Odin Benjamin joined our family on April 16, 2012 at 11:15 pm.
My official due date was April 15. That came and went. No surprise. But having Adelyn born on her due date, I was kind of hoping this little guy would be the same.
On April 16, we went in for my 40 week appointment. Dr. Hawes talked to us about scheduling an induction. She was going to check the hospital's schedule and call back later that day. She called around 4 saying they could get us in the next morning. We joked about how since she was on call that night, that maybe we should just have the baby that night.
My mom was over watching Adelyn. I went over the plan for the next day. It was after 5 when we sent her home. Around 6 I was thinking that perhaps I shouldn't have let her go home. Ben suggested I lay down and start timing the contractions. I think I only managed to time two when my water broke. I quickly sent my mom a text telling her to come back. Ben and I threw things together for the hospital (yes, we'd been lazy and hadn't packed for the hospital yet). We decided to take Adelyn with us and have my mom just meet us at the hospital (I think Ben was a little concerned that if we waited he would be delivering his son).
We made it to the hospital. We got in and shortly after getting a room, my mom was there to take Adelyn home. It was a bittersweet goodbye to my little girl. At least for me. Adelyn didn't really know what to think. But she was excited to see Grandma again.
The contractions were really picking up in the pace and pain departments. They started an IV of fluids. I had to finish the one bag before they would give me an epidural. At my appointment in the morning, I was dilated to 3 cm. They checked again and I was at 4 cm. I thought, "Are you kidding?? This much pain already and I'm only a 4??" I should mention that prior to around 5 pm, I hadn't had any painful contractions, so I was surprised that I was at 3 cm.
Finally, I was able to get my epidural. With Adelyn, as soon as the epidural was in place, I had instant relief. Not so lucky this time. Perhaps partly due to it going in a vein first. They weren't sure if it was in a good spot. But as time went on, the pain did die down, except for in one area. So, we called it good. My nurse, Sharon, was busy in the room filing out the ton of paperwork. My pain started to go up again. She gave me another dose of whatever magic juice is in the epidural. The machine only allows this every 10 minutes. And every 10 minutes she was giving me more. She finally called the anesthetist back in to give me more. Before she came back, Dr. Hawes stopped in to see how things were going. We joked that my son had a crush on her and that's why he decided to come, so she could be the one to deliver him. Before she allowed any more drugs, she checked things out. She said I was about a 7, but let's try some practice pushes. With Adelyn, I could feel the urge to push. This time, I felt nothing. But figured I could give it a whirl. Guess my body knew what it was doing. The doctor declared no more drugs, let's have a baby. The room came to life with getting the bed ready, other nurses coming in and the doctor getting suited up.
I'll have to ask Ben for sure, but I'm pretty sure I only had two rounds of pushing. Then with a gush of liquid, Odin was born. Dr. Hawes said, "Whoa! Where did you hide this baby??" She was marveling at how big he was. The nurses looked impressed too. When he got weighed, she was right, he was a bog boy! Ten pounds, 5 ounces and 21.5 inches. A few weeks prior, my doctor said that she thought he would be around the same size as Adelyn (7 lbs 7 ounces). Only three pounds off her estimate. And despite his size, I only had one minor tear (compared to 3 not-so-fun tears with Adelyn).
I have been recovering quickly this time around. Within days I was able to get back to normal activities, like sitting on the floor with Adelyn. Aside from being tired from feedings and what not, I feel back to normal.
Welcome Odin!
