Drew Christian Anderson

the newest little member of our family has arrived!

Thursday, February 3, 2011. Weighing 7 lbs and 19 inches long.

The story:

Wednesday
We arrived early morning at the hospital for a planned induction. It was nice and quiet in the OB wing, so we were extra taken care of. All set up in bed, pitocin was started around 9 am. Dr B came to visit before that morning and promised to return later. Later there wasn't much change except for minor contractions. Dr could not break the water, and could not feel baby's head. Later that night, baby had still not dropped but Dr was confident and advised to just stay the slow and steady course. Baby's heart rate was fine and allowed Mommy to rest easy.



Thursday
In the early morning hours, in between small winks of sleep, Mommy's water finally broke on its own! Soon after an epidural was given to allow Mommy to sleep. Note to self: get the epidural the night before so you CAN sleep during the night. Soon after, Mommy woke up to pain in her arm/wrist and saw that her IV had slipped and her wrist was swelling! IV was quickly switched to the other hand. Now that the water had broken, something had to give. Dr knew it, Mommy knew it. Still a long day with little change to cervix. Lots of frustration, Mommy was ready to just go home, but the consistent fetal heart rate echoing in the room was reassuring.

By 7:00 that night, Dr came into the room stating his concern that there must be a reason for slow progression and brought up the C word. By this time, all the fears and doubts start creeping in. Could the baby be too big to fit in the pelvis? Was a Caesarian inevitable anyway? Are we fighting against nature that the baby's even ready to be born?

But moving forward with faith, we agreed that a C-Section was the best option. Mommy was such a mess of emotion. Every little thing, like the temperature in the OR and the nausea from my spinal, was playing with my feelings, I wasn't sure how I'd get through it. Thankfully I had the sweetest nurse and husband on the planet who buoyed me up and lent me their strength for the night. Just a surreal experience overall. Feeling your stomach being tugged forcefully in many directions, having your doctor talk talk talk through the whole procedure, and wondering what it all looks like.

The few days before we went to the hospital I thought a lot about pioneer women crossing the plains and giving birth. I thought of all they went through just to bring a life into the world, not even certain how long that child would live. Then I felt so grateful that I could have children at all, healthy children. And that medicine was advanced enough to keep both of us as healthy as possible. Then I stopped feeling sorry for myself.

Finally I heard the Dr say hello to the little guy followed by an "Oh my goodness!" I wish I could have seen what he saw. Chris didn't even sneak a peek! Apparently Little D had the cord wrapped all around him. Around his arm, behind his back and three times around his legs! Fortunately, it did not end up around his neck.

When I was in recovery, Dr B came to see me to tell me the baby's weight and other details. He assured me that there was NO WAY this baby was going to drop into my pelvis, and if he had been able to see that on an ultrasound he would not have had me go through labor for nearly 2 days. But you can't see everything.



So he's HERE! He's healthy! He's tiny! And we couldn't be happier!