Benjamin "Asher" Grizzle

Asher made his arrival on 10.17.10 at 8:02 a.m. weighing 7 lbs 13 oz and 21 inches long. I have been in heaven since he got here. Ben and I are so blessed to be his parents. He is an angel.

His birth is kind of a blur to me. It's like your wedding day - there is so much happening and so many emotions going on, that it all kind of runs together. All you know is that in the end you are the happiest you have ever been.

It all started on Friday, October 15. Bethany and I went to eat Mexican for lunch. I have heard old wives tales that eating Mexican will make the baby come. It worked for me - just not the way I planned it. On our way back to the office, a car cut off Betty while she was driving. We had to brake to keep from hitting him and the poor girl behind us rear-ended us. It was all so fast. I was jolted pretty good and was immediately nervous about Asher. So was Betty. Poor thing, all she could was worry about us. She kept apologizing, even thought it was in NO WAY her fault. After we talked to the police and got everything squared away, Ben met us back at the church and I called my doctor's office. It was Friday afternoon and I got the answering service. The on-call doctor called us back and said I needed to come in for 24 hours of observation. We went straight to Labor & Delivery and they hooked me up to monitors. I started having contractions at 2 AM that night. Since, I was nearly 39 weeks, I had been having contraction for awhile. But these were different. And I could tell. However, the nurses and doctor and felt like it was false labor brought on by the accident. They were staying at 8 minute intervals and I wasn't dilating anymore. So they released me at noon the next day.We left the hospital and stopped for lunch at O'Carr's. I wanted to go next door to At Home (my favorite store) and look around. But I got in the door was in so much pain that I told Ben to just take me home.When we got home I discovered I was bleeding. I called the hospital and they told me to come right back. Luckily, I already had a bag packed so we loaded up and headed to the hospital. I just knew we wouldn't be coming home without a baby this time!

We returned to Labor and Delivery and I was hooked back up the monitors. They still kept telling me that it was just after effects from the wreck and I could probably go back home. But I told them I wanted to wait.

I wasn't about to have to come back again. Every time we left and came back it cost us $200. And I knew enough to know that what I was feeling wasn't just Braxton Hicks. I think I was fooling them because I didn't want any pain meds and they thought I wasn't in much pain. But I was really just trying to keep track of everything and didn't want the meds to dilute my senses. I also wasn't dilating past 2 cm so they couldn't consider me active labor. I walked around the hospital and while I was out I passed the hospital chapel. Ben and I stopped in to pray and I asked God to make it evident if I needed to stay or go home. When we got back to the room, the contractions increased to every 3-5 minutes and were becoming very painful. This was my answer. The nurses were stilling calling it Braxton Hicks though. And it was really starting to bother me. So one more prayer for a sign and my water broke. Ben ran outside to tell the nurses and they were like - "YOU'RE IN LABOR!". I wanted to say, "NO DUH!" but I refrained. I really can't complain. The nurses at Brookwood were wonderful, sweet, encouraging and went above and beyond for us.

Anyway, my water broke at 9 PM. I got my epidural at midnight and was out for the night. They woke me up at 7:30 AM and told me it was time to push and Asher was here by 8 AM. It was an amazingly quick and easy delivery. I surprised myself and ended up watching most of it in a mirror. I wish I had more details to share, but it all happened so quickly. Ben and I were beside ourselves with excitement. We lost it when he they pulled him out. I just remember Ben and I crying and hugging while they were holding Asher up for us to see. He was so perfect. Everyone in the delivery room thought so too. :)

We spent an hour doing skin to skin and Ben finally got to hold him. It was an emotional moment. Seeing my two boys together. I felt so blessed to have our baby here, healthy and beautiful. He is our biggest answered prayer. We feel so blessed.

Here are some pictures from the BIG DAY! Enjoy these photos of our sweet, sweet little boy.

Welcome to the World

 

 Holding Daddy's hand.

Meeting Oma & Poppa