Benson Chase Carter

We finally made it to 37 weeks! Induction time!!! We were scheduled to go into the hospital sometime between 8 pm - midnight on Thursday, March 18.

We woke up and headed to breakfast at our new favorite spot, Russell's. It was so surreal to know this was our very last full day together just the two of us!

We cleaned, packed, and sat around anxiously waiting for the call. I was really hoping we would get a call as soon as 8 rolled around, but we did not. 9, 10, 11, 11:30 came and I was getting very anxious. I was wondering if they maybe forgot about us! Finally at 11:42 pm the phone call came. We packed up and hit the road.

It is about a 20 minute drive to Mercy - the Palace on Ballas! We arrived, and got checked in. It took forever for the nurse to come down and grab us, they even called up to see where they were.

Trying to get an IV in was a nightmare, there were 4 different attempts and each time I wanted to die! Nobody seemed to know what they were doing. As they set the 4th one, we could all tell it was no good, but she kept it in and it was so painful! I was really bugged! Our game plan was to start out with cytotec, every 4 hours, up to 4 doses to soften my cervix. At 2:30 am I took the first dose, a small chalky pill I dissovled in my mouth. We made Logan's bed and got cozy for the night.

Logan fell asleep, but I was too anxious to sleep! I flipped through the TV channels and waited for my next dose at 6:30 am. Another dose, and more waiting around! I was maybe dilated to a 1.5, it was going SLOW! Before we went in, I was sure we would be having a baby by early afternoon on Friday.

Around 8:30 am we ordered some breakfast and asked about getting in the bathtub to kill some time. They got me hooked up to the monitors and it was so nice to wash my hair and soak! Around 10:30 they tried flushing my IV line and it was clearly blocked and soo painful... So another attempt! They failed and decided to call the anesthesiologist to place it. A sweet older lady came in and easily got it done! We did another round of cytotec... I wasn't dilating much at all. Ugh!

After the third dose, we decided I was dilated enough, 3-4 to start some pitocin. I was really excited and nervous for this. I was ready to feel some progress!!!! With Pitocin, you max out at 20 units, we would increase the dose every hour. Well, as you probably have guessed by now, nothing is happening. I bounced on the ball, walked around the hospital, tried literally anything to get something moving!

With a shift change at 7pm we got another new nurse, and she was our best one! She monitored the contractions I was having, but wasn't feeling and we decided if they were consistent enough for an hourish we would break my water. It was around 8 pm at this point and I was sure we could have him by midnight!

Because of Covid rules, if there was an emergency after they broke my water, they would jump straight to general sedation for the C-Section. I really didn't want this, so I opted to get the epidural prior to having my water broke. The actual placement of it wasn't very bad, a strange feeling but honestly better than all of the IV attempts. Dr. Phillips happened to swing by to check on us, and broke my water while she was there. I thought for sure this would kick it into action!!!

The epidural made me SO sick. My blood pressure dropped and I felt like breathing was so difficult. I ended up throwing up multiple times, and was pumped full of fluids to try and stabilize by BP. The shakes set in, and I was miserable! Finally I was able to try and get some sleep.

7 am brought yet another shift change, with no baby. Bless this nurse, but she was the worst! We spent HOURS with the peanut ball, and then once I was finally dilated to a 10, we spent 3.5 hours pushing. My epidural was not working super great, I could easily move around in bed and I was so uncomfortable. They gave me a second epidural and it was much better than the first. After a few hours it was almost gone again. I was so dead! She finally had the bright idea to see if he was head up, sure enough he was. She called Dr. Phillips, and as soon as she came into the room I started crying. I was so tired, so defeated and ready to have my baby here. We were heading for a C-Section!

Another dose to make sure I was extra numb. As soon as they pushed that and I felt it I wanted to panic. I was sooo tired, I barely kept my eyes open on the trip to the OR.

Within minutes at 7:45 pm, Benson Chase Carter was finally born! I heard his little scream as they held him up over the blue drapping so I could see him. Logan and I were a MESS! Tears everywhere. I could not believe after all of that it really finally happened, he was here! The anesthesiologist joked with me and said, "Man you must be allergic to that baby!" It was truly magical.

We were wheeled off to recovery + it felt like a whirlwind! They had packed up all of our stuff for us and brought it in so we could take it all to the recovery floor with us when it was time. I felt super tired, but also super relieved he was finally here! He's so cute and perfect. Feels like something I've been waiting forever for. We take turns holding him, FaceTiming family and soaking in every single second.

We spent the next few days in the hospital and by the end we were really ready to break free. We even had to fight off a pediatrician who wanted us to stay one more day. Thankfully we got out of there!

They offer a service to take photos of your new baby for free, and then you can decide if you want to purchase once you see them. I am sooo glad we did!!

My mom + DJ were driving up and would get there a few hours after we would get home. On our way home we swung by Chick-Fil-A, I couldn't stop starring at him. Sooo perfect. Soo darling. All mine!!!