I sure loved the whole nesting process and especially planning out the nursery. It's so nuts how organized you want to be - to just have everything be perfect for when baby arrives. Like when I decided to reorganize our glassware to make room for our baby bottles. Sounds most appropriate right? Well, true, but maybe I should have let my family stand on the chair to put them away verses my 9th month pregnant self. But let's face it, I needed to be the one to do it. And I also loved sharing my favorite part of his nursery, the very fun gallery wall. We've added another fun piece to it, the "Don't grow up, it's a trap" sign, we received from a very sweet and funny friend. I'm excited to keep adding to this and see how evolves over time. Just like I am with Bennett, I just can't wait to see his true personality come to life and get to know this son of mine!

And as for Bennett's birth story, I've been thinking about how I wanted to write it and now I finally have just sat down to put it out here for you. When Bennett was about 34 weeks along I went to the my usual doctor's appointment and after my doctor felt my belly, she informed me Bennett was breach. It was a weird feeling to know that he was upside down and hadn't made his way to the birthing position yet. I knew that we could possibly try and turn him, but I had also heard stories of how that can go awry. I was however comforted because I now knew what little appendages had been poking me all this time. His little head was up in my diaphragm, his back ran across my belly, one of his feet was down in my pelvis, while the other was up by his face with his hands. My doctor asked me if Bennett had been like that for a while, and he had, my whole pregnancy. We did go ahead and double checked with the sonographer the next week and confirmed he still hadn't flipped (which I was selfishly hoping he hadn't, just so I could see him again). He was breach, those words still bring a little bit of a tear to my eye. It's hard to describe the feeling of knowing you won't get to deliver your baby the way you thought you would. So, once I had made that realization that I definitely didn't want to try and turn him, that meant we were definitely going to have a c-section.

Talk about one intense moment. I was originally told back in January that my due date was October 7th, and now we're scheduling a it for September 30th, not only his birth but a c-section (no labor included) but it's a whole new month. That is a TON to process. Not to sound ridiculous, but my mind went to the fact that I WAS going to share my birth month with my son, and now I'm NOT. Now we're talking about sapphires not opals, and that was weird. Oh, and the fact that we didn't know a ton about the whole c-section process, and since only 30% of births are c-section and most medical professionals are trying to cut them back, they didn't share too much about them in our birthing classes. So, yeah I've also never had a surgery in my life, and now I'm scheduling the most important one ever. WHAT!? Then I'm thinking about how I am going to be a mom, this month, in September! Not October. Man, that was just too weird. And then my mind starts to think about my birth and how I was born via c-section. An emergency one that was a wildly dangerous one too. So, the whole idea wasn't unknown, but I had been looking forward to at least thinking I would be able to put the things we learned in our birthing classes to good use. (My birth was an emergency c-section AND my mother's colon was nicked during surgery AND wasn't discovered until after she had been home with me for a week, and yes it was traumatic to say the least). I was not feeling super prepared for Bennett's birth so I started to ask all of my mama friends about their birthing experiences. And come to find out most of my OKC girlfriends had c-sections and NONE of my KC girlfriends had to have c-sections (this only mattered because I was hoping I would know how it Bennett's birth would go, in KC). But, it was great to hear about what they all went through, and essentially they all happen the way they're supposed too. Which had always been my plan, to have an epidural and have a baby, simple as that. I knew that it wasn't in my hands and I just needed to be able to be flexible and go with the flow. So, once I confirmed with my doctor that she would indeed NOT nick my colon during the c-section (she literally laughed when I told her about my birth story, and told me she couldn't promise anything in medicine, but she could promise me she wouldn't nick my colon, talk about confident), I felt a lot more comfortable about the process.

We scheduled the c-section for 2pm on September 30th. Kev and I arrived at the hospital around 12pm and headed back to our recovery room. I got into my gown and my amazing nurse starting just pocking and prodding me for surgery. I was so excited that we were finally going to meet our baby boy! I just couldn't wait to see him, hold him, and kiss him. We met with my doctor, the anesthesiologists, lactation consultants and ran through the what the rest of the day would look like. Everyone was very nice and encouraging that it helped put us at ease. My mom even made it up from OKC in time to be with us before we headed back to the OR. Once the time came to wheel me back into the OR, Kevin was by himself for what he said felt like a short eternity. I am sure it did! While he's waiting, I am with my sweet nurse and received my epidural. She held my hands during the parts that hurt and talked me through everything, even the catheter part, that I was for whatever reason super uncomfortable with the whole idea of having one (but, truly was super thankful for it and didn't mind it at all). I could feel the epidural working and going into my right side more than the left but then everything went numb, and I felt a lot more calm about what was about to happen. It's such a strange feeling. Everyone says you can't feel the pain, but you can feel pressure and that is so true. They laid me down and put up the blue paper, to section of the north side (safe side) from the south side, I thought it was kind of funny how it was essentially taped to me. Then they brought Kevin in and then everything went by super fast. I could feel them tugging on me and then I heard our doctor say: "He's here! And he's peeing on me!" We died! How hilarious!? Nice work Bennett!

Then we got to see him! That was unreal. I knew from the classes he would need to be weighed, and measured and washed off on the little station, but I didn't know I would be able to see him when they did this. I was just shocked and so happy. There was my boy! Kevin was taking a million photos and I was just in awe. I couldn't believe it! This precious gift from God is HERE! Right here! Then they brought him over to us and put him on my chest. There has never been a more significant moment ever in my life (well, besides when I said "I do" of course). It was just so calming and mind blowing. Nothing has ever felt so right, than when I got to meet our son for the first time.

We then spent about three hours in the recovery room with our nurses and doctors just getting to connect with Bennett. We nursed (such an amazing moment too) and Kevin got to do skin to skin with him. I loved getting to see them connect for the first time. It was so great to just take in those quiet little moments as our little family of three for the first time. I can't believe he is about to be three months old now y'all. It definitely flies by and I am just so happy to get to share this amazing life moment with you and have it here for years to come.

If there's anything else you'd like to know or have any questions about the whole pregnancy process feel to shoot me a note. I'd love to share with you!

xo,

Bennett's Birth Story + His No Theme Nursery