The Life and Times of Bendy Ruggles: The Birth of Bendy Ruggles

May 9, 2007 was a momentous day for us. Little Ilyana Arana Shayla Boudle finally made her way into the world at 2:13 PM, after three days' worth of contractions and being sent home two nights in a row.

The first night was quick- they checked me and watched me for about an hour, and then let me go, saying I wasn't progressing fast enough.

The second night, after having contractions all day long and into the night, we went back in. They kept me for a while, making us think that I was going to be staying- so we called my mom, she came down to the hospital and we were all very excited! Ilyana would finally be coming... or so we thought. The nurses asked me if I would like some medication for the pain, and I said yes (of course!) because I hadn't slept at all since before my contractions started, and I was EXHAUSTED. The nurse told me that if they gave me some morphine I would be able to sleep and rest up for the heavy labor and pushing, which they were worried might be difficult for me if I wasn't able to sleep before it. Of course we trusted them, because they're the nurses, even though it seemed odd that they would give a narcotic to a pregnant woman!

What they neglected to tell me was that giving me morphine could slow down my contractions, and that's what it did. So I was able to sleep on and off while Mom and Will gorged on caffeine, thinking they'd be up all night into the next day. When I woke up in the early morning hours, Mom and Will were still wide awake, and the nurses told me the bad news- my contractions were less steady and frequent than before I came in the night before! Never mind progressing, I had regressed. I was so upset that they hadn't explained the possible consequences of the medication before giving me it, because now I had to go home AGAIN. And my poor mom and fiance- they'd now been up all night for no reason and would still have to be there when it actually DID happen.

When we went in on the third night, I wasn't really dilated enough (at about 3.5 cm) that they would have admitted me normally... But I was really tired and they thought they'd let me hop into the jacuzzi tub to see if that would move things along some. Apparently the tub helped, because after one hour in there splashing around and eating orange popsicles, I was at 5 cm and it was decided I would definitely stay. I had hoped to be able to pull through labor naturally, but it was an entirely different story once I actually felt what those contractions are like after 5cm! I got the epidural (which, believe me, is the weirdest feeling in the world- your whole lower body feels like a fast-asleep foot) and proceeded to chat away and be happy through the rest of my labor. I was even talking to Will and my Mom like normal in between pushes! After about 35 minutes of pushing, the doctor asked if I would like to have my baby on my belly, to which I growled, "yes!" and in the next few minutes, Illy was here. Although her Daddy had claimed he wouldn't want to touch her until she had been cleaned off (typical guy), he changed his mind once he saw our baby! Here are her first pictures; both right after she came into the world, and throughout our 2 day hospital stay and family visiting...

Weighing In!

Our new family! I wavered on putting this one, because I look like such dog crap, but it's the only pic of all three of us that was taken minutes after she was born. So please ignore my ugliness here.