Lily Jane Benson

We made it!  All are happy and healthy.  Lily Jane was born on October 8, 2015 at 3:10 pm.  She weighted in at 6 lbs 13 oz, 50 cm long (19 1/2 inches).  She left the hospital weighing 6 lbs 6 oz.  Below are various pictures of the hospital, our first day at home and the kids holding her for the first time.  She is beautiful and everyone is enjoying her immensely.  She rarely spends a minute not in someones' arms.  We all love having this new sweet spirit in our home.  I, especially, love having a newborn!  It brings the sweetest spirit, that is almost tangible.  I have added the birth story for those that interested, at the end.  It might be a mom's only section, but really, there isn't anything too gruesome.  :)

My delivery nurse, from South Africa.

Post delivery nurse, on left, also from South Africa.

  

Here is the story for those that want to hear it.  

Bryce learning how to change a diaper.  He loves helping with Lily!  He was the one to tell me before she was born that he can't wait to have her so he could help with her.  

Here is the birth story for those that are interested. :)  The day was crazy!!

I had been contracting since Friday.  In fact, that night, we almost went into the hospital but after a couple hours, everything calmed down and I was able to sleep for the rest of the night.  So off and on for the next few days I continued to contract, but nothing too significant.  It was around Friday that I started feeling some pinching in the front of my pelvis as well.  It seemed she was sitting right on my urethra, ouch!  So Thursday rolls around and I'm still feeling the same pinching and some contractions, but nothing that seemed too different from the last few days, so I didn't think too much of it at first.  Drew left for work that morning by around 7 to get to a 7:30 meeting.  He also needed to head in in order to take care of the last few steps to solidify the paperwork we needed for the delivery.  I'll backtrack for a minute...

Here in the UAE, you have to have specific paperwork put together prior to delivery, to show proof that you're married.  We needed an attested copy of our marriage certificate, copies of our passports with visa page and our emirates ID's.  Drew has had his ID since August, I had sent the marriage cert on August 9th to DC for attestation, and I didn't have a permeant visa yet.  It is illegal to have a baby out of wedlock, so we really needed to have documentation.  In the end, we received the marriage cert back the Sunday before I started contracting.  The hospital said I could use copy the stamp in my passport instead of the permanent visa and I only needed to have the submitted application for my Emirate ID.  So the Thursday before I delivered, we finally had all the paperwork we needed to start the process for applying for the ID.  It took all the way until the next Thursday (delivery day) to have the official application in hand.  The last piece we needed to have!  This paperwork had been in process since August 9th.

Fast forward to delivery day...

I continued to contract Thursday morning but it felt the same as the previous 5 days.  I texted Drew at about 10:30 to tell him the only comfortable position was to be laying down and with that I wouldn't have the pinching feeling in my pelvis.  I finished a couple chores around the house then laid down.  In the meantime I called a neighbor to come get Rylee just in case it was really labor.  Drew asked if I could meet him half-way to the hospital to bring him some documents he needed to finish the paperwork at the hospital.  I said, "No, I contract more in a sitting position and I took lunch to Tyler at school (two minutes away) and thought that seatbelt and position would kill me."  Drew and my neighbor showed up at the villa at the same time.  She took Rylee for me and Drew grabbed the paperwork and headed back into work.  This was about 1 pm.  I told him to be fast and that I felt fine for an hour as long as I stayed laying down on the couch.  Well, I was wrong!  It wasn't 30 minutes after he left that I realized, crap, these contractions aren't stopping!  I needed to get a ride to the hospital-I didn't think Drew would make it back in time.  I tried using the restroom to see if that would stop the contractions and, of course, it didn't.  So I called another neighbor.  She's been here about 6 years, and asked her for a ride.  She told me, "I'm on my way!"  Maybe 10 minutes later she was at my door and we headed out.  This was about 1:50.  I called Drew on the way to tell him to just meet us at the maternity hospital (Brightpoint Royal Women's Hospital).  Oh, and before I forget, I got a text from Drew at noon that our shipment was arriving that day!  I couldn't believe it.  The shipment had been sitting in port for almost two weeks and, now, it finally comes on this day, of all days!  The shipment was event #2 that had been in the works for months.  We had shipped it from Utah on August 5th and had expected to get it around September 24th.  It was two and half weeks later than we had anticipated.  So, back to labor...  My neighbor and I are on our way to the hospital.  Behind my knees are really sweaty and I went to wipe at them a bit and realized that my water was actually broken.  I had felt a pop but thought it was just the baby's head on my pelvis.  Then, right before we arrived at the hospital I had another pop and this time a bigger gush of water.  I got to the hospital at about 2:30.  Drew arrived there at about 2:50 and exchanged money with our neighbor so she could help accept the shipment at our villa for us.  They wheeled me into the L&D unit and took me to what I thought was my private room.  As it turns out, it was the observation room and I had a roommate on the other side of the curtain.  I asked the midwife, "Where is my room?  I am having this baby.  My water really is broken.  I need a room!"  This was said with more anxiety than anger.  I just didn't want to totally freak this mom out that was sitting just a few feet away from me!  Of course, my body had chosen to go into labor on one of their busiest days that month and none of the rooms were available.  There was one room that a patient was leaving right then that would be available in an hour.  I didn't think I had an hour, so I resolutely accepted my plight, that I would be delivering with a neighbor in the room.  It took a few minutes to get me onto the bed because I was contracting so frequently.  Maybe 10 minutes or so, she checked me and I was 4+ cm.  She wanted the monitor on for a 10 minute strip assessment of the baby's heart rate.  I gave her the 10 minutes and this is around the time that Drew showed up.  He did counter pressure on my back for me, but I really wasn't that comfortable still.  The midwife had left the room to update the doctor about my status and see if she could get the room cleaned faster.  She came back 5-10 minutes later and found me on hands and knees-a far more comfortable position.  She and Drew both tried to get me to turn to my back and I refused.  Like I said, I had accepted my plight and this baby was coming as quick as possible!  Lily was born just 30 minutes after the midwife had checked me.  I went from 4 to delivered in 30 minutes!  The doctor almost didn't make it.  The midwife caught the head and the doctor barely made it in time to catch the body.  It was crazy fast!  Just the labor and delivery I always wanted!  Fast and furious and in the end I didn't care that this lady heard it all through the curtain.  They moved me to the L&D room after the baby was born to recover for the first couple of hours.  I was able to nurse Lily and have a nice, quiet first couple of hours with her.  The best couple hours ever!  Since I delivered so fast, Drew was able to get back to the villa to accept the shipment and help get it all unloaded from the trucks.  He made the comment, at the hospital, that it was amazing that three different events, all in the works for months, collided in just a few hours time.  The paperwork barely complete, after months.  The shipment delivered, after months.  And our baby here after 9 months of carrying her.  Divine intervention?  I don't know!  I guess it had to be, but why it all had to happen in one day!?  I'll never know.  All I can say, is having the shipment there before I came home from the hospital was indeed a blessing.  The hospital doesn't provide the normal supplies that I'm used to having after delivering a baby.  I stayed in the hospital just 24 hours.  After getting home, the next day, I remembered I had packed one of the bathroom boxes with extra ointments and toiletry stuff.  I had witch hazel pads and Lansinoh in that box and I thought I had died and gone to heaven!  I hadn't realized the difference having those supplies made.  Word of advice, to anyone that is delivering a baby, bring all your own supplies that you like to have after a delivery.  You'll be happy you did!
This post has taken me three days to complete!  So now, our Lily is 6 days old.  I love her and am so happy to be her mother.  Babies are the best!  Newborns and toddlers are my favorite ages.  I am thoroughly enjoying having this last addition in our family.  What a blessing.  It's taken this long to post because of all the feeding, burping, changing diapers, changing clothes and blankets, pediatrician visits and taking care of my own needs.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

One last tidbit.  I have to shout out about the ward family here.  I am humbled and so grateful to have such wonderful people around me.  In the absence of family, they have really stepped up to the plate.  I have had so many offers for dinner and care for Rylee, I can't accept it all!  Rylee spent all day on Monday at preschool and one of the fellow friends playing and swimming in their compound pool.  A friend picked her up and took her to preschool for me.  Then Tuesday, the neighbor that took me to the hospital, took her to Yas Water World for most of the day.  Then today, the neighbor that took her the day I delivered, their family went kayaking and took Rylee with them.  They have had her all day-kayaking, art projects and playing.  We are extremely blessed and well taken care of.  Thank you, thank you!!!