Bennett Josiah Kaczowski was born August 7, 2009 at 11:51 PM. He was born after 6.5 hours of labor at home under water at 40 weeks 6 days. Bennett weighed 8 lb. 10 oz. and was 19 inches long. His head and chest circumference were both 14 inches. His APGAR scores were 8 at 1 minute and 9 at 5 minute. The proud parents are Donald and Tiffany Kaczowski. Bennett’s siblings are: Raymond (6), Arianna (4), Alexander (3), and Nathaniel (18 months.)
Tiffany had been having contractions off and on for days before actual labor began. She had given up hope that Bennett would be coming anytime soon as she was already almost a week past her due date. On Friday, Tiffany noticed a few very painful contractions, one every 15-30 minutes or so, from about 11 AM on. She had gone across town with Donald and had a few. She came home and got the 2 big kids (Raymond and Ari) ready and went with her mother to Palatka to see Carol & Roger. While in Palatka, Tiffany had a few more painful ones. None were so horrible that she couldn’t talk through them or move around.
The kids had a blast fishing and Raymond was ecstatic to see a real wild alligator in the canal behind their home. Raymond drew his first real picture that looked like a picture and wasn’t of ghosts and tombstones. Raymond drew an alligator in the water next to a waterfall. It turned out really great and he may even have a knack for drawing.
They finally headed home around 4:30 PM from Palatka and arrived home around 5 PM. Donald left to Publix to get the makings for dinner for that night. By the time he got back home, Tiffany was having very painful contractions every 15 minutes or so and by the time Donald finished cooking, the contractions were so painful that Tiffany had to stop what she was doing and concentrate. She started timing them and noticed no pattern - 8 minutes, 14 minutes, 7 minutes - they were jumping all over the place.
All it took to regulate her contractions was to get online and announce to Facebook that her contractions were coming but that they weren’t regular and she wasn’t sure if this was it or if they would stop again. A few minutes later they were coming every 5-5.5 minutes. At this point she thought about how fast they had changed from completely across the board to a precise 5-5.5 minutes apart and decided to give the midwife a heads up.
Tiffany called Fruitful Vine around 7:30 PM and the answering service forwarded her message onto the on call midwife. They informed Tiffany that the on call midwife was Hope. We love both midwives but were glad that Hope was on call as she had been the one to catch Alex 3 years earlier as a student midwife.
A few minutes later, Hope called. Hope asked a few questions. Tiffany and Hope decided that it still may be a little while and for Tiffany to call back when they were just under 5 minutes apart. Not even 15 minutes later, they were. They were regularly coming about every 4.5 minutes apart at this point so Donald called Hope back and Hope was on her way. Hope’s assistant, Tanya, was on her way as well and lived pretty close. She was here first. When Hope arrived, she checked Tiffany for dilation and discovered that Tiffany was already 7 cm.
Their chihuahua, Taco, was kicked out of the bathroom as he kept trying to climb into the tub with Tiffany and was licking her through contractions which just drove Tiffany crazy. He barked at Hope and Tanya for a long time. We discovered that Tanya was actually the owner of Taco’s sister and littermate, Sadie.
Right around 8:30 PM, the kids were going to bed an hour and a half late. They filed into the bathroom to say goodnight to mommy. Everyone gave mommy a kiss except Nate, whose new thing is to slap lips when asked for a kiss. Raymond was the most excited Tiffany had ever seen him. He was asked all sorts of questions about when Bennett will be born, etc... Nate tried to climb into the tub with Tiffany before Grandma Vicky whisked him away to put him to bed.
Tiffany labored in the bathtub and on her iPhone for a few hours and around 10 PM things changed.
Tiffany’s contractions became worse and she felt the need to push. Hope checked her cervix again. Tiffany was about 8-9 cm. Hope offered to break the bulging bag of waters because it was so large that it was hanging into the vagina. After she broke the amniotic sac, labor picked up rather quickly. Still feeling the need to push, but still being 8-9 cm, Hope checked to see how Bennett was positioned. And of course he was lined up horribly.
Bennett was facing towards Tiffany’s side and his head was lined up almost in a way for him to get “stuck.” Hope recommended that Tiffany get out of the tub and onto the bed for a few contractions in hands and knees position to get Bennett to turn some. Those contractions were the worst ones without a doubt. The pain of the contractions alongside losing the soothing properties of water during labor made for a difficult time for Tiffany and she was just working through each contraction waiting for someone to say she could go back to her tub.
After a few contractions, Hope told her she could walk over to the toilet and sit there while they filled the tub. Tiffany had 2-3 contractions on the toilet and by then the bathtub was ready. As soon as she got in, Tiffany felt the huge need to push with contractions. Tiffany pushed for 1 minute for Bennett’s head and 2 minutes for Bennett’s shoulders. Bennett was born looking sideways, coming out facing towards Tiffany’s thigh. He has a little moulding on his head from where he was banging against bone while in the bad position. He was still born in a “bad position” but at least he wasn’t being hung up on bone.
Tiffany moved to the bed to deliver the placenta, which had already detached and was ready to come out by the time she made it there and with 1 tiny push, it was out. Tiffany and Donald’s son was born on August 7th, but his placenta was born on August 8th. Tiffany held Bennett skin to skin for a little while and then took a shower and got situated. Bennett had a little bit of a rough time learning to latch on but is figuring it out fast.
Hope and Tanya performed the newborn exam, and all checked out normally. We opted out of all the gunk and vaccines. We will take him for his PKU test sometime this week I suppose? Other than that, life if good.
While Tiffany was in the shower, we allowed Taco back into the room. He did very well with Bennett and with Hope and Tanya. He stopped barking and growling at Hope and Tanya. He sniffed around at Bennett but ended up laying down on and next to Tiffany. That night he slept between his big pillow bed on the floor and right between Tiffany’s legs. He hasn’t left Tiffany’s side for more than 15 minutes since.
Bennett slept most of the night. We went to bed around 2:30 AM and he didn’t wake up until 6:30 AM when Tiffany woke him to change his diaper and nurse him. He’s been sleeping off and on all day and is nursing a little more frequently. He has a hard time sleeping in Tiffany & Donald’s bed right now but sleeps like a little angel in his bassinet. While they are hoping that will continue, they aren’t counting on it. :)
The next morning, around 7 AM, the brothers and sister woke up to meet their new brother. Ari came in first while the boys were still asleep. She came over and was a little afraid to touch him at first. She kissed his cheek and held him for a few minutes and then was done and ready to go play. Alex and Raymond came in together (they do everything together) and Raymond was so excited. Raymond has been waiting for his new brother for months! He was so glad that he was finally coming and is so happy he is finally here. Raymond held him for a little bit and then we got Alex situated on the bed to hold Benn. Alex didn’t really care about holding him - he just wanted to go play. A few minutes later, Donald went and got Nate from his crib and brought him in. Nate smiled at him and thought he was pretty cool.
Donald took the kids downstairs for breakfast and Tiffany nursed and updated/replied to Facebook posts. Currently, Donald and Tiffany feel like a million bucks with their little family of 7 + Taco.
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