The One With All the Details...

It's hard to believe our little peanut is already 5 days old! The funny thing is that I was actually scheduled to be induced today. My doctor was out of town so I was hoping to make it to the 8th. Ben had other plans though. :)

I started having contractions Tuesday night. At one point they were coming just about every 5 minutes. Manuel was a little worried because I kept telling him it was nothing, and not to worry. Well, he did worry and kept insisting we went to the hospital. I knew I would be sent home because nothing was super consistent so I went home and laid down. The contractions were still coming, but they were getting farther apart. I went to bed with Manuel telling me he would see me at 2 in the morning when it was time to go to the hospital, which didn't happen.

Wednesday morning I got up and wasn't really feeling any contractions. I got the boys ready and headed off to a friend's house for a morning get together. As I was chatting with my friends, I noticed the contractions start again. I was positive I was not in labor, but Manuel called me twice that morning. He was working up a canyon and didn't always have cell phone service. I told him I was fine and he didn't need to worry. I took the boys home and decided to lay down and see how close the contractions were. They were about 10 minutes apart, but I knew that I needed to call Manuel to head home because he was about 2 hours away from home. He called right before I was about to call him. I told him I would feel really bad making him leave work if I'm not in labor, but I was pretty sure this was it.

We waited until they were coming every five minutes and decided to grab my hospital bag. My mom came over and grabbed the boys from us. Poor Mateo didn't want to let me go. He probably knew something big was about to happen. We got to the hospital about 3:00, but wasn't officially admitted until after 5:30. I was GBS positive (which I was totally unaware of) so I had to be on penicillin for 4 hours before the baby could be delivered. I waited a little while and decided it was time for an epidural. After the epidural was in place, I realized that the pain wasn't fully gone. The doctor came in and broke my water a little after 8:00. The contractions started coming more frequently and I realized I was feeling a lot more than I should. They called the anesthesiologist to give me an emergency dose that never kicked in.

I was feeling a lot more pressure and intense contractions. Poor Manuel had to keep pushing the nurses button for me because I knew the baby was coming soon and I was afraid he would come without proper medical assistance. Within minutes I had gone from a 7 to a 9 and while the nurse was gone for just a minute I could tell the baby was coming. Luckily I didn't have to push for very long before Ben made his way into the world. He was born at 9:32 pm on Wednesday, August 3rd.

Sam and Mateo had to wait until the next day to come meet the new little guy. I was worried about how Mateo would react, but he asked to hold the baby a couple times while he was there visiting.  Luckily I only had to spend one full day at the hospital. They let us go home Friday morning around 11:00. I was so happy. I HATE staying in the hospital. It's boring and I can never sleep. :) Mateo has adjusted well to having a little brother. The other day I was changing Ben's diaper and Mateo walked in. He looked at Ben's umbilical cord and told me I needed to "take the wrapper off his belly." The first day home was a nightmare, but we were all exhausted. I'm just glad Manuel has been able to take time off work. I don't think I'd be able to survive this first week without him!

Sam is a very proud big brother.  He is very helpful and always wants to help take care of Baby Ben, aka Sully. He still insists on calling him Sully on occasion, but he also calls him Ben, which is good because I was afraid we'd never get away from "Sully."

Ben is a calm little guy. He rarely cries and sleeps all of the time, except between the hours of 12-3 am. During that time he demands to be entertained and fed until he is ready to sleep again. It's hard to say no to those little brown eyes. He does have a little jaundice, but after three visits to the doctor's office, his count is finally starting to go down.

I know there have been questions about how we're doing. After the placenta had been delivered, the doctor asked me if I would like to see it. I knew exactly what he meant. Since March, I was back and forth on whether I wanted to see anything that may have been a trace of the baby we had lost. In that moment, as I was looking at Ben, I told the doctor that I would rather not. I knew our baby wasn't there anyway. I really expected myself to be a complete wreck when delivery time came, but I was able to handle it. I am still sad to know that there is a little baby that we will not meet here, but because of our choice to be married in the temple, Manuel and I will be able to see that baby again. I was dreading delivery, and instead of feeling the pain I expected, I felt peace. I felt Heavenly Father's love for us, and I knew that everything is the way He has planned it to be. Most of all, I felt overwhelming gratitude for the precious little boy that we get to have now.