Reed Benjamin- delivery story

Having a new born baby is such a blessing, and I forgot how much work they really are. Having an independent 4 year old made the transition to having a new baby kinda tough. We are all starting to adjust (I think) and beginning to figure out a schedule (I hope).

A couple of people have asked me about Reed's birth, so I'll try to get it all on here.

I went for my NST on Friday the 18th of February for the second time that week because they were concerned about his heart rate decelerating so much. This time the NST was really good. There were no major decelerations on his heart and the nurse told me everything looked great-we'll see you next Wednesday-I was scheduled to go every other day if things still didn't look good, so I was relived that I finally was leaving with good news.

Karissa and I decided to go grocery shopping and get a few things I wanted to stock up on before we did have the baby. We got home and I felt really good. The NST usually wore me out so much from stressing whether everything was okay that I didn't want to do anything when I got home, but not this time. I called Ben and told him the good news and Karissa and I worked on the baby blanket we started making and did some housework and fixed dinner. We went to bed and I actually got a good night's sleep. I had good intentions for the next day to finish get some long over-due cleaning done and finish my baby blanket.

Saturday morning I woke up and Ben and I were discussing what we needed to do. I had already gone to the bathroom, but laughing and coughing made me have to go again-Ugh! I thought, I'm tired of the whole 5 minutes between bathroom visits. I felt a little leaking, so I jumped up and went to the bathroom again (fun details, I know!) I got in the bathroom and had a huge gush of water-that wasn't my bladder, I realized my water had just broke (it was 9:15 a.m.). I grabbed a towel and cleaned myself off as best as I could and grabbed another one to catch the rest of what I was leaking and stood there-how am I going to break this to Ben? I waddled back into our bedroom and said something like-um that wasn't my bladder-I think my water just broke. He flew out of bed- ok! I grabbed the thickest sweat pants I have and put them on to absorb my now continually leaking water sac. I called L&D and told them we were on our way. They asked me how far apart my contractions were- contractions? I realized I wasn't having ANY contractions. Ben got Karissa ready and grabbed our stuff and loaded up the car and off we went to the Hospital.

I had ordered bountiful baskets, so my brother Josh was the first person that got to know the "news" he was so excited to tell Taryn that we were on our way to have a baby that he forgot what time I had told him to pick up our stuff and what I had ordered-Taryn had to call me back and get the details. It was pretty funny-I never would've thought he would be so excited.

Ben's Mom was the next person we had to call-they had agreed to take Karissa for us so that when the baby was born she was close enough to come see him. He told his Mom that my water had broke and we were on our way to the hospital and asked if they could take Karissa. His Mom asked him; her water broke, what are you going to do? Ben- um- go to the hospital and have the baby. His Mom was off in left field or something over the news.

It was raining, and Ben had told Karissa that we were going to have the baby-her listening to us tell Josh and Ben's Mom that my water had broke got her little brain thinking. She said to us- it's raining, maybe that can fix your broken water Mom.

By the time we got to the hospital and found a parking spot I was soaked- it was cold and I was so embarrassed to be walking around looking like I had just peed my pants. Ben was carrying my purse and we got some interesting looks from people walking past us. We got to labor and delivery and the nurse that had done my NST that Wednesday said-well, I guess you're back, do you think you'll have a baby? I remember telling her I hope so because this isn't so much fun! They got me into the delivery room and gave me my attractive new attire and checked the fluid to make sure it was amniotic- there was no mistaking, it was. I had another great big gush when I bent down to change my clothes. They asked me again about contractions-none. The nurse sent Ben downstairs to check me in and she started asking me questions. They called my doctor and told him I was there, but I wasn't having any contractions. My group B strep test had come back positive, so he told her to get 2 doses of antibiotic through me, which takes 4 hours each, and to start me on the pit at the lowest setting to see if they could get any contractions going. They hooked me up to the IV and I was now stuck in bed (about 11:30 a.m.).

Well, I told Ben we have at least 8 hours. I was dialated to a 2-3 was 70% effaced, but was at a -2 station. Hour by hour went by. When they had gotten 2 doses of the antibiotic into me they turned the pit up gradually as much as they could. I really don't know what time it was, but they had turned the pit up to as high as they can when I started getting contractions that were rough to get through-especially for such a long period of time. I had them do an epidural. It made me sick and my heart rate increased and my blood pressure dropped. My doctor ordered an EKG to make sure that I was doing okay. The EKG came back normal. The monitors were not giving good read-outs so they put a heart monitor on the baby's head-kind of similar to the EKG and a contraction monitor that went inside my uterus to monitor contractions internally. I felt like I was being strung up with all the gadgets that I had all over me. The stress of everything and being stuck in the delivery room was driving me crazy. I was getting anxious to have this little baby and nervous at the same time because he wasn't descending. Ben gave me a blessing that comforted me and helped ease my mind.

The nurse evaluated my contractions and informed me that I was still at a -2 and my contractions were only at 50%. They weren't strong enough to get the baby to descend. The nurses traded shifts and my new nurse took over, at around midnight she called my doctor to see what he wanted to do. My contractions were still only at 50% I had dialated to a 7, but was still at -2. He was on his way in and told her to turn up the pit (I ended up having double what they normally can give). That made me so sick- I kept throwing up. But, I guess it helped because between the pit being turned up every hour to double strenght and my throwing up he finally descended. My doctor was 10 minutes away from scheduling a C-section when the nurse informed him that the baby had finally descended. She had me do a trial push, which was good because I had forgotten that I was supposed to hold my breath, not breath while I was pushing. She prepped the room for delivery and had me do another trial push. I only had to push once when she stopped me, she said she was concerned we'd deliver before the doctor got in the room. He came in got dressed everyone was in place and we waited for the next contraction. I pushed good he said we have a head, pushed again and again and out came his shoulders, he told me if I had one more good push we'd have a baby. I gave it my all and out wiggled little Reed at 2:18 a.m. Sunday morning February 20th. The long wind-up and the fast pitch, is what my doctor called it.

He had a lot of lanolin on him and was so tiny. They put him up on my stomach while Ben cut the umbilical cord. My doctor held up the cord and said look- this little guy needs to be on the swim team. He had wrapped the umbilical cord around itself and swam through the loop creating a knot. Ben said it was easier to cut than Karissa's because of it only having 2 vessels.

The nurse then told my doctor to look at the monitors. My heart rate and blood pressure immediately stabalized and the nurse checking Reed said his had done the same. He was in perfect health and everything checked out normal. He weighed 6 lb. 7 oz. and was 17 1/2 inches long. When the nurse told us how long he was Ben said really-that's short. She checked again-yep and small little boy.

It was around 5:00 a.m. when I could lift my legs and had enough strength to walk to the wheelchair. They moved us into the recovery room and Ben called his parents and my Mom to tell them that Reed was finally here. (Sorry-we didn't call anyone else-we are terrible!)

Karissa got to come Sunday morning around 9:00 to see her new brother. When she walked into the room and asked me if they had taken the baby out of my belly he immediately turned his head toward her voice. He knew his big sister was finally there to see him. He's so cute she said. She was one very happy little girl. She stayed in the hospital with me all day watching over her new little brother. It was quite a task convincing her to go home with Daddy and sleep in her own bed.

They realeased us both on Monday evening to go home. I feel really good and he is doing really good. He is already lifting his head on his own and is such a pleasant baby. He is a bit of a night owl, so I am adjusting to functioning on 2-4 hours of sleep a night. Karissa is really cute with him and loves being a big sister. She tries to get his attention whenever he is awake and has created the where's Karissa game. She switches sides and gets him to turn his head toward her. He is very attentive and usually follows her really good.

We are so blessed to have a healthy baby, with no more stressing about whether there are problems. And blessed to have Karissa that has been such a joy to us and is such a cute big sister. We are thankful to our Heavenly Father that he has blessed our little family with two wonderful, healthy children that bring us so much joy and happiness.