Benjamin Ross Leyendecker

IT'S A BOY...IT'S A BOY...IT'S A BOY!!! Benjamin Ross Leyendecker was born December 10, 2012 at 4:20p.m. He weighed 8lbs 9oz and was 21 1/2" long. On Sunday, December 9, 2012, my sister, Noelle and nephew, Chandler headed back to Louisiana after visiting for a week. They were hoping to meet bay bay while they were here. After they left Aaron and I cleaned the house and did some last minute packing for our planned trip to the hospital later that evening. Around 3:00pm I woke up from a nap with some pretty heavy contractions and some bleeding. Aaron was supposed to pick up his mom, Linn and sister, Chula from an art show downtown Little Rock. Once they returned to the house, Aaron and I headed to the hospital to get checked in. When we arrived, the nurse confirmed I was dilated at 3cm and effaced to 50%. After a couple hours, they began giving me pain medicine via IV. Around 2:00am. the next morning, my water broke and labor had officially become reality. Thank goodness for the epidural option to relieve the pain from contractions. Whew! After a few hours of rest, family and friends started filtering into the hospital room as we patiently waited to progress further. Dr. Wiedower came in to check on us around 9:00am. She helped move us along quite a bit further and we were dilated to 8cm and fully effaced (100%). She thought we would be able to meet Bay Bay by noon. Unfortunately, noon rolled around and so did 1:00pm. I was not dilating anymore and bay bay had actually moved from being in the "perfect" position to back into my ribs. By 3:00pm. we were coming to terms with the decision of a c-section being our best option. Everyone in the room went from being excited to nervous in a couple minutes. Fortunately once the room cleared out, Aaron and I were able to have some time to process what lied ahead of us. The nurse went to the waiting room to grab Cassie so she could take pictures of bay bay once he/she arrived. Aaron was prepped into his surgery attire and then so was Cassie once we were cleared to make our way to the operating room. There were so many nurses inside the "freezing cold" room and everyone was busy going into their position. I was lifted off a bed onto the operating table and my arms were spread out to my sides where they were strapped down. A little more pain medicine was inserted into my epidural and Dr. Wiedower asked me if I was able to feel anything. As the procedure progressed, everyone was talking to me and making sure I was okay. Aaron stayed by my head and held my hand as we eagerly awaited to meet our little one. Once bay bay was brought into the world, Dr. Wiedower held bay bay up so we could see him. She forgot to let us know if he was a boy/girl. She just kept saying "here is your baby...do you see your baby"? Aaron asked whether bay bay was a boy/girl and she laughed since she forgot we didn't know. Finally she says, "Congrats it's a boy"!!!! Once Ben was cleaned up, they brought him over to me and laid him down next to me. I remember thinking....WOW....HE IS BEAUTIFUL and I couldn't believe he already recognized my voice when I spoke. My heart overflowed with love!!!! Once I was sewn up, we all went back to the room. All of our friends and family made a bee line into our room awaiting to meet bay bay. Aaron told everyone bay bay was a "boy" and they all surrounded my bed.