Brayden Mack Benham

It has been a surprising week for all of us! Brayden Mack Benham decided to come 19 days early and was born on November 17th. He shares a birthday with his grandpa Brady Benham. I don't think we could have given grandpa a better birthday present this year :) Well, it all started on Wednesday November 16th. I had my weekly OBGYN appointment and both the doctor and myself wanted to check to see if there was any progress going on since my other two kids came early. To my disappointment I was only at a 1 with no signs of any preterm labor. I was happy cause I knew baby was healthy and well, but at the same time I was soooooo done being pregnant! This time around I got varicose veins and what the doctors think is a hernia. I gained the average amount of weight for pregnancies that doctors desire for patients to gain, so I don't think these issues were necessarily from extreme weight gain. I just think my body was just telling me it had had enough. Each pregnancy has gotten harder and harder on my body. Anyways, I continued my day thinking that this kid was never going to come out and I might actually go the full 40 weeks this time around. 

That night after a busy day of errands and taking kids to their activities, making dinner, dropping off stuff at the squadron and getting the kids down for bed, I started getting what I thought were pretty consistent Braxton hicks. I blew them off cause they were not painful, just uncomfortable so I tried to drink a lot of water, relax, and walk around to get them to stop. Kyle was flying late and didn't arrive home till 10 that night so I decided to wait up for him and tell him about my day. By 2:00 in the morning I woke up to strong contraction pains. Again, I thought they were just Braxton hicks because at my appointment only hours prior I had not progressed at all. So I tried to blow it off, but couldn't sleep due to the frequency and gradual increase of pain of the contractions. I couldn't sleep all night and by 7:00 in the morning I had gotten the kids fed, bathed, and dressed for the day. Kyle came down and noticed that I was still having these "Braxton hicks." After much persuasion he convinced me to go into the hospital and get checked out (the OBGYN clinic was closed that day or else I would have gone into the clinic instead) cause he was scheduled to fly and wanted to be sure I wasn't going into labor while he was taking off. 

Reluctantly I went into the hospital on base to see what was going on. I was embarrassed that they would tell me it's nothing and that i'm still only at a 1 and should just go home cause it's all in my head. When I got there they did roll their eyes a bit at me and told me to go lay down for a bit, drink some water and they would be in shortly to check me out. I knew they thought I was being dramatic, and I was so embarrassed at the whole situation. After doing what they told me to do they finally came in to check me out and see whats going on. The nurse asked me on a scale 1-10 how bad the pain was. 1 is a pinch and 10 is death... so I said maybe a 4, I mean seriously I wasn't dying but I was uncomfortable. So again she sighed and told me that I probably was just dehydrated and needed to drink more water since I am only at a 4 on the pain scale, but she would check me anyways and see if I have progressed any. As soon as she checked me the expression on her face went from unamused to shocked. Her mouth opened and she looked at me and said well you are definitely not a 1 anymore... you are at an 8! All of a sudden I went from being a thorn in the nurses side to her number one priority. They started running around getting things ready as quickly as possible. I called Kyle telling him that he needs to cancel his flight cause it's baby time!

Of course this had to happen on a Thursday, the one and only day each week that I work. It was actually my last Thursday to teach dance before I was going to go on maternity leave for the next month and a half. It was a big day where parents had to submit costume forms for our upcoming recital, and it was parent observation da where parents could watch the class from inside the studio. So I was scrambling trying to make sure that everyone knew classes where canceled, where to turn in forms, and how the class would be made up. That was probably the most stressful part of the whole labor... trying to organize all my work stuff, as well as find sitters for my kids and ride home from school for Abby. A lot must be done prior to labor if you have other kids and a job I learned!!!

Within the first 10 minutes they had me hooked up to the IV, as well as drawing my blood for different tests that are protocol for them to do before delivery here at Misawa. Everyone was a little unprepared including myself because we were not expecting the baby to come three weeks early, and so lightning speed fast. Doctor Rosa walked in and asked if I wanted an epidural (heck yes I did!!). once I told her yes, she cringed a bit and told me she would do her best to get the anesthesiologist here ASAP, and the epidural administered if possible. wait, what did you say... if possible??? She then told me I was progressing so quickly she was worried that I wouldn't get it in time and the I need to be prepared to go naturally with this kid. If only you could have seen the size of my eyes. I told her I wouldn't move at all in hopes not to progress anymore so that the epidural can hopefully get here in time (and in hope not to break my water which still had not been broken at this point). And that's just what I did. I laid there like a statue hoping and praying that I wouldnt progress to a 10 and have to have this baby without the epidural. I am a firm believer in modern medicine. More power to all those who choose to go naturally, I just know that there is an option that can take away my pain and I choose that path!

Kyle showed up, and so did the anesthesiologist, hooray! I got the epidural and then things started to slow down. The doctor wanted to wait and have my water break naturally, but deep down I knew that wasn't going to happen. With both Abby and Connor the doctors had to break my water at an 8, and then within 20-30 mins I was at a 10 ready to push. But I was a compliant patient so we waited. After 4 hours of waiting around and me going completely stir crazy the doctor agreed to break my water. The very first contraction after my water broke I felt pressure and the need to push. So literally 5 minutes after they broke my water I went from an 8 to a 10 and we were all gearing up for baby. He came just as fast with only three pushes. One of the fist things I noticed when I saw him was how purple he was. I was worried that he wasn't breathing, but then I kept hearing him cry. After they cleaned him up a bit the doctor said all the purple was just bruising in his face most likely from the fast delivery. Besides that he was completely healthy with 10 fingers and 10 toes weighing in at a whopping 7lbs 11oz. 

Kyle went home that night to be with the kids, but brought them by the next morning so they could see their new brother. Abby was so excited, but Connor was more excited about the chocolate milk they had given me in the hospital. Timing wise Brayden came on the most perfect day. Kyle's squadron got Friday the 18th off since they had to work on Veterans day, then we went straight into the weekend where he was home. He only had to take Monday and Tuesday off of work the next week and went in on Wednesday to do some paperwork and squeeze a flight in before the Thanksgiving break. So with all the holiday breaks and weekends, Kyle only took 2 days of leave, but really got 10 days to be with us at home. Truly a miracle and a blessing. 

Friday night we were getting ready to leave and were just waiting on discharge papers. I was cleared and they were just going to do the 24 hour screening on Brayden then we were going to be on our way. I was so excited to go home and be with my family. Even being in the hospital only a day seemed like forever. They took Brayden away and said they would be back in 20 minutes after all their tests. 20 minutes passed,  30 minutes passed, 45 minutes passed and I started to get worried. I called in the nurses asking about where my baby was. The next thing I know a nurse comes running in all frantic asking if Brayden was doing anything weird or if he was spitting up a lot. I told them no, and just a little spit up that seemed normal in babies. She then proceed tot tell me that he spit up a ton, choked, had lack of oxygen and they are now stabilizing him. WHAT?! I immediately started crying and wanted to go see my baby. The nurse said I couldn't come because of the "emotional state" that I was in and seeing him hooked up to IVs and oxygen would only make me panic more. They then made me wait in my room till the radiologist, and pediatrician came and they could give me more insight as to what is going on. So I sat sobbing in my room for another 45 minutes thinking my baby was going to die. I called Kyle and thankfully our wonderful friend Jen McBrayer came to our house to watch our kids so Kyle could run down to the hospital to be with me. Right after Kyle showed up the pediatrician came back into the room with Brayden. She proceeded to tell me that they were sorry for the scare and that things were not handled as professionally as they ought to have (ya think?! My face was so swollen and red I could barely see her through my teary and puffy eyes). Basically what happened is Brayden spit up quite a bit and choked on the spit up. They hooked him up to oxygen just as a safety precaution. Then when looking at his spit up they noticed that it was green and they worried that it was bile or some other stomach fluids. After the radiologist did some x-rays they saw that he was fine and, the pediatrician was able to send a scope down into his stomach to make sure the spit didn't contain bile fluids. She said he is fine and healthy, but that the baby and I would need to spend one more night at the hospital just so they could keep a close eye on him before discharging him. They wanted to check his coloring and oxygen levels the next morning. I was so relieved and literally snatched my baby out of her arms and held him the rest of the night.

Kyle gave Brayden a blessing, and I felt so much more at ease. I think I just lost it due to how they handled the situation. By not telling me what was going on, and not letting me go to my baby I was forced to sit in my room and think about the worst. The wording they used was, "Brayden is having a life threatening incident." Of course a hormonal mother who just had a baby is going to loose it! Im sure they all thought I was a nut job, but don't tell me something is wrong with my baby then trap me in a room with no updates or ability to go see him. This momma bear literally flipped out! Luckily that is all behind us now, and we were released the following morning. Brayden is as healthy as can be and his bruising is already going down. He is a great little eater and sleeper. He is so sweet and the cutest little baby I ever did see (not that I'm a biased mother or anything). We are so glad he decided to come early and spend the holidays with us. Now we all just get to enjoy the newborn snuggles and loves over these next couple of weeks.