Bennett's Story

Well here he is, our Baby Bennett. His stats:

Height: 55 cm (21.7 inches)

Weight: 3.59 kg (7 lb 15 oz)

Head Circumference: 36 cm (14.2 inches)

As mentioned in a previous post, we were all a little worried about his time of arrival as we have a wedding in Utah that we have to make it to. I struggled with the decision of whether or not to be induced cause we needed at least two weeks to get a passport for him and one week recovery time. Rather than being chemically induced, I decided to get my membranes stripped to see if that would move things along. I went in July 12 at 2 pm to have that done. The doctor said at my appoitment that I was dilated to 2 cm, but only 50% effaced so he predicted that Bennett wouldn't come until the 14th or so. I made the decision that if he hadn't come by the 16th then I would be chemically induced. Well, immediately after getting my membranes stripped, I started to feel "crampy". I think that that is typical, but as the day went on, the cramping continued. That evening, we took my mom out for some Indian food. During dinner, I kept thinking, "These cramps are quite regular... hmmm". With Lincoln I was induced for medical reasons and the contractions I experienced with him were REALLY strong so I didn't think much of the contractions I was having. On the way back home, I asked my mom how intense the contractions had to be cause I certainly didn't have to breathe through them and I wasn't doubled over, but they sure seemed to be every few minutes.

When we got home, we started to time them. Yep... 5 minutes apart and they were lasting around 1 minute. I decided that I would take a shower. As I was showering, I'd call out when I was having another contraction. They started to come every three minutes. Rather than drying my hair and risking having the baby in the car, I quickly put some clothes on and we headed to the hospital around 9:15 pm. Before I took a shower, I changed into the red sweater and took a picture between contractions to finish out the series:

Then the real fun began. Since it was night time, I got the on-call doctor rather than MY doctor who speaks English. None of the nurses spoke much more than a few key vocab words like "contraction", "blood" etc. When we got to the hospital, they whisked me away and made Matt wait in the waiting room. They had me change my clothes and then they led me to a large room with a bunch of curtained off beds. They then hooked me up to the monitors to see if I was really in labor. It was SO hot there. I had packed some sweats cause in American hospitals, sometimes you get chilled. Not the case here. Beads of sweat were just pouring down my face. Meanwhile as I endured each contraction, I sat and wondered where Matt was and if he was going to have to be in the waiting room the entire time. I felt alone, scared and HOT... VERY HOT! After determining that I was in labor, they gave me an IV, and an enema and a few other pleasant surprises that we'll leave unmentioned. Then suddenly Matt appeared from behind the curtain. THANK GOODNESS!!

I think they expected me to just lie nicely on the bed, but I hate just sitting there while in pain. When they noticed that I preferred standing/walking they led me to a "Labor Room" where they had exercise balls, rocking chairs etc. Matt fell asleep on the couch in there while I walked around in circles, dragging my IV stand behind me. When I got to the hospital, I was dilated to 3 cm. Here they don't give epidurals till you're at a 4. So, I paced around for an hour and a half, hoping that I was soon going to reach a 4. After pacing for what seemed like forever, I was starting to get discouraged cause the contractions were no where near as strong as what I had experienced with Lincoln, so I was convinced I wasn't progressing at all. Between contractions I could hardly keep my eyes open and I was shaking uncontrollably. I sat on a rocking chair for a bit and caught myself drooling like a dog with rabies. I finally decided that I should have the nurse check me to see if I could get an epidural. She checked me, and I was at a 4, but she said I couldn't get one cause the baby hadn't descended far enough. WHAT!!??? I was bummed. WHY couldn't I have one? I just wanted to sleep. Her vocab wasn't good enough to get the real reason across. Anyway, she had me lay down on my bed again, she hooked me up to the monitors and hooked me up to a catheter to drain my bladder. NOT COOL even when you're not having contractions. A few minutes later, the contractions got REALLY strong and I had a very intense need to push. I guess I was only dilated to a 6 then. She informed me that when I was fully dilated then they'd move me into the delivery room. "OK, cool", I thought, "but when do I get an epidural". Literally 2 minutes later, I really felt like the baby was crowning and I couldn't stop myself from pushing. They brought a stretcher over, and as I am pretty much having a baby, they made me crawl all by myself onto a stretcher. As I am being wheeled down the hall, screams that could only come from a mad man were escaping from my throat. It was so wild to hear myself make noises that I didn't feel like I was in control of. I did have the presence of mind to scream "Why don't I have an epidural???" over and over again. Matt kept saying, "I don't know why, just breathe". Thanks for nothin', Matt. I know he was just trying to be supportive, but that wasn't the answer I was looking for. Then I felt something come out of me. To be honest, I thought the enema hadn't worked and I had let loose on the stretcher. The nurses kept saying "Poo-poo, poo-poo". I screamed, "What does poo-poo mean? Did I poop?". At one point I started asking in Chinese what "poo-poo" meant cause they sure kept saying that a lot. Some foreign language HAD to help the situation, right? I determined later that it was my water breaking and not "poo-poo" that I felt. I still don't know what they were saying, but I think "poo-poo" is the noise they make for their breathing techniques... like "hoo-hoo-hee".

A sign at the hospital that is another good example of how some things get lost in translation.

When we got to the delivery room, I had to crawl, yet again, from the stretcher onto the delivery table. I MUCH prefer the labor AND delivery beds they have in the states. Who in their right mind would make a woman in labor crawl around with a baby between her knees? The pain got SUPER intense. Shock waves went through my legs and then they went numb. Weird, weird tingly feelings through my whole body. For a minute, I was determined that I was going to just keep the baby inside me cause it just hurt too badly to push him out. I tried to not push for a while but then I realized that not having the baby really wasn't an option, so then I decided to just go for the gold and push like I've never pushed before. So 2 pushes later he was out. I discovered the next day that I tore many muscles in my back, arms and in between my ribs with the pushes I did. I felt like I had been hit by a car. He was born at 11:49 pm. Too fast for Matt to run grab the camera. They let me see him a little while I was being sewn up, but I could hardly focus cause they didn't use enough anesthetic and I could feel every little needle poke. I was kicking the lamp next to the doctor and pinching the nurse's arm while screaming "WHY? WHY?". Do they not believe in drugs here or what? I did manage to notice that he had a very wrinkly forehead and he was very purple. Matt kept saying, "Charlotte, he has dark hair!". A few minutes later he was whisked away to the nursery and we didn't see him again until 10 am then next morning. This is what I ate that night. The tradition here is that you must eat seaweed soup every day for 30 days after your baby is born. It actually was really yummy and if felt good to slurp it down after a rough evening.

Anyway, aside from the craziness and lack of English, we sure are glad that he's here. He's a little sweetheart. A good sleeper and eater. Here we are, a family of four. It's hard to believe that there are four of us, now. We're a real family these days.

Lincoln if very interested in Bennett. He always tries to touch the top of Bennett's head with his index finger and says, "Ooooo". When he hears Bennett cry in his basinet, Lincoln will get up on his tippy toes to try to see him over the edge of the basinet. So cute. We're teaching him to "be soft" but that lesson hasn't sunk in yet. Here's Lincoln, Bennett and Grandma at the hospital.

This is my recovery room. It was a "special" one so it cost more, but it was totally worth it.

Bennett has VERY large/long hands and feet. Here's Mr. Big Foot:

Matt was right, Bennett does have dark hair. We were expecting a little Lincoln but Bennett is his own person.

This is not his best photo, but I had to capture how skinny his limbs are. He looks like a little Ethiopian child.

Here are my babies. I had to jump up and down on the bed to get Lincoln to look at the camera. He's thrilled, but Bennett is petrified. Isn't it amazing how fast they grow?

Here's our sweet little man. Welcome to the world, Bennett!