Bennett's Birth Story

 With very little sleep under out belts, John and I arrived at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. on September 15th, eager to meet our son.

The nurses whisked us away into the pre-op room to prepare for the procedure.  My belly was hooked up to the fetal heart rate monitor and contraction monitor, and I was hooked up to an IV to start pumping me full of fluid.  Not being allowed anything to eat or drink since the night prior, I was quite hungry and thirsty (and John will probably attest I would not shut up about this).  Luckily the time went by quickly, and John and I were happy to see our baby's heart beat looking strong the whole time (the baby was actually awake for almost the entire two hours), which was a welcome sight after experiencing Orelia's spotty heart rate last time I was hooked up to such a machine.   Around 7:40 a.m. they wheeled me into the operating room to give me my spinal.

One of the scariest parts of the day for me was getting the spinal, as it involved a huge needle --- not my favorite thing.  They wheeled me into the very, very cold operating room and it was just me, one nurse, and the anesthesiologist in there to administer the spinal.  I survived, but I was much happier once my OB came in, since I know her and she could at least chat with me to make me feel a little more comfortable.  My OB and another doctor prepped me for the surgery and once they were done John was able to come in and sit right next to me.  What a relief that was to finally see him again and have him there by my side.  As soon as he was situated they started the procedure, which felt nothing like I imagined.  It involved a lot of weird pushing and unidentified pressure, which was actually better than what I feared (me knowing exactly what they were doing at all times and imagining it).  About ten minutes after it began, they started telling me they could see his "big" head.  Another big push on my belly and we began to hear his gurgling cries.

They held him over the drape for me to see, and I immediately started crying.  He was whisked away to the side for his checkup, and John went with him while I sat on the table mostly numb and my glasses fogging up from the tears.

The anesthesiologist helped de-fog my glasses while John gave me updates to tell me everything was fine.

After his checkup they brought him over to me to give us some face-to-face skin-on-skin time.  We had a nice little chat and I told him over and over again how much I loved him and how happy we were that he was finally here.  I'm so grateful to John for photographing our son's first moments on earth.

In the recovery room, I started gaining the ability to feel and move my body from the chest down.  Most importantly, though, they let me hold my brand new son and give him the cuddles I had been waiting for these past nine months.

John and I were both relieved that everything went smoothly for me and Bennett that morning.  In the end, it was a normal and average c-section like many women go through all the time, and I am grateful I don't have anything out of the ordinary to add to Bennett's birth story.  He's here safe and sound, and we are thrilled.