He's Here!!!

Cody Ryan Bennion

9 lbs 4 oz 21in long

born Monday July 14th @ 7:09 am

This is for all of you who want all the birth details. Lets see.....It all started Saturday when I had 5 hrs of false labor (strong Braxton Hicks). After 5 hours they stopped so I knew nothing was happening. The same thing happened on Sunday for the 3 hours I was at church. Those went away also. I was a little frustrated that things weren't progressing but since I wasn't overdue, what could I do about it. I had a doctor appointement set up for Monday afternoon and I really didn't want to have to go to it. Well, Sunday night we went to bed at 11:00 and at 11:15, right as I dozed off, I had the first contraction. I knew this one was real because it was really painful. I waited and 15 minutes later I had another one. I thought maybe they hurt so bad beacuse of the position I was in, so I went out to the couch. The next one came 10 minutes later, then 8, then 6, then 5. At that point Ryan made the babysitter call (Thanks Grandma Deb!). We ended up getting to the hospital around 1:00 am. At that point the contractions were super strong (I was already wanting to be done :). They checked me and I was 7 cm dialated. The first thing I said was "can I get my epidural?". They got right on that and by 2:30 I wasn't feeling anything. I am also Group B Strep positive (its a bacteria in my body) so I have to have 2 sets of antibiotics 4 hours apart. If I can't get those the baby has to stay in the hospital an extra day. They got the antibiotics in around 2:00 so I knew I didn't want to deliver until after 6:00 am. Well, that took some stalling on my part. I was complete around 4:00 (I think) but I still didn't want him to come so I just didn't push. I mananged that until 5:30 when we decided we were safe time wise to start pushing. Luckily (sort of) he was facing up so it took longer to push him out which bought me more time. Also, my contractions were so long (some up to 4 minutes) that I could get in two rounds of pushing with them. Everything was so laid back. I just pushed when I wanted to and there was no pain or preasure. He was super easy to push out and I didn't have any tearing or anything. I know, it's amazing. We came home Tuesday at noon. Last night was our first night at home and he did great. He would wake up and eat about every 2-3 hours and then go right back to sleep. I am very sore from nursing because his suck is super strong and hard so last night he had two bottles. He sucked those right down without any hesitation. I am feeling really good today. I am not on any pain meds and things are "healing" nicely. Ryan went back to work today also, so it's just me and the kids. So far, so good. We will see how the rest of the day goes!

Here is our first family picture. I had so many fluids pumped into me that I totally puffed up. I didn't even know that I looked like that until my mom showed me the pictures yesterday. Luckily that effect didn't last to long and I looked "normal" before I left the hospital.