labor and delivery and Bennett

My little man finally arrived on January 26th, 2013 at 2:25Am at 7lbs. 11oz. and 19 and 3/4 inches long. We decided to name him Bennett Nicholas Schifferle even though Simon was out favorite for months. He just didn't look like a Simon.

My contractions started on Friday morning at 3:30Am. I wasn't sure that what was happening but just in case I got up and packed my bag for the hospital. And, since I could no longer sleep after the fact I stayed up cleaning and organizing. Meanwhile the contractions kept getting closer together but they were not very intense. Around 8:00Am they were only ten minutes apart so we called my doctor. The answering service took my call and by the time they called back my contraction subsided significantly. They were irregular and not very intense so my doctor told me to stay home and call back when things changed. Nick and I both called in anyway and spent the day watching Vampire Diaries. 

Just when I started thinking I was in false labor, the contractions intensified at around 6:00Pm. Nick and I started timing them around 10:00Pm and turns out they were 5 minutes apart and stayed that way for an hour and a half. We decided that meant we should get ourselves to the hospital. We arrived there at 11:30Pm and checked in to be examined. I am glad we made it there when we did because my contractions suddenly became painful. It was an hour later that an intern examined me and turns out I was 6cm dilated. I was taken into the labor and delivery room and the rest was a blur. The next hour and a half I experienced painful contractions until it was time to push at 2:00Am. I didn't want an epidural so I relied on Nick and the nurse in the room to keep me strong. They both did a great job coaching me to focus on the breathing through the contractions. That helped tremendously. It felt really good to finally start pushing because you were finally doing something about the pain now. And, actually pushing during a contraction took some of the pain of it away. I managed to push for 25 minutes and it took 7 pushes before he was out and we got to meet our son! It was nice to finally hold and see him. 

He is perfection. It took a while to get us labelled up with 3 bracelets each, a security tag on little Bennett and fully checked into the hospital. Finally we got transferred into our permanent room and settled in for a few hours of sleep. We kept Bennett in the room with us and he woke us up at 7:00Am. It was the most amazing experience in my life and the story of how I became a mom to a beautiful little boy. The next three days he sure loved to sleep.

We left the hospital on Monday. It was nerve wrecking and scary but we will get through it as a family. I love my boys.