WELCOME BABY ANDREW

Andrew has finally decided to join our family...3 weeks early!!!

Andrew Jame's Birth Story:

I'll begin with telling you about the day before our trip to the hospital. It was Monday, July 23rd, and I went in for my 36 week check up. The doctor asked if I wanted her to check for dilation...YES!!! By this time in the pregnancy, I was ready for Andrew to make his arrival. Since Emily came a couple days before her due date, and I was dilated to a 3 for more than a week before her arrival, I was extremely curious to see if I was dilated at all at this point. To my surprise...I was already dilated to 4cm!!! I was ecstatic! I immediately sent text messages to the family to let them know that Andrew just might be coming any day now.
The next day, knowing that time was no longer on my side, I decided to run a bunch of errands. I had things to return, things to buy, and chores to do to make sure the nursery was completed. It wasn't long before I started to have contractions. I am blessed to painless contractions, it was the exact same the day Emily decided to arrive. The contractions were not strong at all, but they were certianly getting closer and closer together. I had a feeling that this was going to be the day, but honestly I wasn't ready for Andrew yet...I had a few more errands to run and laundry to do at home. So, I kid you not, I refused to start "timing" my contractions until I got home.
When I finished my errands, I sent a text to Craig and my mom to put them on alert that today might be the day. Immediately, Craig replied and said he was on his way home. I responded and told him to just hold off until I actually had proof that my contractions were close enough for admission to the hospital. Now, I still had a number of things to accomplish at home (laundry, cleaning, putting some finishing touches in Andrew's room, etc) which probably didn't help my contractions. Craig continued to text me to see how I was doing and to ask how far apart my contractions were. When I told him they were an average of five minutes apart he insisted on coming home.
I was still not completely convinced that we should go to hospital because I never sat down and relaxed while timing the contractions...who knew...maybe they were so close together because I was over doing it, not because Andrew was ready to meet the family. Regardless, when Craig arrived home, he wanted me to call the Dr. to see what she thought I should do. When the Dr. heard how close my contractions were, even though they weren't painful at all (she remembered that my contractions were not painful with Emily's pregnancy...and she arrived anyway), she told me to get to the hospital...AND AWAY WE WENT.

When we arrived at the hospital, we checked in, and they took me straight up to the labor and delivery floor. The Dr. was already at the hospital. She checked me out and I was still dilated to a 4 and then they hooked me up to a machine to monitor my contractions...and...NOTHING!! No contractions!!! I had contractions in the car on the way to the hospital, in the ER, on the way up to the L&D floor, but as soon as I was hooked up...NOT A SINGLE ONE!!! My worst nightmare was going to the hospital and being sent home. PLEASE DON'T SEND ME HOME!!! Come on Andrew!!! The Dr. told me to walk around for about an hour and she would check me again to see if I would dilate more. 
One hour later...still dilated to a 4. I was given the same orders: "Walk around for one more hour and if there is no change, we will send you home to relax". Instead of walking around the tiny L&D floor, we stayed in our room as I paced back and forth, back and forth. To make it a little more interesting I decided to do some skipping around the room, some can cans, you name it...I tried it!! I just wanted to move this process along. Craig got a kick out of it!
One more hour later...the nurse came in to check...and ABRA...CADABRA...I made it to a 5!!!! This was my ticket to staying!!! WOOT WOOT!!!!
They transferred me to a delivery room, started an IV site, and let me walk around some more and roll around on one of those huge bouncy balls. At this point, my contractions were still painless. With Emily's delivery, the pain didn't arrive until my water broke. I finally reached 6cm, so they decided to start my IV fluids while I rested in my bed. The Dr. decided to break my water...which I insisted that they call the anesthesiologist to start my epideral because the pain came in like a roaring lion after breaking my water with Emily's delivery.
Getting the eipideral was the worst part of the delivery...if I had to choose a worst part (because the whole thing was practically a PAINLESS experience). I HATE pain! I'm a baby when it comes to pain...well...delivery pain. I don't understand why anyone would choose to experience the pain of delivery on purpose. A friend's doctor said it perfectly, "Medicine has come a long way. Choosing to deliver without an epideral is like choosing to have a root canal without getting numb. WHY would you do that?" Now, no need to school me on why you perhaps chose give birth naturally...to each his own...it's just not for me!
Now, back to Andrew's story. The epideral was pretty uncomfortable, but by far worth it. (For those of you who are a little unsure of the epideral...I HATE shots, to the point that nurses have asked me to lay down after receiving a teeny tiny TB shot...yes, I turn white as a ghost. Now, I'm not going to say that the epideral was painless, because it wasn't, BUT it wasn't horribly painful either...just uncomfortable, but FAR WORTH IT!!!!
Once the epideral was in place, it didn't take long for my legs to go numb, unfortunately, this time around I could still feel all of the painful contractions. I was not thrilled about this at all. After an hour went by, I told the nurse that I was feeling all of the contractions. She immediately paged the anesthesiologist to come and assess the situation. She came right away and checked everything out. Everything was as it should be, so to help me out they gave me a bolus shot and WHA-LA...bye-bye pain!!! I was so numb it was funny!!! I wasn't loopy at all...like your regular pain meds, just simply numb from the waist down. I tried with all of my might to move my toes or lift my leg and...NOTHING!! It was such a weird feeling.
By this time, it was now Wednesday, about 2AM, when they did a final check...and I was finally dilated to a 10. They called the Dr. in, placed my legs into the stir-ups and set up all of the necessities for the doctor. When the Dr. arrived, she took one look and said, "WOW, there is the head...this should only take about one push and he should be here." Well, she wasn't too far off. Literally, 5 pushes/5 minutes later...Andrew was in my arms. I kid you not, I couldn't feel a darn thing, NOT A DARN THING!!! It was amazing! With Emily's delivery, I could still feel the pressure of the contractions so that I knew when I was supposed to push, however, this time around...I literally couldn't feel a thing. The nurse had to tell me when to push and I had no idea if I was pushing or just lifting my head off of the pillow...but I must have been doing something right because Andrew arrived safely and was in my arms in no time!! It was amazing!!!

This was the same nurse that helped to deliver Emily!!! We called ourselves the "A" team!!!

My beautiful baby boy!!!

Proud Dad moment

Proud Grandparents

Andrew James / 6lbs 11oz / 21 in

Labor and Delivery

Monday, the 27th of July, was the BIG day. It started with a visit to the Chiropractor...she said if I haven't given birth by Monday, she wanted me to come in and she would try some techniques get things moving. She did a couple of pressure points on the inside of my knees and then massaged my round ligaments to try and loosen them up. Right after that appointment, I had my weekly appointment with my doctor. Once again, they asked if I wanted to be checked for dilation. I hesitated, but then decided to go for it. It turns out that I was dilated to 5cm!!! She couldn't believe I wasn't in labor. She then asked if I wanted her to "strip my membranes". She said that if I were close to giving birth, that this process would push me over the edge...however, if my body wasn't ready, nothing would happen. I decided...WHY NOT?!?! As soon as she did her thing, I had a small contraction.

I then asked her...since I'm so far dilated, do you still want me to wait for one hour before going to the hospital should I start getting consistent contractions. She said, NO...as soon as they are somewhat consistent, go to the hospital...as soon as your water breaks, go to the hospital.

I came home and told Craig all about the appointment. He was so excited...he even started to pack the car and arranged for the dog to be taken care of. He was so sure it was going to be that afternoon.
It's about 11 o'clock in the afternoon now, and I was having some contractions, but nothing too painful so I didn't think to monitor them. By noon, we decided to go to McDonalds for lunch. Since I was having more contractions, I decided to bring a paper and pen so we could keep track of the contractions just in case. As we recorded the times, it turned out that they were consistently four minutes apart and lasting for at least one minute long, however they weren't painful at all. When we arrived back home, we decided to call the doctor's office and ask them what they wanted us to do. Unfortunately, they were out to lunch, so we ended up calling the hospital and talking to the Labor & Delivery nurses. They said that we needed to come in so they could monitor the contractions themselves.

I was so nervous because, since the contractions weren't painful, I was afraid that they were going to send us home. Once we arrived, they hooked me up to the computer system...and it verified our own recordings: contractions every four minutes lasting for about a minute long. She also checked my cervix and I was still dilated at 5cm. She said...you are definitely staying.

After about an hour she checked my cervix again...6cm...still the contractions were not painful. She suggested we go walk around the hospital to try and speed things along...and possibly break my water. One more hour had passed, she checked my again and I was still dilated to 6cm. After reporting to the doctor, she told us that the doctor suggested that I go home for a couple of hours...but since the nurse thought we were so nice and she knew we didn't want to go home, she went to bat for us and convinced my doctor to let us stay.

Around 6, my doctor arrived to break my water. THAT WAS SUCH A WEIRD FEELING!!! Once my water broke...my contractions came on with a vengeance. I kept asking myself...is this painful enough for an epidural, or is it going to get a lot worse? Is this painful enough for an epidural, or is it going to get a lot worse? Now, don't get me wrong...I definitely wanted an epidural...I just didn't want to get it too early that it would slow down the labor. FINALLY...I had had enough. "I NEED AN EPIDURAL NOW!!" Unfortunately, no one told me that the nurse would have to start an IV and wait for half of a liter of saline to go in before they could start the epidural. I was P.O.'d!!! How come nobody told me this before?!?! On top of that...the anesthesiologist was in the O.R.

As I tried to work through the contractions...I didn't want anyone to talk to me or touch me. I just covered my eyes with one hand and tried to remember to breathe. They were so close together, about 2 minutes, that it provided me with little to no break in between. FINALLY, the anesthesiologist came the rescue. The man got the job done in about five minutes...and I was in HEAVEN!!!! It was amazing, I didn't believe that it could take the pain away...but it was a miracle worker. For the next couple of hours, I just lay in bed and relaxed with the family until it was time to push.

At 9PM, the nurse came in to check my cervix once again. She said, "You are at 10cm and I can feel her head...you are all ready to start pushing!" I was so excited...so nervous and afraid...but mostly I just couldn't wait to meet Emily. My family stepped out of the room, and 45 minutes later...Emily arrived. It was the most amazing moment of my life. They immediately placed her on my chest and I couldn't believe what had just happened. My daughter, my baby girl, was here...and I was holding her. She was so beautiful. I remember looking at Craig and just seeing him glowing with excitement. He got to cut the cord, and then they took Emily to the nurse to get assessed and cleaned up. Even now, as I think back...it just feels like a dream.
Once Emily was all cleaned up, and I was stitched up and decent, we let the family back in to meet their new granddaughter. There wasn't a dry eye in the room.