The Donoghue Family: Welcome, Benjamin Michael!

Benjamin Michael was born at 12:31pm on Friday February 8, 2019! He weighed 8 lb, 6 oz and was 20.5 inches long.

I want to remember the whole birth story - you can can just skip this if you want, writing because my memory is the worst.

It was a rather difficult birth compared to my other two. We found out at 39 weeks that Ben had flipped and was in breach position. My doctor scheduled me for a "version" procedure to physically push on my stomach to flip him, and then planned to induce labor afterward.

We went in on Thursday morning for an 11am procedure, but because there was so many patients and emergency c-sections that day, we didn't begin anything until 4:30pm. They gave me an epidural and thankfully flipped Ben on the first try. It wasn't exactly painful, but there was a lot of pressure and it was really weird feeling. Right after my blood pressure crashed and Jamie said I looked like death, and I definitely felt terrible - that was pretty scary but they gave me some drugs to recover.

They were planning to induce me, but wanted to give me a few hours to recover. Thankfully they let me eat something, so I had some yogurt and fruit, figuring the induction would go pretty quickly and I would have a baby to hold in a few hours... I was very much wrong on that. They began inducing me at 7pm and we went all through the night and next morning waiting. Thankfully the contractions weren't too painful with the epidural, but I was really hungry, sleep-deprived and anxious to move things along. My sweet husband gave me a necklace when I was really down - he bought it in November, three little birdies.

Unlike my other pregnancies, I kept having high blood pressure readings during the labor. Eventually the doctor put me on magnesium sulfate to control it - unfortunately it slowed down the contractions and I felt like I was starting the whole process all over again. Finally around late morning they broke my water and around noon I was very ready to start pushing.

The doctor looked fairly concerned and told me that the baby was coming out face-first, which is pretty rare. Jamie said he literally saw his nose and eyes before anything else. I only had to push for three cycles to get him out, but I could tell that the doctors and nurses really wanted to get him out as soon as possible. It was very scary and I was convinced my baby wasn't going to be ok. Very overwhelming, but thankfully it was over quickly and Ben ended up being very bruised and somewhat distorted, but healthy. The doctor told me afterward that this was only her third face-first delivery in her 20-year career.

Right after delivery - doesn't even look like my baby here!

My poor baby, all bruised

I'm so glad my mom was with us throughout the whole process. She explained everything that was going on and it was reassuring to know I had the facts on everything. Jamie's mom was also in the room for the birth and it was pretty special to have both grandmas there.

Ben makes it an even dozen grandchildren for these two

Grandbaby #5!

Unfortunately I had to stay on the magnesium sulfate for another 24 hours as a precaution... it was a very long period of headaches, lethargy and no eating... finally got to have my first meal on Saturday at 12:30. It was definitely hospital food, but tasted amazing to me. We had some visitors throughout the day on Friday, including two very excited big sisters. Grandma watched the girls at our house for the four days we were in the hospital - she's a saint!!

Came right after school to meet their brother

Evie got to "hold" him first since this is her first time being a big sister

Maggie was charmed at first sight

Nice to meet you, Aunt Amy

You two will be fast friends

Ben's bruises starting fading pretty quickly, and within a day he looked a lot better.

After his first bath

My sweet baby boy

On Saturday we had some more visitors.

Breathing easier after a couple stressful days

New cousin!

Our first family shot with Ben

We didn't get to leave the hospital until Sunday evening because they wanted to keep monitoring my blood pressure. We were sooo ready to get home, I missed my girls so much.

Ready to leave the hospital!

Everything since then has been great - Ben is seriously the easiest baby (knock on wood). He's really predictable, only cries when he's hungry or gassy, burps within 10 seconds and is my little sweetheart. The girls have been really great with him. Maggie just adores him and will do anything we ask to help. Evie seemed to mature overnight - she's not stubbornly arguing with us about every little thing like she was before, and is also very helpful with Ben. She also starting dressing and undressing herself; something she's been able to do for a while, but was never actually willing to do on her own. My blood pressure is getting closer to normal each day, and I'm feeling more like my old self again.

Happy big sister

Evie loves to hold him too, but is usually bored within 30 seconds

Maggie is already so maternal

We're so thankful for our parents who have been helping out a lot with Ben and with the girls. The girls even got to go to the circus with Jamie's parents a couple nights ago - I'll post those pictures next time.

My mom stayed up all night for us one night so we could get a solid night of sleep - that was a game changer!

Helping me with his first home bath... I kind of forgot

She had her hands full!

Life is pretty great right now. We are tired most of the time, but that's really the only complaint I have. I love our little family, it feels complete. It was a lot of work to get here, but these kids are worth it.