Labor

Benjamin Hayden Lubsen was born on Monday, June 21 at 4:23. He weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces and I don't trust the hospital for the length. They said 21.7 inches but we will see at the pediatricians office. However, the story starts days before.

We went on many, many walks to help get things moving. Jeremy really liked it because he got to go in his wagon, sometimes twice a day. He was really living all of that up. Little did he know that things were about to completely change. He won't have mommy's big belly to pat any more.

On Sunday, I started chasing after Jeremy around our house. He was giggling up a storm and I kept chasing him faster and faster. It started to hurt a little bit, which made me run even more; I really was ready for Ben to get here.

My contractions began at 3:40 and we had to decide where my last meal would be. I decided we would go to Steak N' Shake, because it is extremely kid friendly and I didn't have the energy to try to keep Jeremy entertained at a traditional sit down establishment. Cheese fries sounded really good (I thought I wouldn't be eating for days) and who cares if my water breaks at Steak N' Shake. The meal went well and Jeremy ate everything on his plate, even Graig's french fries. We now know that he likes french fries at two restaurants.

Jeremy is a really slow eater and my contractions were painful. At that point, my contractions were about 25 minutes apart. I called my parents that we might need (well I was hinting at it....apparently I should have just told them to leave) them to come down that night in case I had to go to the hospital that night. My mom insisted I wouldn't need to go to the hospital until during the day on Monday. They still came down that night, mainly because they wanted to see Jeremy and they had no power at their house since Friday night. While they were on the way, my contractions starting getting closer together. I had told Graig a long time ago that I wouldn't keep track of my contractions and it's his job. Well he kind of sucked at it. By the time my parents got there at 9, I immediately called my doctor. Graig said my contractions were like 15 minutes apart, I was like no they are almost 5 minutes apart. Really was he in the same house as me?

The doctor didn't think I was in labor, based on my description, but he told me to go to the hospital just in case to get checked out. Our hospital bag has been packed for weeks, so we just had to get in the car and go. It was a very long ride, even though it was only a 12 minute trip. Graig hit every bump and hole in the road. It seemed like he was aiming for them all. Then we got behind some guy driving a scooter and he wasn't going nearly fast enough for my taste. Once we got past the scooter, we arrived at the hospital two contractions later (I had to point that out to Graig so he knew he was wrong about his timing). We walked upstairs and the whole time I was thinking that they would send me home based on what my doctor had said.

After the exam, they gave me the great news that I was staying because I was dilated about halfway. I got checked into my room around 11 and they began the work for the epidural. I wanted to go to sleep after I got the epidural, but I had a few reactions to the pain meds so I didn't get too much sleep. I was pain free so that was all that really mattered.

Then about 4 hours later they broke my water. After pushing through a few contractions Ben was born at 4:23 am. I remember looking at the clock after he was born and so surprised that it happened so fast. I was expecting to be "starving" the whole time. I barely touched my ice and I did not have a single popsicle.

More importantly Ben checks out health wise. So far no problems with him, although I do watch to make sure he is breathing (Jeremy had a few issues).

Blogger is being special so here is a link to pictures I have uploaded. Enjoy.

Hospital Pictures......