Benjamin Michael Mecham has Arrived!

Wednesday, the 20th I went in for my scheduled amniocentesis and Benjamin passed! His lungs were mature and he was ready to be born. We went straight to the hospital and I got some medicine to prepare my body to start contractions, but my doctor didn't expect any kind of progress until the next morning. After 5 hours I was dilated to a 3 and I was ready for my epidural, which went a lot better than I thought it would. An hour later I was at a 5 and I was pretty excited for how quickly labor was progressing. I started feeling a lot of pressure so after 45 minutes I called my nurse who told me I was at a 9! Unfortunately I was at a 9 for 2 hours. During this time my epidural stopped working above my hips. My anesthesiologist, who was wonderful, couldn't seem to come up with a combination of drugs to take away the feeling in my back so for the last 3 or 4 hours of labor I felt every contraction in my back and belly. At 10 centimeters my doctor came in and told me I could either push for 2 hours or he could use forceps and have him out in 5 minutes. I took the fast way out and after 3 pushes Benjamin was here! He was perfect and he had a really cute high-pitched cry. It took about 15 minutes before I could hold him so Dennis stayed with Benjamin and he got to hold him first. When I finally got to hold Benjamin, he kept looking back at Dennis. Needless to say I was a little jealous, but happy that Benjamin loves his daddy. Benjamin was born at 6:47 am on Thursday, May 21st. He weighed 7 lbs, 9 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long. He is such a sweet baby and he's very content. He loves to look at mom and dad and likes to be held close. We are so happy to have him with us.