Benson's Birth Story {Part Two}

The moment my doctor said C Section tears started pouring out of me, this whole birth day was not going at all how I planned in my head, but obviously it was all about getting baby out safely so a C Section it was.  All I remember was lying there on the table bawling my eyes out as a doctors and nurses whizzed by me hooking up all the equipment & Kevin holding my hand as they prepped for the big moment.

The C Section (told by Kevin, as I was passed out from exhaustion)

They handed me all the operating clothes to put on, complete with a hat & mask.  I was so nervous as I put them on, I put the mask on upside down and had to run out of the operating room to fix it before everything got started.  They wheeled Megan into the room and switched her from her bed to the table.  The anesthesiologist hooked Megan up to the morphine and the nurses got all the equipment ready while they gave me a chair & I took a seat next to Megan and held her hand.  I could tell she was terrified and I was scared & just hoping that everything would turn out alright. They put the curtains up in front of us and started on the C Section.  Megan was so exhausted she instantly was floating in and out of sleep after the morphine hit her.  I knew how important it was for Megan to get a video of Benson's first cry, so I was getting our camera all ready for the big moment, but I couldn't start filming until they were done with the procedure for liability reasons so I just waited by the curtain.

I peaked over the curtain a few times and it looked like they were having trouble getting Benson out, probably from the 3 hours Megan pushed as hard as she could to get him down as far as he was.  The last time that I looked over I could just see the doctor putting all his weight on Megan's stomach pushing Benson while the other doctor pulled him out from inside her stomach.  I was so scared watching everything they were doing to both Megan and Benson.  It was a good thing we had decided to do the C Section after all because Benson's cord was wrapped around his neck twice & I watched as the doctor unraveled the cord quickly as they pulled Benson out.

I started recording as they quickly transferred Benson over to his little table where they were trying to clear his airway to breathe and cry.  This felt like it took a lifetime for him to finally breathe/cry (& I was almost too scared to be filming all of it). He was completely purple as the doctor shook him down and squeezed all the fluids out of him.  Finally (what really was only probably one minute) he gasped for air and started crying, his color quickly changed and we could relax knowing he was here, breathing & crying.
They cleaned Benson off a little, wrapped him up and handed him off to me.  He was perfect, screaming and all.  I was so relieved he was finally here and just stared at his cute little body as  I walked over to Megan's table to show her our baby boy.  She was crying tears of joy and gave him a few kisses before she closed her eyes and fell back asleep.
We took him downstairs to the nursery where they gave him his shots, he was just crying his lungs out.  They put him under a heat lamp for a little while & I kept wanting to go check on Megan, but didn't want to leave Benson so after a while I decided to run upstairs real fast and make sure Megan was alright.  Megan was back in the recovery room just eating a popsicle and barely keeping her eyes open long enough to ask me if I needed a popsicle.  Her family was all surrounding her so I figured she was doing alright and ran back downstairs to be with Benson.

Before Benson was born we had wanted to give him his first bath together in the room with us, but since Megan obviously couldn't do this anymore we decided I should go into the nursery & do it.  There were other dads watching the nurses bathe their babies, but I wanted to bathe him myself and hold him and comfort him.  The nurse guided me as I gave him his first bath.  It was so fun washing his cute little body, he didn't seem to like it too much since he was crying so much but when we rinsed his little head in the water he seemed to calm down a little bit.  We took his footprints, got him all dressed, and finally brought him up to see Megan.


Meeting Benson
When I got out of the C Section and back into the recovery room my mom and dad were both standing there waiting for me.  We all just burst into tears as the congratulated me and tried to comfort me after the long hectic day of delivery.  It was such a tender moment that I will always cherish.  Not too long after I got to the room I started to doze off again, I could barely comprehend what everyone was saying and just would fall asleep mid sentence.  I do remember Kevin running up to say hi and eating a popsicle (since apparently that was ALL I could have..I was STARVING).  I just keep asking the nurse in between my naps where my baby was and when was he coming up?

After two hours the nurse cleared the room and Kevin came walking in with our tiny perfect baby.  I burst into tears all over again seeing him and holding him.  I just had to soak up every little finger and toe.  He had the cutest little nose and ears.  His poor head had a huge indent in it from where I had been pushing him into my pelvis, but he was still perfect in every way.  We put him in my gown for skin to skin and he immediately wanted to nurse.  He was born such a hungry little guy and latched on instantly.  I just laid there in complete awe of him.  My baby was here!  I was nursing my sweet baby! It was a surreal feeling knowing he was in my arms, not my belly anymore!  I just couldn't stop staring at him and feeling his soft little legs.
I continued to nurse him as we switched rooms, because it was apparent he was in no hurry to stop and I wasn't about to ever let go of him.  After 9 months, 18 hours of labor, 3 hours of pushing & a C Section this baby was never leaving my side.  We changed his little outfit for the first time, swaddled him all up and showed him off to our families (who had been dying all day long in the waiting room to finally see him!).  That first night in the hospital we all got the best sleep of our lives, we were all exhausted and slept as our little family of three in the most crammed hospital bed.

2 comments

  1. That's one crazy story! Glad everything worked out so well! Congrats!!

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  2. I cried so much reading these two posts! I'm so glad he is here! :D And so glad you are alright. :) Beautifully written posts by you two!

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