And he shall be called:

Benett Seth Beal

The Birth Story

So here I am on Friday morning, October 28th at 5:30 am....ready to hop in the car and head down to labor and delivery. The plan was to try to flip the baby and then take it from there. Either go ahead with the c-section if the version failed, or start an induction if it was successful and I was dilated enough.

We got to the hospital and my crazy nurse could NOT get an IV started. I always think the grandma types will do a good job, but come to find out its the new grads you should always grab because they get the most practice! (A tip I will for sure remember for next time!).

Dr. West came in and did an ultrasound to see how baby was lying. We were still breech, but the head had moved from being wedged under my left ribcage on over to my right side. Bum was still down, and we couldnt see if there was a cord issue or not that was keeping baby lodged up high. So they gave me a shot of Terbutalene which immediately made me feel like I had snorted a line of cocaine (I imagine) plus it made me want to throw up violently in waves. Then came the fun part of trying to turn the baby. Ive never seen an exorcism, but I imagine it looks similar to what was happening in my room. Dr. West literally plunged his hands into my stomach, got a hold of the baby and pulled/pushed. The first try, baby wouldnt budge. It wasnt as bad as I was anticipating, but I laid there with my eyes shut tight thinking the pain was going to skyrocket at any moment!

The second attempt was when I felt like my liver and stomach had switched places against their will. He got the head all the way down, but when we checked with the ultrasound we saw feet down by babys ears! So on the third attempt he moved the feet up to where they should be. I was SO GIDDY over the fact that he had just gotten the baby to flip! My C-section was officially cancelled and then I braced myself for bad news. If I was not dilating or thinning out at all, they were going to send me home, instead of risking a failed induction (which I DID NOT want!). But by some miracle when he checked me I was 50% effaced and dilated to a 3! So we officially got excited and after an hour of being monitored, I got moved over into a delivery room.

My L&D nurse was AWESOME. I swear your nurse makes or breaks your delivery experience. She had a student nurse with her too, and I was their only patient so it was pretty much like I was queen for day. Except I was starving and in excruciating pain... but, minor details. We got the pitocin started along with the penicillin they MAKE me take for being GBS+. That dang antibiotic is THE WORST. It burns like the devil holding a hot poker and jabbing it up my arm. They always slow it way down and give me a hot pack to wrap around my IV site, but it still is way uncomfortable and annoying. Plus it keeps me all tangled up in cords, making it IMPOSSIBLE to be comfortable. This time around I had the added bonus of my blood pressure cuff on my left arm squeezing the vein repeatedly that the nurse had blown earlier that morning. So now  I have two awesome bruises on both arms.

Anyway, once I was monitored, hooked up, poked, and fluids were actively dripping through my system, they made me sit up on the birthing ball for 3 hours. We were all terrified the babys head wouldnt engage where it is supposed to, so for good measure they had me sit upright instead of lay down. And let me tell you how FUN that was. I didnt want the epidural yet because I wasnt even in pain at all, and I like to really feel relieved when the pain goes away! So I sat there and sat there until my legs were pretty much numb and my tail bone was bruised. Occasionally I would stand up or go to the bathroom or whatever, but pretty much I sat there all day.

Sometime around 10 Dr. West came in and broke my water. I have never had the joy of feeling that experience before, I have always had the epidural. IT HURT BAD! Anyway, finally when that was done back to the birthing ball I went. My contractions started to pick up, but they felt SO DIFFERENT from the ones I had felt with Spencer. We realized that it was probably because the baby was posterior (looking up instead of down) and seriously - they were NOT fun. At the peak of the contraction just when you thought it would start to come down it always got just a little bit worse!I decided now was a GREAT time for the epidural.

The she-man anesthesiologist that came in was named V. Just letter V. My nurse had warned me that she was a little rough around the edges...but she should have told me she was a little rough with her needles! I got some crazy new kind of epidural that gives 2 different doses of meds. The first stick is to numb you, then they give you a second stick, which is a bolus shot of fast acting poison that blows open a space that is stuck together like saran wrap. She warned me before she did it not to jump - but i SCREAMED and FLUNG myself towards the nurse who was trying desperately to restrain me! HoLy CrAP! That hurt SO BAD! And dont worry, I still didnt have in the epidural. Next was the fun part of trying to place the catheter in the right spot. Every time she tried to thread it my left side was zapped. It was like getting stung by a billion tiny ants - in your spine. IT TOOK HER 3 TRIES! I ALMOST DIED! I was sweating and shaking and clutching my eyes shut so tight!!! Literally some of the worst pain I have ever felt in my life! Finally it was done and all I felt was sheer relief that it was over. I was SO tired I barely could keep my eyes open.

Around 12:30 they checked me to see how how far I was dilated and I was a 10. My epidural was SO heavy that I felt absolutely NOTHING. No rge to push, no pressure - NOTHING. And I was so exhausted that I wasnt even excited that I was ready to push. Which, turns out was a good thing, because Dr west was bouncing between me, another delivery, and a surgery! So I had this great plan to just hang out until Dr. West was ready for me. I figured if I dilated all the way to a 13 it could only help my cause!!! So two hours later at 3:15 Dr. west came in to deliver me!

The most hysterical part was trying to get my legs to cooperate with the stirrup things. I literally could have had them amputated and not even known it! The nurse hefted my left leg into one sling and Dr. West tried to put my other leg in the other one. He finally got my foot and calf in, but my leg had gone almost straight, so I was sitting completely crooked and totally unable to correct it! The nurse looked at Dr. West and said, "maybe you should just stick to deliveries!" we died laughing.

So once the drama with my legs was done I pushed 3 times and out flew Baby at 3:30. I saw his tiny man parts and said NO. WAY. and just laid my head down. I could NOT believe he was a boy! I still cant! I packed 3 girl outfits, an adorable pink blanket, 2 headbands and a bracelet. And one measly boy outfit - just in case. And now we know my motherly intuition is WRONG EVERY TIME!

No stitches, no drama, hands down the EASIEST delivery ever. But the entire day leading up to that had been pretty intense, so I was extremely thankful!

We soon discovered that this baby like both our other two was extremely tongue tied. Nursing was NOT going great and I was having Brigitte flashbacks. Tongue tied babies dont latch well, so they grab just enough and start sucking away...and it was about 2 hours after he was born that I was bleeding and crying out for someone else to nurse this little animal! When the pediatrician came in and looked him over he offered to clip his tongue tie for me to see if it would help his feeding. It was a super thin wispy connection so I agreed. They did a double wammy and clipped it when they did his circumcision. Poor boy came back to me maimed on both ends.

And then he proceeded to SCREAM ALL NIGHT LONG the first night in the hospital. It was so bad that the nurse came in and offered to just hold him for 20 minutes for me to give me a break. But I really think my neighbors had complained and told her to go help out the poor first time mother next door who could not clam down her baby! I came home the next morning at noon and then the real fun began. Ive never wanted to check myself BACK into the hospital before - but man did I wish I had stayed this time around. There was ZERO sleep the second night, as well as the third. We had to send our other kids back to Aunt Jorys and my mom had to hold the baby in between feedings all day so I could just sleep and recover. I was pretty on the ledge and there was LOTS of crying. Spencer has a head cold and croupy cough, so he isnt sleeping great, and Brigitte is awake from 4-6 am pretty consistently, so yeah, I was pretty much ready to tie my own tubes.

I think between the circumcision, tongue clipping, and rotten gassy tummy from the antibiotics I was on all day - he was pretty grumpy for a good reason. And then like magic he slept like a champ last night! I only got up with him twice and we all slept in till 9. It was BLISS. Today was my first day handling all three kids totally on my own and it went awesome. We ate bunny cookies and watched tv all day, but well, thats the new normal for us now!!!!

And lets briefly discuss how THANKFUL I am to finally have a NAME for this poor boy!!! 5 whole days of calling him boy and little sir. I cant wait until he is older and he finds out his father nearly caused me to have an aneurism because he wanted to name my darling sweet boy GARIK. or GUNNAR. So if any of you hate the name Benett - just know that it was a HARD fought battle and the best we could agree on! plus It totally suits him and I love it.

Benett is a SERIOUS little baby. He will probably get his MBA and PhD simultaneously through some fast track program at a foreign school for gifted students. He is a complete hybrid physically between Brigitte and Spencer. He looks a little like they both did, but completely different and all his own. And as usual, he looks just like his father, so I guess Gabe can put all those mailman rumors to rest now! Theres NO DEBATING who the daddy is!

My camera totally stinks, so here are just a few pictures from the last two days. Brigitte is totally in love with Baby Gemma and prefers him to be wrapped in pink. Its going to take a little convincing to get her to come around to the fact that Benett is a boy! She constantly checks up on where he is, what hes doing, wearing, or looking at. And she wanted to hold him "ALL HERSELF" all day long. Its adorable. * Spencer couldnt care less about the baby! He seriously doesnt even acknowledge him! But I need to get a picture of him with his new little brother soon. They will be best buds someday im sure - but for now I think its in my best interest that Spencer doesnt really know hes here to stay!

His hair is not this red in real life - just my awesome camera again plus bad lighting. 

 

We sure do love our new little Benett!

*more pictures here at my moms blog