Baby Moose is on Team Blue (birth story - PIP)

moosebaby2011 · January 2014

Benjamin Andrew was born 01/10/14 at 10:31 pm.

Having had GD and a couple of growth ultrasounds showing that my LO was small for gestational age (not growth restricted, but smaller than they would have liked) my doctors decided that induction at 39 weeks would be best for baby and I. My induction was scheduled for Friday 1/10 at noon, but when we arrived at the hospital we found that things were running a little behind so we didn't actually get started until around 2:30. I was dilated a couple centimeters before going in, so I got to skip the cervadil and go right to pitocin.

Unlike my induction for DS1 where it took hours for me to feel the effects of the pitocin, I started to feel contractions right away. I hung out on the birthing ball for a while, which really seemed to help a lot. Around 6:30 my contractions were getting stronger, but I wasn't dilating so they elected to break my water. Shortly thereafter I went from having fairly manageable contractions to basically feeling like crap. I hadn't slept much the night before, so I was exhausted, uncomfortable, and hungry so I asked for an epidural so that I could at least try to get some rest. I was convinced at that point that it was going to take a long time before my baby would be born. This was probably around 8:00 pm.

The placing of the epi was something of an adventure. My blood pressure had been really good throughout my pregnancy and labor, so it was low-normal when the epi went in. After that it kind of crashed, so they put me on oxygen as a precaution. Things normalized pretty quickly, but they turned the pit down so as not to stress the baby. After that my epi was magical. I could still feel and move my legs (which was not true with my epi during DS1's birth) but had no pain. Evidently that was just what I needed to get things going because at my next check I was at 9 cms. My doctor said she'd be back in an hour so that I could start pushing. Sure enough, I was ready to go when she came back. I pushed about 3 times (well, 3 contractions worth of pushes) and then at 10:31 Benjamin Andrew was born. He weighed in at 6 lbs 12 oz (a full pound smaller than his brother was at birth) and 20 1/4 inches long.

"Baby Benjin" (as my 2 year old calls him) is doing very well. He has his days and nights confused (as expected) but is nursing like a champ, and at his weight check today he was back up to his birth weight plus an ounce. He has lots of hair, but unlike his brother it is BLONDE. His little eyebrows and eyelashes are so light you can barely see them.

A couple of pictures: