Baby Andrew has arrived! 36W 3D--NICU Baby

rachel.wenger

Lesson learned:  Having a baby...much simpler than watching them be covered in wires and monitors in the NICU.

So the GD, hypertension and preeclampsia finally all hit last Wednesday.  I spent 5 hours in triage before they let me go home on bedrest with daily visits to the hospital to get my blood pressure checked.

Thursday morning, we went to the hospital and I was admitted because my blood pressure was even worse than the day before.  That night, my blood pressure was in the 163 over 108.  The on-call doctor decided that it was time to induce.  At 11:30 that night, they started me on some cervix softening pills.  It took two pills before the cramping started (around noon on Friday).  Then at three, my water spontaneous broke...all over the bed, the floor, the bathroom, etc.  Lol.  I couldn't believe how much there was!  Then the real contractions started.

I swore up and down that I wasn't going to get an epidural and make everything as natural as possible.  My contractions were very, very difficult.  I held out until 11:30 p.m. and then asked for the epidural when my contractions were lasting for two minutes with only 15 seconds in between.  I had held out for so long like this before giving in.  Pretty proud of myself in that area.

The epidural was amazing.  I didn't feel anything while they put it in, etc.  I could see the contractions on the monitor, but felt nothing.  This gave me a whole new confidence that I could make it through labor and things were going to be great!  At 2:00 a.m. on Saturday, the doctor came in and said that I was fully dialated and that our baby was dropped enough fo rme to start pushing.  We woke DH up and they prepped our room for delivery. 

DH played some classical music for me and I started getting ready to push. I coldn't feel a thing, but I knew exactly what to do.  The doctors told me when a contraction was coming.  I would take a quick relaxer breath and then give three long pushes.  Andrew Joseph arrived after 20 minutes of pushing, weighing 5 lbs 9.4 oz and 19 inches long.  Beautiful brown hair like his daddy and his mommy's nose. 

The doctors let us have about 10 seconds of skin-to-skin before they rushed him in the back.  He was slow to react to the world, so they immediately to him to NICU.  Since I was on a magnesium drip for the preeclampsia (to prevent seisures), I wasn't allowed to leave the labor/delivery room for 12 hours.  12 miserable hours missing my baby...thankfully DH is amazing and immediately went to feed him, hold him, and welcome him to the world.  DH gave me tons of updates and encouragement.  The moment they released me from labor and delivery, we went to visit Andrew in NICU.

Seeing him for the first time was very overwhelming.  I cried a lot (even more after we left) because of seeing him covered in wires and monitors.  He's doing very well for his gestational age, but it was heartbreaking to see him in there.  I was able to hold him for about 15 minutes, which was amazing.  I was able to kiss his head, love his beautiful brown hair (taking after his daddy), and look into his beautiful blue eyes.  Ahhhh....the one moment of happiness that I was waiting so long for! 

I've been able to feed him twice now (through tube feeding).  DH has been just amazing, changing his diaper in NICU.  So sweet to see him as a dad.  DH is absolutely in love with Andrew.  I think he is already making plans for future sporting events.  :-)

I will be released from the hospital tomorrow with the baby being released sometime in the next week or two.  He still has a lot of growing to do and things to learn before he can come home.  We are looking forward to being right by his side as he learns!

Thanks for letting me share...as well as your support through all of this!

bobbi5342

What a touching story. Thanks for sharing, and best of luck for Baby Andrew!

FarmvilleLover

Congratulations!  Sending my best thoughts that he can come home with you soon!

PsyDr04

Congratulations and positive thoughts coming your way that baby Andrew will be home with you in no time.

SoonToBeMsP

What a beautiful story. Hope Andrew is able to come home soon! And congrats!

unabellavita2010

congratulations on your baby boy and best wishes for little Andrew as he grows in preparation for going home!

rosebud218

it is very hard to see your baby in the nicu and to be alone in a room when they are supposed to be with you. good luck hopefully he gets released sooner. congrats mamma!