Introducing Benjamin Michael

This adorable bundle of joy joined our family at 2:41 p.m. He weighed in at a whopping (for me anyway) 8 lbs and measured 21 inches. And, of course, he is perfect in every single way.

And, like my other two boys Benjamin's birth comes with a story (I went into labor with Nick at my baby shower and Zander's birth was so fast I barely had time to blink).

It was because of Zander's quick birth and the fact that I tested postive for group B strep (which requires antibiotics during the birthing process) that I opted to get induced on May 10 instead of waiting to go naturally (well, that and my original due date was Friday, May 13. Thanks, but no thanks.). Mike and I dropped the boys off at school and daycare and headed to the hospital to check in at 8 a.m. By 9:30 I was in a beautiful hospital gown and hooked up to monitors and big bag of pitocin. It didn't take long for the pitocin to kick in and we were on our way.

Because of the GBS I did have to have antibiotics as well. However, I am allergic to penicillin and the specific GBS bacteria in my body was resistant to the second antibiotic they would have chosen. So, it was on to option three, Vancomycin, affectionately known as the "Red Man Drug." Apparently, this antibiotic causes those who take it to turn violently red (because I don't do that enough on my own). The nurses didn't know about this side effect and within minutes of administering the drug they asked me if I was warm and felt OK. I figured I was just getting red from being nervous and excited and did I mention nervous? But, by the time the doctor walked in I was tomato red and she instantly said "Oh, I see they had to give you the red man drug." Finally, I made my way to the bathroom to check it out and WOW, I looked like I had spent WAY too much time in the sun (like days, not hours). Thankfully, the redness and itchiness went away within an hour and all was back to normal.

Shortly after noon Dr. Mall came in to check on me and break my water. And then the contractions started coming even faster. Thank God for the epidural, which I'd asked for about 11 a.m. per doctor's orders. The next two hours are kind of a blur. I got a little light-headed and nauseous and basically just laid there with my eyes closed for those two hours. By 2:15 the nurses knew it was about time to go. Unfortunately, Dr. Mall was down the hall helping deliver a baby to a mother who chose to go drug-free. But, my baby didn't want to wait. So, they called for the back-up doctor (Dr. Hines) and within minutes of her walking into the room Benjamin (who went nameless for the first 30 minutes or so) was born. There were no techs in the room. The cart they used wasn't prepped when the doctor walked in, but there was no time to wait. I pushed three times and he was out. As I was pushing Mike whispered something about a "Smart Software kind of delivery" (which is a reference to the half-assed way his previous employer operated) and my mom said I was laughing as Ben was making his entrance into the world. Ah ... the wonders of a good drug. It was crazy though, because this was the first time I actually felt the baby leaving my stomach. With Nick my epidural was too strong and with Zander I was so jacked up about not having one I didn't feel anything.

I got to hold him for just a few seconds before they wisked him away to be measured, weighed and cleaned-up. My mom and Mike gave me the play-by-play while the doc finished up with me.


After the doctor left we got a few peaceful minutes to share with our new baby (and to decide on his name).




But, all was not well. Here is where this might get a little graphic, but, for my sake I need to get it all down. If you don't want to know you may want to stop reading and just focus on those cute pictures above.

My uterus/cervix failed to close properly after I delivered. Instead, it moved over to the right side of my body and blood clots started developing inside (only we didn't know this then). The nurses were concerned, but not worried, abouit the placement and firmness of my uterus. Then my back, where the misguided epidural needle had first entered, started to hurt. The pain was damn near excrutiating. They kept trying to force a vicodin on me, but I was certain there had to be something that was causing this pain and refused for quite some time. Finally, I relented, but the pain did not. By this point the nurses noticed I was still bleeding quite a bit more than a I should have been and gave me a shot of methergin, a drug used for the prevention and control of postpartum and post-abortion hemorrhage. It didn't work.

And then, they found out why. While massaging my stomach (I use massaging lightly because it was more like kneading a really tough bread dough) I started to pass clots. Eventually, after several minutes of excrutiating pushing and pulling I passed a large clot (about the size of a grapefruit, maybe bigger). My mom and Mike were in the room for all of it (Mike had actually went to get the boys to come up and meet Ben, but she called him during dinner and told him to take the boys back to her house because I wasn't doing so good). I let out a noise, which likely sounded like I was in pain, as the clot passed. My mom, who was worried about me, tried to calm me from the other side of the room. I told her the noise was actually one of relief because the moment it left my body the pain in my abdomen and back was gone.

But, that wasn't the end. The blood and the clots kept coming. I was given two more shots of methergin with the final one coming about 9 p.m. This was right after I saw the doctor for the first time since delivering Ben. Apparently, they weren't worried about what was happening to me. My vitals were all still strong and this kind of thing isn't common, but it's not uncommon either. Just before the doctor got in the room I started worrying about all the possible things that might happen. My first thought was I was going to have to have a total hysterectomy (which is fine in that we aren't planning to have anymore kids, but not fine in that I wasn't prepared for a full on surgery). Thankfully, when Dr. Mall finally came in and ordered another shot of mehtergin she said the next step would be to do a D&C to make sure everything was out of the uterus, since that can sometimes cause bleeding.

Thankfully, that wasn't necessary. The final shot and some "handy" work by Dr. Mall slowed the bleeding to a normal amount and by midnight I was finally cleared to eat the dinner I had ordered six hours earlier. After food and a little bit of sleep I tried to get out of bed about 4 a.m. to go to the bathroom and take a bath/shower. I got to the bathroom, sat down and had to be wheeled back to bed because I almost passed out. The same thing happened at 6 a.m. Dr. Mall did not want to give me a blood transfusion unless absolutely necessary so I tried again after breakfast and was finally able to make it into the tub. A bath/shower has never felt so good. But, that was about all I could handle. I was still very tired and weak and had to get right back into bed after I got cleaned up.

By then, it was time for the parade of visitors (who were told to stay away the night before) to come meet Ben!