Benjamin's Birthday

I was put into the hospital due to high blood pressure on Monday. The doctor decided to induce. They put gel on my cervix to soften it. I began having contractions and cramps, totally unexpected. I thought they would put the gel in, I would take a sleeping pill, and begin the petocin drip at 5 am. Wrong, I went into active labor, with constant, no break contractions. They took the "gel" pill out 2 hours later, and the contractions continued all night. I finally fell asleep around 3:30-4:00 and was awoken at 5 am for the petocin. Let real labor begin! I was dialated to a two and at 8 am they broke my water...weird stuff. I was a three, with good strong contractions. I requested my epidural, or as I llike to call it a God sent special sauce. The actual epidural was nothing, so any preggers who are nervous about that, don't be seriously. I barely even felt it. So around 11am, they check and I am only a 4...are you kidding me? So hurry up and wait, issues with the epidural, only took on one side issue resolved, so quickly. Its like the anestheseologist has wings. Ok, so around 1 pm, dialated to a 7...good stuff, moving right along, then I realized I am scared to death. I need my mom. Mom comes, calms me down...moms are so good at that. They come in about an hour later..I am a ten, and ready to push. After a few fearful tears, I go into Go Mode. John assumes his position as coach. He was so funny and so cute. He is very, very queazy around blood and we had decided he would just keep eye contact with me and not cut the cord. He changed his mind. I was in Go Mode, he was in Dad Mode. Here is his coaching style, " 1, 2, 3, ....9, 10, again, you can do this Amy, and 1, 2, 3....9, 10 and one more time..." I started laughing at one point, he was straining his voice and I realized he was pushing along with me. In the meantime, John has decided he will be cutting the cord and he will watch. So he saw little Benjamin's head come out, John's face was breathtaking and the tears rolling down his face were priceless. Delivery complete, Benj had swallowed amniotic fluid so I didn't get to hold him for 45 minutes, which was really hard, but necessary. I nursed immediatley he look at me immediatley, and I fell instantly head over heels in love with him. Benjamin was worth every ache and pain, sleepless nights, hemrroids, etc. So everything is well in the household. I am currently going on about 3 hours of sleep in the last 3-4 days combined, so excuse the gramatical errors.