Dollarhite Doodles: Baby Benjamin Slayed the Dragon

Dear Benjamin,

It has almost been three months since you came into the world. I don't know how time gets away from me. I promise you have full albums of pictures on Facebook. Some day, if you read this, I may have to tell you what that is. I need to back those photos up, for all of you.

You, like your older siblings, took your time preparing to arrive. Although, you did make a swifter entrance than your predecessors. Your due date was Friday, November 21, 2014. I went in, to see my fabulous team of midwives, but still nothing. We left our appointment and went to meet daddy for lunch. All day long, still nothing but the irregular and strong contractions.

November 22, 2014: The next day was Saturday and throughout the day I continued to have strong contractions but never much closer than 7 minutes apart. The day egged on, with its intense contractions and I finally told daddy it might be time to go to the hospital.

On the way there, I got worried. The contractions seemed to have stopped almost entirely. Driving from home, to the city would take about 30 minutes and I just didn't want to be sent home. Daddy offered to have us stop and get dinner at Wendy's and use our Frosty coupons. So, we did. We ate dinner and then we each got a Frosty. But I couldn't eat mine. I told daddy we needed to go NOW.

We started to gather up our trash and left over drinks, coats, and fries. As we were leaving, two sweet ladies asked me when I was due. I told them "yesterday" and they smiled because I said we were on our way to the hospital right now. We got in the car and raced back to the hospital, then parked in the parking garage at the Labor and Delivery Triage. We got inside and went to check in. THERE WAS A LINE. I sat in the chair and had to breathe and think to myself, while other women got checked in to triage. Finally, there was a room for us. I got settled and waited for the nurse to come in.

Once she arrived, she gave the usual spiel. "I'll check you", she said, "and we'll monitor you for a while to let you know what will happen next." Your big brother and sister were watching the iPad with daddy, so we were all just getting ready to hang out for hours, as we have had to do with both previous deliveries. I was so worried we had a long way to go. I was so anxious I would not even be close to being ready. Except, it wasn't meant to be like that. The nurse checked me for about one second and stood straight up, took off her gloves, and told us we were having a baby! "You're at 7 cm and I am admitting you right now!"

We got to our room and told your family to come on up to see us! We still thought we had time. We passed out HE-r-SHE-y bars to everyone, including the nurses. Everyone got to choose stickers to show off whether they were on team BOY or team GIRL. I labored for a little while, until I felt the contractions go in to my back. All the fear from Derek's delivery came rushing back. I couldn't do that to myself again. I decided to get an epidural and then waited for a few hours. You still were not here.

November 23, 2014: It was finally time to push around 8 in the morning. Your big brother and sister left the room and got to go out and wait in the waiting room. Daddy and I were mentally prepped for another 2 hours of pushing, like we had done with your sister. You had other plans. 18 minutes later, daddy got to "call" your gender. We had another baby boy! Daddy put together the reveal box and took it out to the waiting room. Your big brother got to open the box, so everyone could see if you were a boy or a girl. Derek was not too happy at first and was upset that he had to share you with daddy. I think he is SO GLAD he has a brother now though. You two will be the very best of friends, I can tell.

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Gender voting station with chocolates and stickers!

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Big brother, opening the box to find BLUE!

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My sweet baby Ben-Ben

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I got to hold you, skin to skin, for a whole hour to myself after you were born.. I cried. I tore, but I didn't care. You were here! You nursed like a champ. You didn't cry. You just wanted to look at me. It was so peaceful and you just fit right in to the family, as if you were here all along. Recovery was great and we even got to go home really soon, because we were both so healthy.

Well, without further ado...Here are some of your birth stats:

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You were 8lbs 0oz

You were 19.75 inches long

You had blonde hair - but not a lot of it

You had blue eyes

You were breast fed

You loved to be cuddled

You did not cry a lot

You passed your newborn hearing screen

You only stayed one night in the hospital before getting to go home

You have an older brother, Derek

You have an older sister, Rylie