Another Baby Story

Benjamin Milton Ridges was born on Monday, February 23rd 2015 at 3:39 am.
He weighed 5 lbs 14 oz and was 17 1/2 inches long (I think they didn't get his legs totally uncurled) This is how it all went down...

While we were visiting South Carolina at Christmastime I was talking to my niece, Caitlyn.  Her birthday is the only one on the family calendar in February and we decided that I should have this baby in February so she wouldn't be alone.  Since I would be 37 weeks on the 22nd-  and I wanted to make it to at least 37 weeks with this pregnancy- it sounded great to me to have a baby at the end of February.  My goal was the to make it until the 22nd- which just happens to be the day I went into labor.
Having an unreasonable fear of being sent home from the hospital for going too early I wanted to wait until my contractions were at the 4-1-1 stage- less than 4 minutes apart and lasting one minute for at least one hour.  Around 2:30am  I couldn't take it anymore even though the contractions were pretty irregular but they were so painful that  I finally told Jared we needed to go to the hospital.  He called Dave and Janette to come over and we loaded up into the van.  We were sitting in the van in the driveway waiting for them to come (By this time I felt like the contractions were never ending) and I wanted to be on the way... immediately. I told him to pull out to the road so we could leave as soon as they got there.  We sat there for about 10 seconds before I said "Go... just go!"  He was on the phone with them (they were less than a minute away) and said  "my wife says we're goin'!"  So we took off.  Jared probably drove 70 mph the whole way there and it still felt like it took forever.  We tried to head straight up to labor and delivery but the admittance lady was very thorough- asking a million questions- having us sign consent forms and living will forms (and by us I mean Jared, because I was in no condition to be signing stuff!) - and the whole time I was standing there feeling like I wanted to curl up and die (or at the very least get an epidural :)  After what felt like forever we went up to labor and delivery and then nurse leisurely signed me into the book (at 3:00 am) and then we went  into a room and she hooked me up to some monitors and typed some things into the computer- the whole time I'm writhing in pain and gritting my teeth through the contractions- when she finally checked me I believe her exact words were, "You're complete! That baby's head is right there and your water is just bulging."  After that things happened very quickly.  The doctor got the phone call at 3:08 and Benjamin Milton Ridges was born at 3:39am.
There was a no time for an epidural so this little boy was born au naturale.  There was a bit of a scare though when his heartrate dropped because the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck.   Instead of pushing during contractions they just said, 'push-breathe-push-breathe-push..' Thankfully it didn't take too long and they didn't have to use the vacuum or anything.  I popped blood vessels in my eyes, face, and shoulders because I was pushing so hard and had to have oxygen put on.  Jared said my face was very purple.
Jared didn't get to cut the cord because they immediately handed him off to a respiratory team to get him breathing.  After what seemed like way too long there was a very very tiny wail.  It was a beautiful sound! He had lots of fluid in his lungs because it didn't have time to squish out in the birth canal so he had to go to the little NICU so they could monitor him, give him antibiotics, and make sure he didn't develop pneumonia.  Most babies with fluid in their lungs tend to work it out within an hour or so but they suspected that with the trauma of the cord around the neck his lungs just didn't clear out as quickly.
When we were talking after he was born- the nurse said that when we arrived I was acting too calm and she thought I'd be at about 6 or 7 cm.  She said it can almost be to your detriment to be calm... now I know that I need to be more dramatic next time.  I joked about how I didn't even scream or anything and I think Jared's comment was "No, but there was lots of whimpering."  I guess that's how I deal with lots of pain...
I was discharged after about 26 hours and little Ben was discharged 48 hours after delivery and he'd only lost an ounce or two.  He's been a good eater from the get go.
Unfortunately, because he was in the NICU we weren't able to get the classic family picture in the hospital- but Caroline got to meet him at home.  She wasn't too impressed until he started grunting and moving.  We're still having to make sure she doesn't love him too much but she is very sweet and likes to give him kisses on his head.
We sure are happy to have him here!  Welcome to the fam, baby Ben!

My little astronaut! He had to be under the oxygen hood for half a day or so... I wonder what it would be like to have a baby that didn't have to go to the NICU. Caroline