Team Green turned Team Blue!

Our little boy Benjamin was born on Tuesday the 5th (39w6d) at 7:05 pm after 16 hours of labor (only 2 1/2 of which were actual pushing). It was nothing at all like what I had been expecting!! 

Long Story (or just scroll down for pics!): Monday night was pretty out of the ordinary for us.. DH decided he wanted to spend the night reading his "new dad" book and then he was exhausted at 9:30 and wanted to go to bed. I laid in bed playing on my phone for about 2 hours and couldn't fall asleep. Got up to pee about 4 times (which was not something I did ever while pg) and finally fell asleep for about an hour. Contractions started around 1ish... didn't start timing them until 2, woke DH up at 2:30 and we were in the car on our way to the hospital by 4. When we left, they were 5 minutes apart, when we go to the hospital (15 minutes later), they were 2 minutes apart. I was only 1-2 cm dilated, but because the contractions were so close, I was admitted immediately. I had a little breakdown soon after and was convinced I couldn't do it. We had a horrible nurse and my doctor had just come in and told me that he was off in 10 minutes and the doctor who was taking over was the one doctor in the practice that I had somehow managed to never meet with. Insert freak out. However, the horrible nurse's shift was also over and we got the best woman in the world to replace her. I don't know how I could have done it without her!

All my contractions were in my back.. ow! I tried a hot shower, but nothing would help. By the time they were roughly 1 minute apart, the nurse gave me some pain meds which put me in a really good/happy mood. Epidural came about an hour later, and was nothing at all what I imagined (I hate shots and had been dreading it). Had the best anesthesiologist ever.. didn't even feel a pinch! He was great! I felt so good that I took a nap (I hadn't really slept since Sunday night at this point!) for about an hour and a half.

Woke up to a million alarms going off and about 15 nurses running into my room, turning me over, throwing my blankets off, hooking me up to more machines. It was terrifying. I turned to look at DH (who was awake) and his face was just blank. Turns out baby's heartbeat dropped extremely low and he was in distress. After about 10 minutes, they got everything back to normal, but it was the worst 10 minutes ever! I was so terrified... even more so because I was drugged and had just woken up. As they were doing all of this to me my water broke. It was just pure craziness in the room for a good 20 minutes! Followed by another nap. Then the same thing happened again about an hour later!! This time they were getting really concerned and the doctor showed up, more nurses, and all of the baby delivery equipment (at my hospital you labor, deliver and recover all in the same room). Now I was getting really scared that something was seriously wrong and/or I'd end up with a c-section. After more poking, prodding, a couple pushes and moving around, they got his heartbeat back and I was left alone.

Contractions started getting really bad about two hours later and we started pushing. Again... nothing at all like what I was expecting! DH was prepared for me to be screaming and yelling and hitting and pinching him the whole time. The reality? Me, him and the awesome nurse crying we were laughing so hard! She said it was the weirdest labor she had ever attended It totally took the edge off for me... took all of my nervousness and anxiety away! DH kept mentioning how as soon as the baby was born I was getting my grinder (I stayed away from deli meat for the whole pg). The nurse realized food was a good motivator for me, so we ordered my dinner from the cafeteria and with every "bad" push, she threatened to eat it The doctor even brought me delicious homemade Italian cookies to taunt me!

In the end, he came out so fast! I had a small tear, but the placenta came out so fast that I never even noticed and didn't feel any of the stitches! And he is just perfect, of course He was born at 7:05 pm, was 6lbs 6 oz and 18.5" long and is itty bitty! He doesn't fit in any of his clothes (he looks hilarious!!) and wears preemie diapers and clothes! DH can't get over how small and cute he is! 

DH has been amazing! He actually got his picture taken and put up on a bulletin board in the lobby because he was an outstanding dad (there were only like 5 other dads up there!). He got his recognition because Wednesday night he would immediately wake up whenever Ben cried... he'd burp him, cuddle him, change his diaper... and only wake me up if it seemed like he was hungry. They said he was "mothering the mother". It has been pretty awesome how helpful he has been. I do have some healing, so he's totally been picking up the slack!