Benjamin Liam Ceangailte Paulsson was born at 18:14 on April 17 after a VERY easily induced labor. My water was broken at 10:30 am, at which point contractions immediately came at a rate of 4 every 10 minutes with very little pain relief in between. By 15:30 I was told that I was already 10 cm open and could clearly feel the pushing stage beginning. By 17:30 they said Benny's heart rate was showing distress and I was thereafter tortured by an extra midwife putting all her weight on the top of my stomach as I pushed -- which you can imagine I did with all my might after hearing "danger!" By 18:14 they snipped me a bit to get him out.

They laid him there on the bed at my feet, and I just sat and hyper-ventilated, wide-eyed, staring in shock -- I was so focused on "God, let this end soon!" that I had totally forgotten why we were there and HOW it would end! We've been so focused on getting through the pregnancy successfully that every second since he came out has been surreal and a little hard to digest, haha! Even if the results of almost 3 hours of pushing are stitches, super hemmoroids, a catheter I get to schlep home with me, and amazing training pain from head to toe, I'm completely in awe-struck love.