july 17th, 2013: bennett elijah

Monday night (July 15th) I was up from midnight to 5 am with extremely bad contractions. I would flip sides, still contract; walk around, still contract; take a bath (or 3), still contract. I definitely knew I was having contractions but had no clue when to go t the hospital since I was induced with Cayden. Since I had my 37 week OB appointment scheduled for 9 am Tuesday, I decided to try to fall asleep and just wait for my appointment. I finally fell asleep at 5 am and didn't wake up to anymore contractions, so I figured I was just having braxton hicks. I went to my prenatal appointment and told my doctor what was going on and she checked me to see if I was dilated any. Sure enough, I was dilated 4 cm! WOAH! At this point with Cayden, I was only 1 cm and was 1 cm for a good 4 weeks before I had to be induced! I just couldn't believe I was at a 4! My doctor encouraged me to go home and wait for contractions to get closer together and come to the hospital when they were 5 min apart, or if my water broke. She told me babies all have minds of their own (I know this well from my first pregnancy) and it could be hours, days, or even a few weeks still. Always encouraging when the doctor says that...not! Ha. 

I went home and picked up Cayden from our neighbor's house. I decided to run some errands since it could happen any hour or day. Cayden and I went to the store, ate some lunch, and then we were going to go to target (I decided to skip that so he could take a nap, which turned out to be a fabulous choice ;)). I got home, put Cayden down for his nap, watched one of my shows, and then decided I wanted to get some cleaning done. I decided to start with our bathroom, because the dirtiness was starting to drive me nuts. I cleaned the sink, the toilet, and finally took on the shower. We have tile surrounding the tub and I was reaching up to reach the top tile and jumped a little...needless to say, when I hit the ground from jumping, my water broke. EVERYWHERE. Luckily, I was in the tub and not Target ;) 

I called my neighbor who's water broke with one of her girls, and asked her what it felt like etc. etc. I was not about to go to the hospital just to be sent home. She was in line at Dillards and was telling me exactly how it felt when your water broke. She told me she got some weird stares. :D I called my doctor and explained to her I was pretty sure my water broke and she told me to go to the bathroom to make sure my bladder was empty, put a pad on, and lay in bed for 30 min. After that I needed to call her and tell her if the pad was wet. Well, sure enough, after 30 min all of my nike shorts were drenched. I called Tyler at work (he didn't answer), so I called his friend that works next to him and asked to talk to Tyler. Of course Tyler was uber calm (I guess I was too, surprisingly), and he headed home to take me to the hospital. 

I obviously had a plan for Cayden for when I was supposed to be induced (July 29), our parents were going to alternate who was taking care of him. I just hadn't planned for spontaneous labor...really thinking that would NEVER happen to me ;) Tyler and I went to our neighbor's (thankfully we're all best friends) and asked if we could leave Cayden there until one of our parents showed up, they were so gracious and took him right in!! Thank you Coopers!!! I, thankfully, packed mine & Bennett's bags when I was 36 weeks just in case labor happened spontaneously. Tyler didn't since he just knew I wouldn't go early ;) He ended up coming home to pack a bag after we found out I was admitted. 

We got to the hospital and did the registration (I forgot to mention, when my water broke, the contractions I had been having stopped), so I sat there and answered the questions. Then they took me to triage and sent me in to the bathroom to put on a gown. When I came out they told me they were going to admit me, as they didn't even need to check if my water broke, since it was all over the registration chair. Whoops...

They put me in a labor and delivery room and Tyler and I were so shocked this was happening. Today. This all happened so fast! (side note: I am getting extremely teary eyed writing this...it all just happened so fast, I haven't really thought of the details!) As soon as we knew this wasn't a false alarm, we called our parents (of course it was THE worse time to travel from downtown Houston and up 35 from San Antonio), but they got to the hospital pretty quickly considering. 

My contractions continued pretty evenly but they weren't progressing me enough so they told me they were going to start pitocin. I was familiar with pitocin contractions from Cayden (aka death in a cramp), so I asked for the epideral before I even felt any pain. I waited way too long with Cayden and learned my lesson ;) The anesthesiologist came in really quickly (I was the only one on the labor and delivery floor at the time so I got really great treatment ;)). As soon as the epideral was in, I stopped feeling any pain and it was a pretty smooth road from there, pain wise. After about 2 hours and only progressing 1 cm, they were trying to decide why I wasn't progressing faster. As soon as they broke my water with Cayden, I dilated so fast! They checked me and realized I had two bags of water (apparently some people do) and one of mine was still in tact. She quickly popped that and over the next hour or two I went from 6cm to 10cm...thank goodness I wasn't feeling those contractions. At 10cm I felt the urge to push but was fighting it until the doctor showed up. At this point it was 12:50 am (my 1st water broke at 3 pm). My doctor got there, told me to push, and after 4 pushes and 7 minutes (remember with Cayden I pushed for 3 hours...), little Bennett Elijah was born at 1:03 am, weighing 7lb 8 oz. Yes I am aware that had I gone to my induction date--not even 40 weeks, and he would've weighed more than 9 lbs...I have chunkies.

Such a rush of emotion of course! And I'm bawling just staring my little miracle in the face. After that, Tyler went and got our parents and my neighbor Christy, who waited the whole time at the hospital, and they came back to meet him. It was such a wonderful night, and I couldn't believe he decided to come at 37 weeks, but he is just so perfect. 

My recovery has been amazing this time around. I feel great, except my emotions are haywire. I will be laughing hysterically one minute, and bawling crying the next---over nothing. I keep referencing how "old" Bennett is already (he's 5 days), but I went through this with Cayden too, and it gets better! 

The next morning my in-laws brought Cayden up to meet Bennett and it was better than we expected. Cayden loves the baby and notices him every once in awhile, but he thought my hospital bed buttons and drawers were way more interesting. I just sat there while he moved my bed up and down, and front to back. He was entertained! 

We spent the next day and a half at the hospital, and I can't stop raving about our experience at Cedar Park Medical Center. The staff was amazing, my nurses were truly the best (I cried saying goodbye to them), and we loved that Bennett was with us the whole entire time. They did all of his tests (minus circumcision, thank goodness) in our room, and we really liked that. And yes, I did cry leaving the hospital, but I did that with Cayden too. It's almost like this rush of emotions hits you and you realize this is all real life. The blur of the last 36 hours was real, and you really do have a newborn in the back seat, and he's coming home with you, because he's yours. I can't explain it, but SO EMOTIONAL!!!

We arrived home with a sign made by our neighbors (have we mentioned they're all so great ;)), and went and picked up Cayden from our other neighbor (thanks Christy!), and took the boys inside. We were a family of 4 for the first time. Tyler and I just stood there and took it in. I cried, of course, and I think I made Tyler tear up too ;). That night, Tyler asked what I wanted for dinner, if I wanted him to pick me up something, and I said I needed to get out, so the 4 of us had our first family outing to Fuzzy's Tacos. Before you freak out, I did this with Cayden too, and we sat in a booth, with the baby seat on the inside, with a blanket over it, and no one tried to touch him ;). Everything went well, and we had a wonderful first dinner as four :D

Those 2 days were some of the best of my life (tied with our wedding and Cayden's birth). It is so fun looking back at them and I can't believe it's been 5 days...[cue the tears] ;)

When Tyler's parents got there. (Side note: I am a firm believer of it being just Tyler and I when I push...both sets of parents got to stop in and say hi beforehand. They honored that!)

Those are some strong contractions (that I'm not feeling):

Our room's announcement board:

Tyler and I after being admitted...excited!!!

I couldn't forget to take my last belly pic:

Right when they put him on me...Tyler got this picture when I delivered Cayden too. These are the sweet moments I never want to forget! [cue the tears again--maybe I should have waited until I was less emotional to write this ;)]

I got to watch Tyler and Bennett's nurse give him a bath. So special!

Tyler being a daddy <3

Tyler's parents meeting him for the first time:

The grandmas:

My parents first meeting him:

Us & Tyler's parents:

Us & my parents:

My second born:)

The three of us:

Bennett Elijah Hobbs, July 17, 2013 @ 1:03am

Christy meeting Bennett. Her and our parents were awesome for waiting around the hospital for 6+ hours...in the middle of the night.

All clean after his bath:

Cayden came to visit us at the hospital the next morning!!

Introducing the two boys:

Bennett's ID card on his "crib".

About 7 hours old :)

Eating his chik fil a:

The hospital had a photographer come take pictures in our room and she got the most adorable picture of Tyler holding Bennett. Look how little he is next to Tyler's hands!! I can't wait to get her picture she took.

My nurse and I. Yes, I cried when I said bye to her. #hormonal But seriously, I was so blessed by the 3 nurses I had.

Cayden seeing Bennett at home:

Our "welcome home" sign:

Cayden checking on his brother:

Removing my hospital bracelets...I'm no longer a "fall risk". (Epideral side effects)

Bennett (today) while I write this blog!!