Hello Ben

I’ve been ready to have this baby for a few weeks, but it only really seemed to make sense this week. The nursery was finished on Sunday. My doctor told me I was 4 cm dilated on Monday. Judy and Jerry are in town for Thanksgiving. I am officially 38 weeks. The most important reason – I am insanely uncomfortable. When I hadn’t gone into labor by Tuesday, I started to rethink all this. I didn’t want to miss Thanksgiving with my family. Birth story below. Feel free to read or skip that part and just see the pictures.

The baby must have taken all of this into account. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day and I woke up about 1:30 am pretty sure I was in labor. I woke Wade up and we called his parents. We got to the hospital a little after 2 am. With my history, I was a little surprised that I was only 6 cm dilated. I was having contractions every minute and there was some discussion about how quickly I would progress. They quickly moved me to a room and I asked for an epidural. After getting all the information/disclaimers the doctor has to discuss before the actual epidural, the OB brought up that if he broke my water, I would most likely be immediately ready to deliver. (Or if it broke on its own, I would be ready to deliver before the epidural took effect.) Then the anesthesiologist also mentions I am a greater risk for the nasty headache I hear people talk about after an epidural. Decision made. I have had one delivery without pain medication and it wasn’t too bad. I told the OB to break my water. He did and suddenly everyone in the room was suited up and ready. Then the OB realizes something isn’t quite right. He keeps checking me (which HURTS) and demands an ultrasound. They were afraid the baby had suddenly turned and I would need an emergency C-section. The ultrasound confirmed the baby was in the correct position but something still wasn’t right. The OB finally realized the baby was head down, but coming face first (instead of crown first). He warned me it would hurt but we were going to deliver immediately. I did, but wow. I should have gotten the epidural.

Benjamin Fuller Burch was born on 11/24 at 4:26 am. He was 7 lbs, 5 oz. and 20.5 inches long. The poor thing has a bruised face with a very swollen nose and mouth, but hopefully that fades quickly.