Benson's Birth Story {Part One}

9/14/15- Monday
Feeling extremely pregnant & done I decided today was the day I did everything in my power to get this baby out & kick start my labor.  My doctor said if I progressed to at least a 3 he would induce me on the 16th, otherwise he wouldn't induce me until the 24th..so I was pretty dang motivated to get it going.
We tried every weird idea we've heard to get this baby out, who knows which/if any of them actually worked or if it was just a happy coincidence but something that day pushed me into labor!

At about 9:00 p.m. we were cleaning the kitchen & I bent over & felt like I had peed a little..which I mean, I'm pregnant so lets not pretend it hasn't happened before..so embarrassed I ran upstairs & changed.  I came back down and it happened again & I instantly was like OH MY GOSH it's my water. It wasn't a gush of anything, it was light, and just kind of trickled all night so I put on a pad & continued cleaning.  I figured the best way to get my water to break all the way was to keep on moving.
Kevin & I made sure our entire house was packed in my hospital bags, loaded them up in the car, did the dishes, folded the laundry, painted my nails (obviously), ran around our house like mad straightening pillows & vacuuming? Completely normal things to do in the middle of the night when you think you're going to have a baby.

A few hours later I started having intense contractions, I had been having more mellow contractions for a whole week & so I had become pretty pro at bouncing on my exercise ball through them.  By about midnight Kevin passed out & I just kept pushing through the contractions while my water broke more and more with each contraction.  I started to keep track of the contractions on my phone and was noticing they were falling into a pattern and getting closer and closer.
Laboring at home was my plan all along, I wanted to get as far as I could before I had to go into the hospital and I was just crossing my fingers that after all these contractions that I was actually progressing by the time we got there.  By about 5:30 a.m. my contractions were pretty close together and I woke up Kevin so we could head to the hospital.  We hopped in the car, which has to be the worst place to deal with contractions but we made it & no baby was delivered in the car (Kevin's worst fear).
6:00 am we arrived at the hospital, got checked in & I had progressed to a 5!!!! I was so excited!  We got all set up in our room and I swear the next few hours just flew by.  Laboring at the hospital for me was so uncomfortable, I just wanted to be naked and hunch over the bathroom tub for some reason.  I swear the weirdest things go through your mind while you are in labor, I felt so claustrophobic in that dang gown. Kevin was so amazing while I was in labor, he tried everything we learned in our birthing classes and was so calm at those moments that were so hard for me to get through.  Our nurse kept saying how impressed she was with him because he just stepped right in and would start counting and breathing with me. I'm a bawling mess just thinking about how helpful he was in my labor. I honestly don't remember too much around this point, it all was so intense and blurry but after 2.5 hours I had progressed to an 8! The nurse kept assuring me it wouldn't be too much longer so she convinced me to come labor on the bed but at this point the pain was so intense I couldn't really walk and I was starting to black out.
When we arrived at the hospital I made it clear I wanted to do an all natural birth, I didn't want an epidural, I wanted to just breathe through the pain & labor on my own.. our nurse was so sweet & respectful of those wishes but once I started to black out we all were worried I wouldn't be able to push when the time came and that I was going downhil so after Kevin & I discussed it I opted to get the epidural.  I was a little bit upset, part me wishes I had stuck it out a few more contractions, but I also remember how scared and out of it I felt at that moment so I was relieved after it was in.  They got the IV hooked up & a few hours later I had reached a 10, finally!

12:00 pm I had finally dilated to a 10 and it was time to push and get this baby moved down & my cervix needed to thin out a tiny bit more so we started pushing with each contraction.  Pushing was intense and felt like it lasted a lifetime.  After an hour of pushing we could start to see his head/hair which got us so excited! After two hours of pushing my mom came and her and Kevin took turns helping me push.  I kept throwing up and was super sweaty so the nurse took my temperature and I had started to spike a fever.  At about the three hour mark of pushing my doctor came in and broke the news to me: My pelvis was too small for my baby to fit through.  They brought up the option of using forceps to pull him out, but he was pretty sure that that would break my pelvis so my only option was a c-section.
I'll never forget the look on Kevin's face..he was actually sitting by me eating a hamburger and his jaw dropped and he instantly went white.  Of course tears just started pouring out of me. The last thing I wanted was a c-section & I was terrified.  My mom and Kevin calmed me down a little and after a few minutes they whisked us off to the operating room.

1 comment

  1. You are such a trooper ! I'm so proud of you and your strength , you must have been so scared . But now you have a beautiful baby boy and an amazing story !thank you for sharing 😊

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