benjamin's birth story.

here we go!

so last monday was a weird day. lots of random phone calls and emails just checking in to see how i was doing. we literally had like at least 15 inquiries. then it came time for me to pick out my clothes for the next day. {saves me so much time in the morning... still not a morning person} told nick i was going to wear my shamrock socks because it was our lucky day. little did i know.

went to bed and woke up around 4 in the morning. wasn't sure if i peed myself or what. hurried to the bathroom and peed. came back to bed and it happened again. was so out of it. couldn't believe i was now not able to go to the bathroom enough and had resorted to leakage... then my smart self thought, holy shit. i think that might have been my water breaking. duh. then i laid awake curious. and sure enough was noticing contractions about 10 minutes apart. made it through to the morning since i still wasn't convinced that my water broke.

woke up and got ready to go to work. got nick up a bit early and told him that i thought i could possibly be in labor. of course, he stayed up late playing video games so he was functioning on very little sleep! he hopped out of bed and showered. this was way early for him... i decided to pee one more time before i left for work. i noticed some bloody sediment in the urine. called the nurse on call for my ob and was instructed to go to labor and delivery.

tell nick this. and he tells me he has to go to work! what the shit? are you kidding me? so we do. he's got to finish up some odds and ends in case it is the real deal. {his corporation is based out of houston and they would have to fly someone in, which means his site would have been without coverage for about 36 hours.} while we're there i pee again. and am for sure that my water has broke. thankfully, i made it to the bathroom in time and have no embarassing wet scrub stories to share!

off to the hospital we go. get all checked in and situated. the nurse checked me around 9:45. said that my water hadn't broke. was going to do an internal to double check. sure enough. it had. bad news. finger tip sized dilation. off to call the doc. baby is coming today. {only have 12-24 hours from time of rupture to get baby out. too much risk for infection.}

around 11am my ob comes to see me. is quite worried about my progression. time for pitocin. get hooked up to the monitors. ivs started. pit running. look at the monitor and see the fetal heart rate in the 130s. tell nick it's a boy and we need a name!

2:30pm and still no baby. the contractions are kicking my ass. had thought i could do a natural childbirth. i guess natural goes out the window when pitocin enters the picture. the contractions were absolutely awful. i couldn't even relax in the downtime. and they were 2-4 minutes apart which should have given me some time to calm down. tell nick i think i want an epidural. can't believe i'm saying that. epidurals scare the shit out of me. nick is totally supportive. says only you know what you need and all that lovey good husband stuff. have the nurse recheck my progress so i can make an educated decision. only 3cm dilated. what?! almost four hours of insane pain and i'm only 3 cm dilated. oy. decide at that point it is time for the epidural.

2:45pm epidural time. had a really nice lady anestesthiologist. walked me through everything. i was terrified of having a terrible contraction while i was supposed to hold still. so scary. had to sit over the edge of the bed and arch my back. which is so easy to do while experiencing some of the worst pain ever and with a giant stomach in the way! nick did really well trying to relax me and my shoulders. of course, had two serious ones while she was inserting the needles.

2:47pm no pain! weeeee!!!!! tell nick that i'm in love with epidurals. complain that i was so stubborn and should have done this hours ago. also kid that our baby's name should be epidural. was the strangest sensation. could still feel my legs and feet. could wiggle them. but no pain. heaven.

5pm recheck my dilation. only 3-4. thankful that i'm not dealing with the pain still. was told i had to try to urinate because my bladder was full. they had to pump me full of fluids because of the epidural. how the heck do you pee when you can't feel your legs/stomach? was quite an adventure. nick stood guard in the doorway and i could hear him chuckling to himself. he said he knew what kind of faces i was making without even looking at me. well, of course i had a strange expression. had no clue if i was peeing! turns out i did! yay me!

730pm have a lovely bout of emesis. fun. cherry jello just doesn't taste the same the second time up. was told that it could be a sign that birth is imminent, so the new nurse checks me. a whopping 5 cm. again, i'm thankful for the epidural.

930pm rechecked. 6cm and paper thin. really. 10 hours of pitocin and that's it? am told to pee again... but i couldn't. my first experience with catheterization and i couldn't feel it. did i say, i love epidurals?

950pm another nurse cmoes in to check my progress. apparently, my cervix is swelling. great...

1030pm my ob comes in to verify. they are unsure why but my cervix is inflammed. tells me i'm going for a 'zipper.' not happy. but what am i going to do. i want a safe baby and self. glad that my ob took call for me. he had told the nurse earlier in the day that he wasn't on call but he was going to come in and deliver baby. not sure what i did to deserve that but am glad. would have been hard to go through this with someone i didn't know.

1115pm waiting for surgery. had to pry my rings off my finger. had some major swelling from being in bed and all the fluids. fun times.

1130pm in the or. getting prepped. surreal experience. have a nice blue sheet in front of me so i can't see what's happening. am freezing. supposed to be a side effect of one of the meds. it's awful. try to relax. keep envisioning myself with a jagged incision because i can't stop shaking. so glad that nick is by myself. he really has been great through the whole thing. sigh. i love him and can't imagine going through this with someone any less supportive.

1144pm baby benjamin ryan pressner is here! after finding out the sex, i ask if he has hair! nick and i had lots of debates about who bean would take after... lots of hair. but blonde. and dark blue eyes. an even mix. we'll see if the eyes stay...
anywho.

1150pm baby is coming over to visit mom. what does mom do? puke. nice. am throwing up while they are wanting to take our first family picture. they snap one of nick and baby since it's taking me a bit and this is what we get. ben's first picture... yes, he really was that blue. and yes, nick really was that proud. ;o)


turn my head right after vomiting, have tears streaming down my face from vomiting, and get this picture. not too shabby!


they take nick and baby to the nursery. he snapped this pictures. we had talked about him taking one with baby on the scale ages ago. he doesn't remember this conversation. so glad he got this one! oh and pardon the nudity... ;o)





and off to recovery room i go. and stay there until about 2am. they give me demerol for the shaking and load me up with warm blankets. ahhh, warmth and no convulsing. awesome. oh and ice chips. so tasty! hung out in post op because it was taking forever for the feeling to return to my legs.

get to see nick after the delivery for the first time hours later. he's chilling in the room waiting for me. says nursery is working on baby. am anxious to breast feed. but know the nurses have to get me settled in.

ask nick if he named baby while i was in recovery. he promised he didn't. said he would never make such a huge decision without me. told me that baby did not look like one of our names. hrmph. not sure i believe him since i have yet to see the lil guy.

5am ish... they finally bring baby bean to the room. he seems tiny for eight pounds. big head. kinda thankful i had to have a c-section!

the we're parents picture!!


and mommy and baby's first picture. yeah, nick could have tidied my hair. and maybe snapped my gown. but whatevs. we have it. and that's life. it's imperfect. just thankful that my new lil guy is perfect. ;o)


so that was our whirlwind 24 hours. totally not what i would have imagined my first birthing experience to be. but with me, i've learned to expect the unexpected. that life rarely does what i think it should or want it to and that's just the way it goes!

more first few days stories soon! and if you made it through this whole post... i'm so proud. it was a doozy!