The Birth Story

Benjamin Alan Arnett joined us on April 10 and he came on the scene with a bang.  I started feeling contractions around midnight and they were close so we went to the hospital at 1 am to get checked out.  I was dilated a fingertip (which is pretty much means the nurses look at you like you're a complete chicken for not coping with the pain)  They kept me for an hour (with no progress whatsoever) and sent me home with a shot of morphine in the butt.  The morphine was great, but it definitely wasn't enough!  I was having contractions every 2 minutes, so I'd sleep for 1 minute, and contract for 1 minute.  Two hours later, the drugs wore off and HOLY COW!  The hospital told me to stay home for a couple of hours after the morphine wore off before coming in again.  I waited an hour in the tub, but I realized if I didn't go to the hospital right now, I wasn't going to make it.  Even then, it took me at least 20 minutes to get from my bathroom to the car.  We made it to the hospital at 6 am, after a very loud and noisy car ride.  I must have looked pretty bad because when I walked through the doors, the nurses started running around and even got me a wheelchair.  Once we got into a room, the nurses changed me into a gown, put me in bed, and hooked me up and checked my cervix.  9 centimeters!  They just kept telling me, don't push!  Like I had a choice.  There were like 10 people in the room, but no midwife, and no doctor.  They were calling all over to get any doctor in, but it didn't happen.  At some point, the nurse just stopped telling me not to push and out popped Benjamin Alan.  He came at 6:26 am (26 minutes after I walked through the hospital doors) at 7 pounds 2 ounces (Thank you, Ben) and 19.5 inches.  My midwife made it in time to deliver the placenta and a nice doctor stitched me up for an hour and a half (I told you he came out with a bang)!  But, Ben made it safe and sound into our little family.  He is ridiculously gorgeous and the joy of our lives.