And so it begins...a year later than anticipated.

I fully meant to start this blog over a year ago in an effort to jot down daily happenings that occur in the Ruiz household and to capture our son Bennett's amazing feats of growth over his early years.  Yeah...that didn't happen.  So, we'll start a year later and I'll just have to give you a recap on all of the amazing things have happened since Bennett came into our life.  We'll start with the longest day of 2012, literally!  

Here we go...

I started to feel labor pains at about midnight on June 20, 2012.  By 4 a.m., the contractions seemed to be pretty consistent at about 5 minutes apart, although I wasn't in a whole lot of pain.  I was even thinking, "Huh.  I thought this would be worse."  Oh, silly me.  We went to the hospital (UCLA RR Med Center) and I was examined.  Apparently there wasn't much going on other than effacement because I was only dilated about 1.5 cm.  Back home we go.  Then the fun began.  

I tried to sleep, but at about 10 a.m. the pain was pretty intense.  I would bend over a Pilates ball during the contractions and focused on breathing.  When 2:30 p.m. rolled around, we decided to head back to the hospital.  The contractions weren't consistent and ranged from 2 minutes to 8 minutes apart, but we were worried about getting stuck in rush hour traffic, so off we went.  After examination it was determined that there was no further dilation, but I was 100% effaced.  What the?!?!?  I told them the pain was very intense and we couldn't go home because of traffic concerns.  Thank God, we didn't have to go home or wait around for long.  There was an open bed and I just had to mill about for an hour or so before I could be admitted.  I told them to get that epidural ready and we went to walk around to get things going a bit more.  Gravity is supposed to be helpful.  

Walking around the outside cafeteria area sounded pleasant enough, until the contractions started getting stronger.  There's nothing better than seeing a pregnant woman hunched over a chair while you're trying to eat lunch.  45 minutes later, we headed upstairs.  The epidural was ready at about 5:30 p.m. and boy, so was I.  Get that sucker loaded! After the epidural, it was smooth sailing (mostly).  Things were slow-going, but I was able to sleep a bit in preparation for the delivery.

Then we waited, and waited.  I was in labor for about 30 hours and it was finally decided it was time for some Pitocin and to lay off of the epidural a bit.  Bad decision!  It was rough at the end, but we all made it through and welcomed this beautiful, puffy little human into the world on June 21, 2012 at 6:41 a.m. (18.5 inches, 7 lbs., 10 oz.).  We had decided to name him Bennett Francis.  Bennett is a variation of Bryan's dad's name (Benedicto) and Francis was my dad's middle name (in addition to my grandfather and great-father).

Bennett was born with a cephalhematoma on the top of his noggin which is basically a blood-filled bruise and is common in cases of prolonged labor.  Not to worry, the bruise subsided in a few weeks and he is left with a perfectly shaped head.  I'm convinced it was his head size that caused the labor to be so lengthy.  He measured in at 50% for height and weight and over 99% for head size.  He's going to be the next Einstein...just you wait.