After spending my entire pregnancy assuming I would have him in late August, I was shocked when September came along and I was still pregnant. Every day I went to bed hoping I would wake up in labor and instead I just kept waking up still pregnant. We were all getting so anxious and impatient to meet our baby! Tim had a super light work schedule at the beginning of September and it was so frustrating that he had all these days off and no baby to spend them with! Tim had Friday the 12th off and was able to clear his schedule the next Monday and Tuesday, so we made the decision for me to get induced on Friday morning. I was overdue at that point and it was really important to us that Tim was able to be at home for a few days so we could have time as a family before everyone got back into their normal routines.
I woke up on the 12th feeling like it was Christmas and when I called the hospital to confirm my induction time they told me they were too full to take any inductions and I would be postponed until they had room for me. I was so disappointed! Luckily they called back that afternoon and I was able to go in about 3:45pm. By the time I was all checked in and my Dr came in, it was close to 5pm. She tried to start things by breaking my water but because of the position of the baby, she wasn't able to and she started Pitocin instead. I hung out with Tim and Kelly watching movies and they came in and turned up the Pitocin every 15 minutes. It didn't take too long before I was contracting every 2 minutes, but I was still comfortable and able to talk through them. I had never labored with my water still intact and couldn't believe how much more comfortable it was! Since contractions weren't too painful, I could tell that despite how regular and close together they were, I was probably not progressing much. At 9:45 my Dr came in to check on me and I was only 4cm (I had been at 3cm all week). I was kind of discouraged that all those contractions weren't doing anything, so we decided to have her try to break my water again.
As soon as my water was broken, contractions became much more intense and I really had to focus on relaxing through them. I spent most of the next 2 hours on the big bouncy ball and had to have Tim rub my legs between contractions. The Pitocin was really causing my muscles to tense up and shake and I was having a hard time relaxing between contractions. My nurse came in to check on us at about 11:30 and could see how much I was shaking so she turned off the Pitocin and unhooked me from all the IV's and monitors and suggested I try to get in the jacuzzi tub to relax. I had no idea that was even an option once my water was broken and was relieved to have something to try to help me relax. I got in the tub at about 11:50pm (and was about 4.5 cm) and my muscles immediately relaxed, she put a bunch of pillows behind me in the tub and between contractions, I was falling asleep I was so relaxed. The length and intensity of contractions really picked up in the tub, but being able to relax in between them made all the difference in the world. My nurse wanted to check me after 20 minutes since I was off all my monitors and had been on Pitocin for so long. At this point I knew I wouldn't be able to deal with how strong my contractions were out of the tub and told Tim to tell the nurse to have an epidural ready! I barely made it out of the tub and felt my body start pushing. I was convinced I just needed to go to the bathroom, but the nurse was insistent on checking me. Tim somehow got me dried off and into bed and the nurse came over and immediately said, "Stop pushing!" and yelled into the hallway for them to call my Dr, get a supply table in the room and for another nurse to come in. Another nurse came in and everyone was telling me not to push. Well, I realized when your body is ready to push, there isn't a thing you can do to stop it! I was laying on the bed and my body just pushed him right out with one contraction. It took about 15 seconds and he was born at 12:28am. The nurse immediately lifted him onto my stomach where he stayed for about 10 or 15 minutes until Tim cut the cord and then we moved him up to my chest. He stayed there for another hour before I was ready for them to take him off to get cleaned up, weighed, measured, etc.
He was so perfect and pink and had the most perfectly round head, he wasn't squished up at all. Everyone commented on how pretty he was. Not spending any time in the birth canal apparently makes for a good looking baby fresh out! I was so relieved to finally meet my baby and be able to hold the little person that had been inside me for so long. I had such an adrenaline rush after his birth and was so happy and busy falling in love with him that I couldn't get any sleep until about 5am when I finally fell asleep for an hour before waking up for the day.
The next morning the boys came to meet their new little brother. They both ran in the room, bypassed me entirely and went straight for the baby. They were both so excited to hold him and examine him all over.
Shortly after we told the boys I was pregnant, James asked if he and Mac could name the baby. I said it depended on the name and he immediately said, "I want his name to be Benny, like the Lego astronaut." It stuck and we called him Benny my entire pregnancy. We decided to go with Bennett as his full first name and Conroy as his middle name, which is Katie's maiden name.
James could not have been more proud or excited to hold Benny for the first time. It was so sweet to watch him.
Our time in the hospital was actually quite nice. We had lots of visitors who were excited to meet Benny and he was such a quiet and good sleeper that we actually got some rest the night after he was born. I got a massage the morning after he was born and then just spent all day in bed snuggling Benny and visiting with friends and family.
We brought him home on Sunday and were excited to get back to James and Mac and settle in as a family of 5.
As soon as we pulled into the driveway, the boys ran out to see Benny. They were very excited to give him his teddy bear that had made for him a few weeks ago and Mac started bringing out an endless string of toys and Legos to show his baby.
My friend, Kate, made the boys their big brother shirts and Benny's onesie. Adorable.
Our first photo as a family of 5.
Our hearts could not be any more full than they are right now. Benny has fit seamlessly into our family and the boys could not love their baby brother anymore than they do. They fight over who gets to hold him and have adjusted so well to having a new little person in the house. So far Benny is an absolute dream baby. He sleeps awesome, nurses well and is content to just hang out among the chaos of his big brothers. I can't believe it has been 2 weeks since he was born! I wish I could just rewind to the day he was born and live these 2 weeks over and over again. I have loved getting to know him and watch James and Mac fall in love with him. We are all so happy that he is here and are completely enjoying life as a family of 5 with our sweet new addition, Bennett.
