Berkeley Lynn Bennum

Well, I really don't feel like being on the computer right now, but I decided that I needed to do this blog post now before I forget all the important details. As you can see by my last post, I was in the early stages of labor, and in pain for a prolonged period of time! The next day I called my Doctor and we sent Cheyenne to church with some good friends. The Doctor had to be in Atlanta for the day, but he said if the contractions became regular to go ahead and go in because he had someone on call for him. The contractions never became regular, but I called his cell phone around 3 to let him know everything was still the same and the contractions were still irregular but very painful. He said to go ahead and go to the hospital.

My mom and sister went ahead and got on flights to try to make it in time. My sister bought a whole new ticket and my mom flew standby and barely made the flight. We dropped off Cheyenne's overnight stuff with our friends Robyn and Steve who were watching her then headed to the hospital. We checked in around 4 or 5 (I am already forgetting). The nurse said, "well, if you aren't going to have the baby tonight, maybe he can at least give you something to take home for the pain." I freaked out in my head because I thought, "I am not leaving the hospital again without this baby out of me!!" Luckily, when they checked me I was at a 5 and 90% effaced so they said I would be having the baby that night! I was so excited! I really had wanted to go into labor on my own, but I really didn't believe it was going to happen.

I asked for the drugs as soon as possible, but they said they wanted to wait until the contractions were more regular. Finally around 8 or 9 ish, I told Jeff (who was by the way watching the Seahawks game, but I didn't really care, because I wasn't paying attention to the tv anyway) that I couldn't take it anymore. I was seriously so tired. I had probably slept a combined 8 hours the past two nights and every contraction was so exhausting and painful. Finally the nurse came in and I begged for the drugs. She said that was fine. When she gave me the nubein ?? in my IV it felt SO GOOD!! But it only lasted about 10 minutes then I started feeling the contractions again. Plus, it made me floaty feeling. Then I got the epidural, which I didn't remember hurting last time, but it kind of hurt this time. After I got the epidural though, I couldn't stop crying because it felt so amazing. I told Jeff, I don't know why I am crying, but this is the best feeling in the world. It wasn't just that the pain was gone, but I felt like I was floating on a cloud. It was seriously amazing. I just really do not understand why anyone would not want the epidural... I wish I could have gotten it about 24 hours sooner!!

Mom and Heather arrived in Atlanta at about 9 or 10 pm, they rented a car and got to the hospital about 11:15-11:30, which was just in time because Berkeley was born at 12:09 am, which makes her birthday October 25. After they gave me the epidural, they gave me pitocin to make my contractions bigger and more regular. The nurse came to check me and her head was sticking out, which was the same thing that happened with Cheyenne, but Cheyenne's was a little farther out. We were all surprised at how dark her hair was. With Cheyenne, the Doctor kept telling me not to push, but with Berkeley I had to do two 10 second pushes. She came out so easily and I didn't rip or tear or anything. It was so wonderful. The nurses were saying I was built to have babies so I should have a lot of them... haha... or maybe that was my sister that said that, I don't remember now.

It was really weird that we hadn't named her yet. I don't want to wait that long again. We finally decided on the name the morning we left the hospital. We chose Berkeley, because it was a city name and we thought it was really cute. Lynn is Jeff's mom's middle name. I like for the middle name to have a meaning. After Berkeley was born, I have never been so tired in my entire life!! Then I had to wake up to feed her!! The recovery has been harder than with Cheyenne, but every day I feel like I have more energy.

The thing that surprised me the most was how quickly we fell in love with her and how she just fits so perfectly in our family. Jeff loves her because he can snuggle with her, which Cheyenne grew out of that about a year ago!! So far she is a good baby because she pretty much just sleeps and eats! haha... we love her though. We have had soooo much support and help from friends here and it has been so great. People volunteer to watch Cheyenne all the time, and we have had 3 delicious meals delivered to us. The kindness and generosity of those around us when we are in need always amazes me. I hope I will be so willing to serve when others are in need of me.