Established 2007: December 2012

Bennett Christopher Francom arrived on Friday, December 28, 2012 at 2:24 pm. He weighed 5 lbs 9 oz and was 18 inches long.

They planned on admitting me on the 27th. The dumbest nurse EVER put my IV in. She missed and had to do it twice. I have the best veins imaginable. They're huge and don't roll. She was not my favorite person. Once she had it in, it continued to hurt too. Anyway, they then decided they didn't want me to stay the night and I needed to return in the morning. They told me to leave the IV in and come back the next day. I don't think so. After an hour or so I called my friend, Karsen Delgado, and asked if it would be hard for Chris to remove my IV. She said it was pretty simple and I had him do it. Thank goodness! I slept a little because I didn't have that IV in. Then the next day had a different nurse. She mocked the nurse who had missed my vein the night before. It made me feel better. She did a great job and no pain after it was put in. Granted, I still wanted it out as fast as I could, but it wasn't killing me either.

Bennett's birth story was not a fun one. I thought it would be just like Rylee's. Not a lot of pain, break my water, slight contractions, walking epidural, easy delivery, perfectly healthy baby. NOT. AT. ALL. Bennett's story is different in almost every way. I didn't have any pain. None. At about 1:00 I was beginning to think he was never going to come, even though they had started the Potocin at about 8:00 in the morning. They then planned to break my water and I figured I would get the epidural about 30 minutes after that, just like with Rylee. Bad idea. The second they broke my water I went from zero pain to pain that was off the charts. I hadn't prepared for this. I didn't do hypnobreathing or Lamoze. I was just sitting on the edge of the bed, holding onto Chris, whimpering, frequently forgetting to breath. It hurt like nothing I had ever experienced before. I wanted to push. I wanted to have this baby right then. The anesthesiologist came in with paperwork, but when he saw the pain I was in agreed to forgo the paperwork for a bit. He did the epidural and then I felt shooting pain down my left leg. Great, he had to do it again. This time he did it right, but it wasn't doing anything for the pain. By this time they've got me laying down, but I continue to forget to breath. It's hurting so bad. I need to push. I'm just repeating over and over "It's not working. The epidural's not working. I need to push." The nurses told me to hold on, the doctor isn't here yet. The anesthesiologist gave me a couple more shots of pain medication. Soon, I was feeling NOTHING. The doctor arrived and said I could finally push. About that time I was just ready to take a nap. I didn't care what they told me to do. I felt no pain and I just wanted to sleep. I tried to push, but have no idea if my body was responding at all. It must've because Bennett was born shortly thereafter. Then I learned that the placenta doesn't always deliver with the baby. Who knew? The doctor had to spend the next 20 minutes trying to get the placenta out. I was very glad I had an overactive epidural at that time, that's for sure! He said if he couldn't get it, he would need to do a D&C. I could've slept through all of it.

Bennett struggled breathing and couldn't maintain the required blood sugar, so he spent some time in the NICU. It was 4 hours before I got to see him. Doctor Pavich suggested we supplement formula so he could sustain his blood sugar and get into our room, instead of the NICU. Scrubbing in for the NICU was no small task. It wasn't comfortable and there were so many cords it wasn't easy to hold him. Each time they pricked his foot for the blood test I wanted to cry. I would've done anything to get him into my room. So we got him to drink as much formula as we could. It made his NICU stay much shorter, thankfully.

He eats well, sleeps well, and poops well. He's on his way to plumping up in no time! Rylee LOVES "Baby Bennett". She loves to hold him, kiss him, touch him, poke him. She's held him in 20 minute increments not allowing anyone else to hold him.