had a Well-Baby" appointment for Monday afternoon. The doctor said Benjamin looked perfect and when we asked his opinion, (he used to be an Ob.) he said that the little things he coughed up were mucus plug and fairly common. I told him that I thought it was weird that no one at the hospital had known that and he chalked it up to inexperience. It made me feel better, and hopefully someone learned something. I am just SO grateful that he didn't choke on them and got them all out.
  Benjamin is now 4 days old, and just as sweet, perfect, and wonderful as we could imagine or ask for!

<3 Love you ninja!