It seems like just yesterday I was writing a similar post welcoming tiny baby Sydney to our family...
And yet, ~21 months later, Joe and I are thrilled to introduce Mr. Benjamin William to the world.
After fighting dropping platelet counts for the latter part of my pregnancy, I was getting increasingly anxious to deliver as soon as possible; otherwise I risked not getting an epidural. My doctor's office kept trying to get me into the hospital for an induction, but I didn't get the official go ahead until Wednesday afternoon. It's pretty crazy to get a call that says, "You're on the calendar. See you at 7am tomorrow to have your baby."
Luckily I was able to get a good night's sleep, and Joe's mom (who has been staying with us to help with Syd) saw us off bright and early. Here I am before we headed out.
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Joe and I arrived at the hospital on Thursday a bit before 7am, and by 8:30am I was all hooked up and receiving the first dose of Pitocin. My platelets had dropped again, and I was just on the cutoff for getting the epidural. I had a four hour window to get the epidural before they retested my blood, so the anesthesiologist hooked me up by 11:00am. This meant I never really felt a contraction for the entire labor. (So much different than labor with Syd!)
Long story short, the induction process took the full day, and I was finally ready to push by ~9:30pm. They say your second labor is easier, and that's so true! After pushing through 4 contractions (~12 pushes total), he was out! He did give us a bit of a scare because the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and he didn't cry much... but luckily he was a-ok! To be fair, I apparently gave everyone a scare too thanks to a postpartum hemorrhage and a case of shivering for an hour, but we all got through it.
The stats: Born at 9:42pm, 8lbs 6 oz, 21.5". He was still "baby boy" until Friday night, when Joe & I officially settled on the name Benjamin.
The hospital was crazy crowded, so we spent the night in the delivery room. Joe and I were able to get some rest thanks to our awesome nurse who took care of Ben's diapers and the fact that Ben was amazingly calm. Whenever he made noise, Joe would rest his hand on him and Ben would go right back to sleep.
The next morning, Joe's parents brought Syd to meet her baby brother. She was cute as can be and took to her brother immediately, hugging him and trying to give him treats (mainly off my breakfast tray). I can't say she fully understands what he means in her life, but so far she's very proud to squeal and point at herself whenever we say "who's the big sister."
The rest of Joe's family and my friend Chris visited on Friday. That afternoon, we moved to the postpartum section of the hospital, had another great night with Ben, and checked out Saturday afternoon. Syd was great when we came home and immediately wanted to hug and hold him.
So far everything is going great. (I fully recognize the help of our family and friends + the fact that we're actually in our house this time around is making a huge difference!)
I'm just so in love with this little guy, and I am so happy to be a family of four!
And yet, ~21 months later, Joe and I are thrilled to introduce Mr. Benjamin William to the world.
After fighting dropping platelet counts for the latter part of my pregnancy, I was getting increasingly anxious to deliver as soon as possible; otherwise I risked not getting an epidural. My doctor's office kept trying to get me into the hospital for an induction, but I didn't get the official go ahead until Wednesday afternoon. It's pretty crazy to get a call that says, "You're on the calendar. See you at 7am tomorrow to have your baby."
Luckily I was able to get a good night's sleep, and Joe's mom (who has been staying with us to help with Syd) saw us off bright and early. Here I am before we headed out.
Joe and I arrived at the hospital on Thursday a bit before 7am, and by 8:30am I was all hooked up and receiving the first dose of Pitocin. My platelets had dropped again, and I was just on the cutoff for getting the epidural. I had a four hour window to get the epidural before they retested my blood, so the anesthesiologist hooked me up by 11:00am. This meant I never really felt a contraction for the entire labor. (So much different than labor with Syd!)
Long story short, the induction process took the full day, and I was finally ready to push by ~9:30pm. They say your second labor is easier, and that's so true! After pushing through 4 contractions (~12 pushes total), he was out! He did give us a bit of a scare because the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and he didn't cry much... but luckily he was a-ok! To be fair, I apparently gave everyone a scare too thanks to a postpartum hemorrhage and a case of shivering for an hour, but we all got through it.
The stats: Born at 9:42pm, 8lbs 6 oz, 21.5". He was still "baby boy" until Friday night, when Joe & I officially settled on the name Benjamin.
The next morning, Joe's parents brought Syd to meet her baby brother. She was cute as can be and took to her brother immediately, hugging him and trying to give him treats (mainly off my breakfast tray). I can't say she fully understands what he means in her life, but so far she's very proud to squeal and point at herself whenever we say "who's the big sister."
I'm just so in love with this little guy, and I am so happy to be a family of four!
