Family of 4

I think my Nana said it best "Life with 2 kids is quadruple the work of 1." When I first heard this I remember thinking "OK Nana you silly, silly lady." What was I thinking shrugging that off. She was totally right! I am OK enough with myself to admit when I am wrong. I WAS WRONG! I am sure I haven't hit the tip of the ice burg on how much more work it becomes when Ben starts walking. It also hit me how scared and grossed out I was when Claire got stomach flu (We all got it. Plus vomit is my Kryptonite) and now I will have 2 with stomach flu. I am also having such a hard time getting anything done around the house. It is killing me that I have all these unfinished projects everywhere. As soon as I sit down to do something or it starts getting really good Ben is screaming or Claire wants my attention.  

I love being a mother and I would never change that but HOLY MOTHER Of PEARL I want to get something done from start to finish! I know I am not the only mother who feels like this but the mothers I know seem like super moms who have capes on and finish everything and have time to make roast duck dinner FROM SCRATCH. I do my darnedest to get as much done in the time I have but I also like to do things like sit, eat, or shower alone. 

Ben Part 2

At this point things were really getting intense and I told Travis to please drive like a bat out of hell because things were happening. I also let him know that I was going to look like I was not OK but that I was going to be fine and not to worry and just focus on driving the 15 miles to the hospital. At 2am the roads are fine and no one is on them so going 80 mph on hwy 26 is fine. We get to the hospital and I told Travis not to park in the emergency lane and that I could walk. Not realizing that it would take me almost 10 minutes to get about 300 feet. When we got in the ER there was a line and the hospital was under construction. Great. The lady at the desk, after about 3 contractions, realized what we were here for and buzzed us in. We had not been into the birthing area from this entrance and because there was construction going on we had no idea where to go. I finally had Travis just drop me off amongst some tarps and a guy filling up a vending machine to go and figure out where I was supposed to go.

He came back to me hugging a column, swaying, and breathing hard and the vending machine guy a little concerned and white faced. He directed me to the front desk where the nurses had no idea who I was or why my papers were not showing up in the system. Well this is swell. Here I am having a baby coming out of me and trying to stay calm as we stand at the front desk discussing the situation and me cracking jokes between contractions. Finally a wonderfully smart nurse says that she will take me to my room now and that they will figure out all the paperwork later. Thank you lovely nurse.

Here I am walking down the hall as fast as I can trying to reach my room and having to stop and labor and the nurse who I thought I loved at that time is looking at me like “Jeez lady let's get to your room.” I notice this and try to make a joke after I can talk again and she just looks annoyed. I finally make it and they have me undress and change into the awful hospital garb when my knight in shining armor, other than Travis, walks into the room. Oh Stacey! I comment on how good she looks and how I was sorry for waking her up. The nurse has me lay back and checks me and she is no longer looking at me like I am an annoyance because she has figured out that I am at 8cm. I labor pretty well and can keep it pretty light hearted for quite a while. She must have thought that I was a weakling and at like a 2 or something. She changed her tune after that.

I was able to keep joking between contractions for a little longer and then things picked up a bit and I hit transition. THIS is when the hospital staff decided that they needed all my info that they had “Lost” with my pre-registration papers weeks ago. Seriously?! I had also tested positive for Group B Strep so here they were also trying to get me hooked up for the antibiotics which need 4 hours to work. Stacey and I looked at each other and we were both like “Does it really look like she has 4 hours to go here?!”

My midwife had arrived at the hospital and checked me and told me that I had to get up off the bed and squat because I had such a short way to go and this would speed things up. I was so tired and all I wanted to do was lay in bed but would anyone let me? No. This was the worst of it by far. I had not gone through transition with Claire and that was such a breeze compared to this. This time I was crying a bit but I had a great support team. Travis and Stacey were so great with encouragement, support, and love that it made all the difference in the world.

One of the nurses came to check me and see how the baby was doing and after a few minutes she said that she didn't like how he was reacting to the contractions. She asked me to lie on my side and so I did. I thought I was going to die. This was the worst pain I had ever felt in the entire universe and if I had to stay in this position one more second I was not going to make it. I started to feel like I needed to push and the nurses were telling me I had just been checked and that I had some time to go. For any of you who have birthed a baby you know that when this time arises you are no longer in control. Your body is in control and it knows what to do and you just have to listen and do what it's telling you to do.

One of the nurses called the midwife back in to check me. She came in and checked and what do you know? I was ready to push. A lot happened in that moment. My water broke, nurses were running all over the room, my bed was transforming, and Travis, Stacey, and I were in the thick of it. The midwife had told me in a stern voice, so I would pay attention to her, that I needed to listen to her and stop pushing when she said to. I nodded and pushed. I pushed with my face relaxed and quiet. I did this through 2 contractions and his head was out. She gave me the OK to push the rest of him out and I did.

I saw his chubby body in her hands and she was unwrapping the cord from his neck. Before I could say anything she said he was fine but that was why he started to do a little poorly before I was ready to push. She also said that he had come out sunny side up. No wonder I had had so much lower back pain. He never turned! I was crying and looking at my beautiful baby, my wonderful husband, and my fabulous Doula. I loved them all. They placed him on my chest and I just looked into his eyes and I loved him. I forgot about all the pain and the ridiculous hospital nonsense. It was just about him.

After he had been weighed and cleaned up and I had my bed restored Travis and I looked at him. We looked at him and we were not sure about what name he should have. We had picked out 3 names. I looked at him and said "Are you David?” And he cried. “Are you Nicholas?” And he grimaced. “Are you Benjamin?” And he looked up at me and was content. You are Benjamin.

Ben Part 1

On April 30th at 4:35am the larsen family welcomed Benjamin Clark Larsen.  9lbs 7oz,  20 1/2", and a 14" head.  He was a big boy.  This time was much shorter to get him here unlike his sister.  

It all started with me being told that I was going to be induced on Friday as that would be over a week late.  Me not wanting this at all costs tried everything to get him here naturally.  You name it, I did it.  I really took one for the team.  I went in for a check on Wednesday and my midwife scheduled me for an induction on Thursday night despite all my begging and pleading.  I did however ask her to strip my membranes as I think that helped with Claire.  She did and I walked away feeling crampy.  I called Travis to see if he wanted to meet me for lunch since it might be the last time for a while since things might start happening soon.  He agreed and I called my Doula Stacey to let her know what was happening. 

Later that day about 3pm things started to feel a little more intense but still quite irregular and knowing me I felt no need for alarm.  My mom had been staying with us for a few days in case we needed to leave for the hospital at the drop of a hat and to watch Claire.  I had gone up stairs to change my clothes and when I came back down I looked at my huge belly and it was looking quite far away from where it had been when I went up the stairs.  A little confused I looked at my mom and asked her if I looked different and she  thought he was definitely on his way as he had dropped, in my mind, about 4 feet.

We ate dinner with me having contractions and in denial that this was IT because they were so irregular and at different levels of pain.  Nothing I couldn't handle but with Claire they were perfectly timed and all growing on the pain scale.  This was totally wrong!  I called Stacey about 10pm and she had suggested that I try using the breast pump for a half an hour to get the contractions really going if this was the real thing.  She then asked to come over and that she would just sleep on my couch until things were really happening.  I was still in denial about the whole thing and didn't want her to drive all the way from Salem to Sandy for nothing.  So we agreed that I would just call IF things developed .  Riiight.

Travis and I went to bed about 11pm and I woke up with intense back pain about 1am.  I didn't want to wake Travis for nothing and I thought abut how tired he was last time with Claire that even if this was the real thing I wanted him to sleep for a while.  I called Stacey about 1:15 just to let her know what was going on and I woke her up out of a dead sleep.  She didn't know at first who I was (She later told me how sorry she was about this) not that I minded since it was in the wee hours of the morning.  I told her what was going on and that they were still irregular and no bloody show yet.  At that point in the conversation I could tell that she had jumped out of bed and was on her way.  I was starting to get a little more on the band wagon since I heard Stacey, who herself was about 6 months pregnant, turn into an action figure over the phone.  

Stacey had about an hour drive and everyone in the house was still sleeping so I decided to clean.  I got the blankets folded to put over the couch and took out the recycling.   All while doing this I was starting to notice that I had to keep stopping to get through contractions pretty regularly.  What?!  I kept on doing things but was keeping a close eye on the clock.  After about 10 minutes of activity I was having contractions every 2 minutes and they were lasting about a minute.  I called Stacey back.  I told her the new predicament I was in.  She was still about 45 minutes away and was stuck because there was a massive apartment fire.  We discussed plan B which was to meet at the hospital and I decided to wait and see how it went because there was still no "Show."  She mentioned that if I felt any pressure to just go and she would just see us there.

I went about my business just finding little things to do and then about 5 minutes later I was standing and swaying over the counter when I was like "Would that be the head?"  At that point I panicked a little.  I called Stacey back and said plan B is a go!  I was trying to text and Call immediate family in the middle of intense contractions in the middle of the night.  That was quite a site to see.  I realized that Travis was still sleeping and that he kind of needed to be the driver in this senario. I woke him up as well as my mom to let her know that we were leaving.