Jack's Story

Thursday night, after putting Max to bed around 8, and doing some of my nightly chores, Blake got home and we snuggled into the couches for some Grey's Anatomy. About then I noticed that I was having some cramps and thought for fun I may as well time them. At the end of the show, my cramps--now considered contractions--were about 7 minutes apart lasting about 30 seconds, consistently. Learning from our mistake with Max, we decided to jump into action rather than just waiting to see how it all turned out. Plus, it would be MUCH easier to find someone to watch Max at 10 pm rather than 2 am! So, after we called our neighbor and got her all set up on Max duty, we left for the hospital around 11 pm.When we arrived at the hospital triage, I was dilated 4 cm and was 90% effaced. I was still feeling good, and even rated my pain level a 4-5 out of a possible 10. I think I was starting to remember how bad an actual 10 on the labor and delivery pain scale is. After getting word from the doctor, I was admitted to the hospital. When the Labor and Delivery Nurse came to get me, we were quickly reminded that the hospital nurses were on strike and replacement nurses were filling in--our nurse got lost on her way to the 2nd floor and I kept giving Blake the "what are you going to do about this" look. As soon as I got to my room, we reminded the nurse that I would like my epidural as soon as possible, especially considering how fast my labor was with Max. I didn't want to be brave this time at all. The anesthesiologist was there right away and did an excellent job very quickly. I actually think that the most painful part of this whole experience was getting my skin numbed before the epidural. Around 1 am, once I was totally numb, we called and sent texts to fill everyone in on the excitement.After that it was time to sleep. Blake had no problem with this part. He was out. I, on the other hand, had a more difficult time. Initially, after I got my epidural, my blood pressure had dropped quite drastically, so it was being checked every 1-5 minutes for a while. And, in addition to the blood pressure machine going off and squeezing my arm, I had to hold perfectly still or they lost Jack's heart beat. I was not comfortable. A little bit before 4 am, the nurse (yes, still the crazy one), came to check on me and we were ready to start pushing. The doctor arrived at 4:05, I pushed twice, and Jack Benjamin was born at 4:12 am on October 12th.He is the most perfectly beautiful baby boy I have ever seen. The nurse immediately put him on my stomach and I got to hold him while Blake cut his cord and the nurses cleaned him up. This was totally different from Max since the doctors whisked him away to clean out his mouth and lungs. This time it was so peaceful. Blake was such a proud Daddy. In fact, when we got to the hospital, we made bets on what time Jack would be born. Blake guessed 4:12. WOW!Jack was a whopping 8 pounds, 8 ounces and was 20 inches long. And he cleans up very nicely! Welcome Baby Jack! We're so happy to have you in our family!