Bennett's Birth Story

Happy Tuesday, friends! 

I hope everyone had a fabulous Labor Day weekend...we definitely did because BENNETT CAME HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL YESTERDAY!!! Hooray!!!

Now that I have a little more time on my hands because I'm not driving up to the hospital 3 times a day, I wanted to sit down and write his birth story out, before I forget all of the details!

I was originally supposed to get induced on August 27, a whole month before my actual due date. I think I mentioned this on here before, but my placenta was in the back, making it very difficult for my doctor to transfuse blood to Bennett once he got bigger. My high risk doctor said he wouldn't do any more blood transfusions in utero after about 32/33 weeks, so we were all crossing our fingers that Bennett would make it 3 weeks after my last transfusion without getting super anemic. However, my doctor got a little concerned that Bennett had gone through so much blood between transfusions #2 and #3 (#3 was the last transfusion), so he consulted with the NICU doctors and they all agreed to move my induction date up by a few days. Instead of getting induced at 35 weeks and 4 days, they would induce at 35 weeks exactly, just in case Bennett was getting anemic (there isn't a very good way to tell if baby is getting anemic after so many transfusions, except for regular MCA scans that I had been getting as well as doing BPPs and NSTs. Bennett looked great on all of these things, but my doctor wanted to be conservative and err on the side of caution). 

So! I probably should have gone in the night before, like I did when I got induced with Lucas, but the hospital was full, so instead I reported for duty at 7:30 AM on Thursday, August 23. 

We took one last family of 4 picture before Trav and I left for the hospital!

The labor and delivery floor was insane that morning...my OB jokingly said people were coming in off the street in labor! Because I wasn't anywhere close to being in active labor yet, I waited in triage until about 12:00 PM. 

While in triage, I got this balloon catheter thing put in to help me dilate, and HOLY MOLY did that thing hurt. So much blood everywhere (eek, sorry!). It was awful. I got it put in at 9 AM and was literally counting down the hours until my doctor would take it out at 9 PM. 

By the time we finally got moved to a regular L&D room around lunchtime, I was STARVING. They wouldn't let me have anything except clear liquids! So all I ate the whole day was popsicles and jello.

I was so freaking hungry all day! 

Once we got settled in our room, they started me on pitocin around 1:00. It took a little while to start feeling contractions, but once I felt them start to get stronger, I immediately asked for the epidural (I had also asked for it while we were still in triage, at like 10 AM! Ha! I wanted to make sure I got one!). So around 3:30-ish, I got my epidural. And let me tell you, it was the best epidural out of all 3 deliveries. OMG, it was magical! 

I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening napping and trying not to think about how hungry I was. I had to constantly lay on my side, because when I was on my back, Bennett's heart rate would drop and my blood pressure would get super low. My low blood pressure, combined with all of the drugs made me super nauseous and shaky. My hands could not be still! Around 9:00, the doctor came in to take out that God-awful catheter thing and break my water! When she did, she also checked me...I was 6 cm dilated! Upon breaking my water, my doctor saw some meconium in the fluid, which freaked me out, because now I had yet one more thing to worry about with this baby. 

The doctor and nurses had me to continue to lay on my side with a big old peanut ball thing between my legs. Let's just say I have been in more comfortable positions. Between the crazy low blood pressure, shaking, and intense hunger, I basically wanted to die/get this baby out immediately. 

The nurses told me to call them as soon as I felt pressure down there to push. They kept checking me, and I was only at like 7 cm. I was so worried I was going to have a c-section at this point because I really wasn't progressing much, and baby's hear rate kept dropping. Thankfully, a little after 12:30 AM I started feeling more pressure...the nurses checked me and I was 9 cm! I was also excited because it was now August 24...which meant baby was going to have an all even-numbered birthday! (I hate odd numbers and it kills me Ella and Lucas both have odd numbers in their birthdays!)

I quickly got to 10 cm and was ready to push! I pushed through 2 contractions, maybe about 10 minutes, and Bennett was here at 1:13 AM! 

We did not know gender, and I was about 80% sure it was a boy. As soon as I saw Bennett, even before I saw his "boy part," I knew he was a boy because he looked exactly like Lucas!!! And then the doctor let Travis say, "It's a boy!" 

Because I was induced at 35 weeks, we weren't sure what kind of condition Bennett would be in. Thankfully, he came out crying and had good color, so I got to hold him right away! Also, this is so random but he smelled so good! Is that not weird?! He had such a newborn smell to him!! It smelled like...diapers and baby powder maybe? I don’t know, I just remember holding him for the first time and thinking “he smells like such a newborn!” 

Anyway, then they took him over to the warmer to wipe him down, measure him and do all that good stuff! They also suctioned him out really well, and I don't think he swallowed any of the meconium that had been found when my water was broken! 

He was a good weight (6 pounds, 2 ounces) and he was doing really well! They were keeping an eye on his breathing though. I feel so lucky that they gave him back to me to do a little skin-to-skin while they monitored his breathing. I honestly thought he would be immediately whisked away to the NICU right after birth, so I was soaking up this short hour of baby snuggles that I got to have! 

While we were snuggling with Bennett, his oxygen saturation level was a little low. It was supposed to be 95%-100% and his was in the low 90s%. The nurse from the NICU decided to take him to the NICU for monitoring. Looking back, I'm surprised they didn't take Bennett to the NICU for his real issue (hyperbilirubinemia and HDN), but hey, I guess anything to get him where he needs to be, right?! So we kissed our sweet baby goodbye. The nurse made it seem like she was going to bring him right back, but...this is not my first rodeo, guys. I knew Bennett was going to that NICU for quite a while! 

The crazy thing is, at birth, Bennett's hemoglobin was 14! 14! That's a really high, healthy number. And that was the whole reason I got induced early...we all thought his hemoglobin at birth would be like an 8 or 9. What a little trickster! 

Bennett came off the c-pap to help him breathe within 12 hours, and Travis and I went to the NICU to see him for the first time at like 4:30 that morning (yeah, we didn't sleep at all that Thursday into Friday night!). Looking back, it wasn't nearly as traumatizing as it was when Lucas got admitted to the NICU. Mostly because I knew he was in the right place to help get him healthy ASAP! 

I was crazy sore the next few days, especially in my hips (probably from those hours of laying on my side with that damn peanut ball), and the cramping was a lot worse than I remembered from Ella and Lucas! 

But, we all survived! This delivery gave me a lot more anxiety than Ella's or Lucas's did, but it also went much better than I thought it would! We are so blessed that Bennett arrived safely and (somewhat) healthy, and we are SO happy he is here...and FINALLY HOME!

It’s A Boy!

We welcomed Bennett Michael into our family this past Friday, August 24!

He was a healthy weight at 6 pounds, 2 ounces!

As expected, he is in the NICU with some bilirubin issues, just like his big brother was! But, he is doing much better than expected and we hope to have him home with us soon! He is the cutest little thing, and we are all so in love with him!

I'll be back soon to write about his birth story and his first week re-cap! Get ready for a whole year of Life with Bennett posts! :)

Bumpdate {weeks 31-35}

Long time, no talk! I totally didn't mean to take a 3 week break from this little space, but I honestly haven't felt like blogging lately. I've been living at the doctor's office and getting things ready for this baby, so blogging has taken a back seat. I hope to post at least once a week from here on out though, as life is about to get exciting for us very soon! So I thought I'd check in with one last bump date!

Size of baby: Bunch of carrots. At my ultrasound on Monday, they estimated baby to weigh around 6 pounds, 1 ounce. 

Weight gain: +44 pounds. I don't even know how this happened. I am so huge. 

Maternity clothes: The only thing that’s comfortable is maternity dresses with shorts underneath. Even yoga pants are not that comfortable at this point.

Gender: leaning towards boy.


Movement: Yes although I feel like he/she has slowed down a little bit. Movements are more like large flips and rolls, rather than kicks and punches. 

Cravings: Same stuff, but cereal is making a comeback. 

Symptoms: Hard to change positions (sitting or laying down to standing). Peeing all of the time. Can’t stand up for very long and my back hurts if I’ve been standing for more than 5 minutes. Cannot bend over at all. Oh and my gums have been super bloody when I brush my teeth. 

Workouts: DONE RUNNING!


Sleep: Ok, but I wake up way too often to pee, my hips hurt, and I am ready to go at like 5 AM. 

Labor signs: Just some minor contractions and cramping.

ISO: Had my last MCA scan on Monday. Baby is looking great, but they still want to induce soon. Better out than in at this point. I don’t know what I will do with all of my free time now that I don’t have to go to the MFM every week!

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach, sushi, not worrying about things.

Best moment this week: Nesting like crazy to get ready for this baby! And seeing him/her one last time on the ultrasound screen!


Looking forward to: Meeting this baby!!!!! 

Bumpdate {weeks 26-30}

Time for another bumpdate!! 

(These pictures just keep getting worse and worse, ha!) 

Size of baby: Summer cantaloupe

Weight gain: +33 pounds. YIKES. The good news is that I only ONE pound in the 2 weeks between doctor's visits!!

Maternity clothes: Yep. Blah.

Gender: Feeling like girl, but yesterday's ultrasound picture I think looked more like Lucas?!


Movement: After the blood transfusion, I have never paid more attention to a baby’s movements till this child now! I am constantly doing kick counts and making sure he/she is moving lots. They definitely have quiet periods, but will move around a lot when I’m driving, eating pasta salad or drinking coffee! 

Cravings: Pasta salad, raspberry gelato, popsicles

Symptoms: Some sciatic nerve pain. I had a little soreness from all of the places where they put needles during my last two transfusions. Most of my pain is if baby is laying in a weird way/spot and it will just HURT somewhere in my stomach. I get out of breath way too easily. Peeing lots. Hard to bend over. Also feeling nauseous at times?!

Workouts: Our treadmill broke right after I hit 26 weeks, so I took it as a sign from above that I needed to be DONE RUNNING this pregnancy!


Sleep: Starting to get a little insomnia. I just cannot fall asleep! And waking up 1-3 times to pee now.

Labor signs: Nope.

ISO: Since my last update, I've had 2 blood transfusions, on July 11 and then yesterday, July 23. You can read about the first one here. The one yesterday was basically the same as the first one and went well! I go back on Monday to check and see how baby is taking in all that new blood. The doctor is planning on doing one more transfusion, probably in about 2 weeks, but wants to see how baby is doing before we decide any dates for sure. Also, doctor talked about having to deliver around 34/35 weeks. He doesn’t want to do any more transfusions at that point because baby’s placenta is in the back and it’s too tricky to get the correct needle placement as baby gets bigger.

What I miss: Not having anxiety/paranoia about if this baby is ok!

Best moment this week: Seeing baby in 3D and 4D! Getting another transfusion over with. Also, I got a Roomba on Amazon Prime Day and it is LIFE. CHANGING.


Looking forward to: Checking on baby again next Monday. Also, finishing up some stuff in the  nursery and hopefully buying a new car soon! Trav and I both hate dealing with car stuff, so we've been procrastinating on this one big time!

A Very Eventful 5 on Friday!

Happy Friday! This week has been a doozy!!

1. If you follow me on Instagram (@fergmindy), you probably already saw all of the drama that unfolded around here Tuesday and Wednesday. In case you missed it, here is as brief of a synopsis as I can give: 

(warning: it is not that brief!)

I went in for my bi-weekly scan on Tuesday. It was not good. Baby's MoM score was 1.59. (If it's higher than 1.5, that means baby is anemic.) Also, the doctor found my fluid levels to be high, which goes right along with that anemia. So I needed to get baby a blood transfusion ASAP. Lucas, Ella and I (oh, yes, I had both children with me!) were sent on a wild goose chase: first to get admitted to the hospital (a day early? I don't understand this at all, I just did as I was told!), then to the blood bank to do some blood work, and finally to my regular OB's office to get a steroid shot (they give steroids in case baby goes into distress and they have to deliver!). 

Wednesday morning, I had to be at the hospital at 10:30 AM. They got an IV in and started doing a bunch of paperwork and monitored baby. At 11:58, they gave me a shot of terbutaline, which is supposed to relax your uterus so you don't go into labor. It also makes your heart race and makes you feel like you've had about 10 cups of coffee! Because of this, by the time the nurses came to get me at 12:00 right on the dot, I was shaking uncontrollably! They wheeled me from triage down to the procedure room, where I continued to get even shakier (is that a word?!). Once in the procedure room, there were so many people and needles and sterile dressings in there, I just started freaking out and crying. Thankfully Travis was with me! I had told him not to come; that I'd be fine, but I'm thankful he's stubborn and came anyway! I definitely needed him there to calm me down! Anyway, the first thing they did was shoot a paralytic into my stomach, right into baby's thigh to paralyze the baby. This makes it easier for the transfusion, so baby doesn't kick or grab a needle! Travis watched it on the ultrasound monitor (I was still too freaked out to look at anything!) and said it was really cool to see the needle go right into its thigh! Then, they gave me a shot of some local anesthesia on my stomach, while we waited for the paralytic to take action and for baby to stop moving. Apparently, this baby is very feisty because the paralytic did not really work, and baby moved the entire time! Anyway, after the anesthesia, they stuck a needle in to the umbilical cord to get a sample of baby's blood. They had a guy from the lab right in the room and he was able to get a reading for baby's hemoglobin right away...it was 7.3! Yikes. That is really low. So the doctor prepped 3 large tubes of blood to transfuse. Because my placenta is in back, it made it really tricky to do this transfusion (of course), so they had to snake around with the needle to get it in just the right spot. Luckily, they got the needle in the right spot on the first try and were able to do the transfusion successfully! We could watch the whole procedure on the ultrasound monitor, which was really kind of amazing. Every 30-60 seconds, they would check baby's heartbeat. Everything was very well-monitored and controlled. After transfusing 60cc of blood, the doctor said if baby's hemoglobin was 13 or 14, he would stop. We took another sample, gave it to the blood guy, and it came back at 13.1. So we stopped there! The whole process only took about 15 minutes, but it really was more emotionally draining than anything else!

I was wheeled back to triage where they monitored me and baby for another 2.5 hours and then I was free to go home to Ella and Lucas! I have a follow-up visit on Monday, when they will decide the date of the next transfusion. I will probably have to have 2-4 more transfusions before baby is born, but it all depends on a whole bunch of factors that I won't even get into because this has already gotten too long! ;) Whew!

2. Ok, if you're still reading, I promise the next 4 things are quick! 

Before my crazy appointment Tuesday, I had promised Ella and Lucas we could go to Chick Fil-A for Cow Appreciation Day (you get free Chick Fil-A if you dress like a cow)! Since we had 128592 "errands" to run after the appointment to get ready for my transfusion the next day, we totally missed lunch at Chick Fil-A...but thankfully made it up there for dinner! 

I am still shocked (but actually, not really) that Lucas was not terrified of the cow! He ran right up to it screaming "Moo! Cow! Moo! Cow!" and gave it a big high five!

3. My transfusion just happened to be on Slurpee Day (7/11), so all I could think while I was sitting in the hospital being monitored was FREE SLURPEE. As soon as I got home, I grabbed the kids and we high-tailed it up to our nearest 7-11 for free slurpees! I may or may not have had my own and half of Lucas's ;) 

4. Prior to all the craziness this week, we made a trip out to the sunflower field on Monday! When we arrived, I was so sad to see that we were a little too late this year and most of the sunflowers were dead!!! We've gone as late as July 20 in past years, so I'm not sure why they were already done on July 9 this year...but we tried to make the best of it and I think I still got a few good pics. 

Note to self: next year go at the end of June!!!

5. Apparently there's a sale at Nordstrom?!?! Haha. I honestly haven't even had time to look through everything...but what should I buy?!?! I did see a Dock-a-Tot on there that was reasonably priced, so I'm wondering if Baby #3 needs one of those?! If you have one, please let me know if this is something I really need to get! 

Last, I just want to say THANK YOU so much to everyone who reached out and texted/called/messaged me this week!!! It means so much to have so many wonderful friends and family praying for our baby!!! 

Have a great weekend, and please keep your fingers crossed that Baby Ferg has a less eventful week next week!!! :) 

Catching Up on the Last 2 Weeks

Hi friends!
Sorry for the long, unintentional break!! I wish I had a good excuse...but really we have just been busy!
Here's a look at what we've been up to!

+Finally assembled the crib in baby's room!



+Ella also helped me put together this storage cube thing that I will use for baby's blankets, towels, crib sheets, etc. (Gray stripe bins are also from Target, too!)

+Ella finished round 1 of Vacation Bible School with her sweet friend! They put on the cutest little show on the last day for all of the parents! Ella had a blast the whole week.

+Went to a birthday party at our pool!

+Saw Paw Patrol Live. Both kids were as obsessed and entranced as you could imagine!

+Have had many an afternoon either in our backyard pool...

...or our neighborhood pool! It is too hot to do anything else outside!



+Took Lucas to the eye doctor. At his 2 year old check up, they did a screening which came back saying he had astigmatism and needed a more thorough eye exam. So off to the eye doctor we went (if you are keeping track, yes this child has needed: neonatologists, every pediatrician in our practice, hematologists, lactation consultant, sleep consultant, pediatric GI doctor, and now an ophthalmologist in his 2 short years of life! It takes a village to raise Lucas for sure!).

Anyway, the eye doctor found that Lucas does have astigmatism in both eyes, but right now it's not enough to blur his vision. I was so relieved he doesn't need glasses (yet)! We go back in a year. Lucas still has PTSD from this appointment. He hated just about every second there!

+Because we do nothing but go to the doctor(s) these days, the next day we had a check up on baby #3! He/she looked great and is still not anemic so fingers crossed this keeps up as long as possible!

+Got the kids some fresh summer haircuts. Lucas also had his first lollipop (although he wasn't sure about it at first)!

+Went blueberry picking. Lucas enjoyed picking the green berries, while Ella was actually helpful despite the 3 times she knocked her bucket over and spilled berries everywhere. 

{And everyone knows, the real reason I go pick any type of fresh fruit....for slushies and ice cream afterwards, duh!}

+Busted out my old Espana jersey from my studying abroad days, just in time to see Spain lose to Russia. 

+Watched fireworks (from on top of my car, no less!)

{So sad this is a blurry pic because gosh, it is a perfect pic of these two's relationship!}

{totally mesmerized!}

We have a fun little Fourth of July and weekend planned! We are going on a little adventure, and it's also my birthday on Friday! 29 for the 5th time, woo hoo!!!
I promise it won't be 2 weeks before I blog again! :)