benny's birth story. part II

if you haven't, read part I first.

sunday (9/9) we arrive back at home from spending the night in the hospital. i'm happy that i got to sleep but not happy that the contraction pain is getting almost unbearable. i took well over 10 showers throughout the day. long, hot showers. i waited until my fingers shriveled, got out, walked around a bit, laid down in bed, and when it got to be too much steve started up the shower again! i had a doctor visit the next day. since i had only been 1cm at the hospital i wanted to push through and make it to the morning. i didn't sleep for more than a few hours total that whole day and/or night. steve helped me out of bed monday morning (9/10) and we got dressed to go to see dr. halpert with crossed fingers that i am dilating more then i was the day before.

noooo. dr. halpert says he's ready to come out. he's made his way down.. but i am no further then 1-2cm. "if nothing happens, i will see you thursday to induce you" thursday?!?! but.. it's monday. i can and will not go through this for 3 more whole days.

cranky, justine back in the car. back home.

around 5pm things started to get pretty bad again. i jumped in the hot shower for the millionth time and tried my best to just relax. i laid in bed and started timing contractions again and this time they were even closer then they were saturday night. maura had work at 7pm so i wanted to wait until she was on her way to bother her with a phone call, again. so i sit impatiently staring at the clock. i think i dozed off for a little bit cause when i woke up it was almost 8pm. i called maura, told her they were close again and i was making my way over there. steve and i showered and took our time.. got in the car and headed to the hospital.

i check in again around 10pm. they hooked me up to all the fun stuff and check me out. 2cm. awesome. maura knows me very well. she knew this was it, that i was in pain, that we needed to hurry up the process a little.

she calls dr. halpert. he's on his way home from the office so he stops in to check me out. thank goodness he decides to break my water to speed things up.

water breaks. epidural in. phone calls are made. it's happening.
mom comes in. my best friend comes in. sisters. brother. steve's parents. friends. gangs all here.
not even 2 hours later i'm 10cm. legs up, ready to push. let's goooooo!

steve held me on one side. maura held my other side. i did my thang and faster then i knew it dr. halpert walks in and says "i see his head". pulls him out a little over his shoulders and tells steve to put gloves on cause he's gonna do the rest.

tuesday, september 11th, 2012 at 2:59 am. i pick my head up and look down and steve, the man i love is delivering our baby. that we made. together. and my family is here in one room and just like that we are instantly smitten. & in love.

at last, benny's birth story

as a mom i have begun to understand more and more everyday that writing down our memories & taking a lot of pictures is very important. not that i will forget or take for granted any moment shared some important details get cloudy as they get distant! ..so before anything gets clouded from my delivery, i am way over due on sharing our family welcoming mr. benjamin carter into this world..

my due date was tuesday (9/3).
friday (9/7) is when i got uncomfortable and antsy. i was working hard to get this guy out. i went to my grandma's and walked laps in the pool. i bounced on a yoga ball. i ran up and down the stairs. pineapple juice, spicy foods, etc.

saturday (9/8) steve and i had plans to attend the opening of our friend, matt's, event center. we wanted to keep our minds busy and my body active. i rested in bed until late afternoon. did some "push this damn baby out" exercises and around 6pm i find myself cringing during what i though were braxton hicks. i call steve at work and he says to keep cool and he would be home soon. when he got home i turned to him and said "babe these are the real deal." and he replies "nah, we're partying tonight babe.. get dressed." um, what? i call maura, a very close friend of the family that works as a nurse in labor & delivery. she tells me to start timing contractions. sure enough they were increasingly getting closer and closer together. we gather our things and prepare ourselves to finally meet our babyboy.

oh, wait. how could i forget we had to get gas on the way. we stop at the gas station up the block. steve gets out to get me a big girl water and the gas tank won't open, i repeat the gas tank won't open. we shut the car off, still no go. we turn the car on, open the doors, close the doors, lock, unlock.. i'm going to have my baby at the gas station, awesome.

thank god steve's friend, ed, happen to drive into the gas station as all of this is happening. now the car won't star. they try to jump it with ed's truck. nope, so i click it into neutral and my pregnant, contracting belly steers while steve and ed push the car into a parking spot. ed brings us back home and now it's pouring rain and we have to move the carseat and all of our bags into another car.

finally driving. we check into the hospital around 10:15pm, they check me down there. 1cm. that's it?! my contractions are starting to spread out more but they still aren't painless. my biggest fear was not being able to sleep and then my water breaking and not having the energy to push. maura advises i stay the night. they gave me a low dose of pain medication and i slept from about 12am-8am. still in pain. still cranky. back in the car. back to our house.

"no baby yet! we should've partied last night!" at least he can make me laugh.

PART II.

coming tomorrow.