Andrew David Christensen
December 14, 2007 3:36am
7 pounds 3 ounces
20 inches long
13 ¾ inch head circumference
Andrew’s Birth Story
We got the call that a bed was available for my induction at 1:34pm on Thursday, December 13th. Ironically, this was nearly the same time and same day of the week we got a similar call for me to be induced with our first son, Nicholas, a week shy of 20 months ago. We got a few last minute things together, made sure my mom had everything ready to take Nicholas to my cousin’s house, and we were off to the hospital and got there around 3pm. We got checked in and were taken back to our room by 3:30pm. Things got off to a slow start. They didn’t have instructions from my OB as to whether to start Cervadil or go straight to the pitocin so rather than checking to see how far dilated I was, they waited for a call back from the OB and then checked me. I had made some progress since my last check, I was a full 2cm and 90% effaced, but Andrew had wasn’t engaged anymore and the resident put him at only a -3 station. They decided it was best to go ahead and start the pitocin rather than do cervadil, but because I was Group B Strep positive, they had to get a full dose of antibiotics through me before they would start the pitocin “just in case” I went quickly. So FINALLY at 5pm the nurse put my IV in and started the first bag of antibiotics. She told me they had to wait 2 hours to start the pitocin from the time the antibiotics were all through, so we should expect pitocin around 7:30pm. Bless my nurse, she actually suggested I eat dinner while we were waiting for the pitocin and with that I sent Ryan for my last preggo meal.
At 7:30pm the new nurse (Ailsie-I don’t know why but I just loved her name!) brought in the pitocin and we were on our way. At 9:50pm the resident came in and said the OB said if she could to go ahead and break my water to speed things up. I was disappointed but not surprised that I hadn’t made any progress since my initial check, but she was still able to break my water, and by the time she was finished with that I was a solid 3cm dilated. After that the contractions picked up, but Andrew’s heart rate was having decelerations that were concerning the nurse so on to my side I went. As I anticipated, once I was stuck on my side my hips and back started to hurt. I decided since I was making such slow progress and I wasn’t likely to be off my side anytime soon I should just get the epidural. I made a prediction at that time-12am epidural, 4am baby. I didn’t make it quite to midnight (the anesthesiologist was early), but at 11:30pm I got my epidural and like so many things that seem to be the same as my first delivery, we had the same anesthesiologist. We laughed about the chance of having the same doctor nearly 2 years later, and I told him he had done a great job with my first and I didn’t feel a thing and had every confidence that this one would be just good.-famous last words! So at 12:10am (now the 14th) the resident checked me and I was only 4 cm dilated-same slow progress as last time. About 1am the nurse brought in the oxygen mask-Andrew’s heart rate was staying down longer than they liked so it was time for the mask. At 2:25am the resident came in to place internal monitors to get a better idea how Andrew was really dealing with labor. I knew how this all went, all the same stuff happened the first time around so I wasn’t worried yet. It had been 2 hours since my last check and I had only progressed one more centimeter putting me up to 5cm. We had all resigned ourselves to Andrew not coming any time soon, so my mom and Amanda left so Amanda could get some sleep before the wedding she was in later that day. About 15 minutes later, I started feeling my contractions. I could feel the monitors inside every time I contracted which was different from the first time, and it kept getting worse. I had Ryan push the button to top off my epidural and it did nothing so I decided to page the nurse. I told her I was really feeling my contractions and lots of pressure so one of three things was happening-I had really bad gas, I had made super fast progress, or I was crazy. I was leaning towards gas as I'd been having issues with it all day. It was bad enough I was really having to focus and breathe to make it through my contraction so she said we would top my epidural one more time and if it didn’t help she would page the anesthesiologist to come back and dose me again. I made it another few minutes and the pressure was so bad I told her “I really think you need to check me, I feel like I need to push”. She said okay, though you could tell by the look on her face she thought I was crazy, and when she checked (now 3am) I was complete! In 35 minutes I went from 5cm to complete! I was shocked, as was the nurse, so we all frantically started making phone calls-the nurse to the resident and my OB and Ryan to my mom to tell her to get back ASAP if she wanted to make it in time. Next came the hard part-I had to spend another 30 minutes blowing through my contractions while we waited for the OB to get to the hospital. My mom got back to the hospital about 3:15am and right about 3:30am the OB arrived. Once the OB was finally there, I pushed through 4 contractions-feeling everything-and Andrew David was born at 3:36am. I always thought pushing out the baby’s head would be the most painful thing, but for me, his shoulders nearly did me in and I almost missed getting to pull him out the rest of the way because of the shock of the pain from his shoulders coming out. Thankfully, I did get to finish pulling him out and the idea that I got to be the first person to really touch my baby was just as wonderful as it was with my first. I did end up with a first degree tear, but with as quickly as I progressed I was surprised it wasn’t worse than that. Andrew had the cord around his neck which explained the heart rate issues. It really was a blessing I went fast so I didn’t end up with a c-section because of his heart rate-I knew from last time if it didn't get better that would be our next discussion. Andrew’s Apgars were 8 and 8 and I was able to breast feed him within just a few minutes of him being born. Everything afterwards went perfectly and all of the staff were fantastic. I really couldn’t have asked for a better experience this time around-even the post partum staff were great!
Life with Baby...
By 10am that morning I was ready to go home-I felt great! We didn’t get to come home until Saturday evening but everything during our stay was wonderful and it’s been the same since we got home. My back was a little sore from the epidural, but that and the worst of the after pains are gone already (5 days post partum) and aside from my 2 stitches being a little sore when I use the bathroom I feel great! Seriously, I never could have imagined things would go so well this time. Andrew is a wonderful baby and the best nurser! He’s such a content baby and for all my gender disappointment when we found out he was a “he”, I wouldn’t trade my baby boy for anything.
Andrew had his first pediatrician appointment Monday, December 17th and he was down to 6 pounds 8 ounces and his biliruben level was elevated so we had to take him in again Tuesday. Thankfully his biliruben level had already come down and his weight was up enough that they also cancelled his weight check for Friday!
Nicholas is doing great with Andrew. It seems I spend half the day letting Nicholas “hold” Andrew-it’s the sweetest thing ever. It’s amazing to me how attentive Nicholas is at only 20 months old himself (well, he’ll be 20 months in 2 days so close enough!) If I’m not standing right there when Andrew cries, Nicholas is coming to find me to tell me Andrew is crying “Drew Drew crying!” usually followed with “Nurse Drew Drew”. Oh, and did I mention Nicholas likes to pretend HE is using my breast pump? Yeah I’ve got to get a picture of that-it’s hilarious!
As always life has been a series of dramas since Andrew was born, but we’re not letting them ruin our baby moon. Everything right now is in Heavenly Father’s hands and we have faith that as we continue to push forward things will work out in time.
December 14, 2007 3:36am
7 pounds 3 ounces
20 inches long
13 ¾ inch head circumference
Andrew’s Birth Story
We got the call that a bed was available for my induction at 1:34pm on Thursday, December 13th. Ironically, this was nearly the same time and same day of the week we got a similar call for me to be induced with our first son, Nicholas, a week shy of 20 months ago. We got a few last minute things together, made sure my mom had everything ready to take Nicholas to my cousin’s house, and we were off to the hospital and got there around 3pm. We got checked in and were taken back to our room by 3:30pm. Things got off to a slow start. They didn’t have instructions from my OB as to whether to start Cervadil or go straight to the pitocin so rather than checking to see how far dilated I was, they waited for a call back from the OB and then checked me. I had made some progress since my last check, I was a full 2cm and 90% effaced, but Andrew had wasn’t engaged anymore and the resident put him at only a -3 station. They decided it was best to go ahead and start the pitocin rather than do cervadil, but because I was Group B Strep positive, they had to get a full dose of antibiotics through me before they would start the pitocin “just in case” I went quickly. So FINALLY at 5pm the nurse put my IV in and started the first bag of antibiotics. She told me they had to wait 2 hours to start the pitocin from the time the antibiotics were all through, so we should expect pitocin around 7:30pm. Bless my nurse, she actually suggested I eat dinner while we were waiting for the pitocin and with that I sent Ryan for my last preggo meal.
At 7:30pm the new nurse (Ailsie-I don’t know why but I just loved her name!) brought in the pitocin and we were on our way. At 9:50pm the resident came in and said the OB said if she could to go ahead and break my water to speed things up. I was disappointed but not surprised that I hadn’t made any progress since my initial check, but she was still able to break my water, and by the time she was finished with that I was a solid 3cm dilated. After that the contractions picked up, but Andrew’s heart rate was having decelerations that were concerning the nurse so on to my side I went. As I anticipated, once I was stuck on my side my hips and back started to hurt. I decided since I was making such slow progress and I wasn’t likely to be off my side anytime soon I should just get the epidural. I made a prediction at that time-12am epidural, 4am baby. I didn’t make it quite to midnight (the anesthesiologist was early), but at 11:30pm I got my epidural and like so many things that seem to be the same as my first delivery, we had the same anesthesiologist. We laughed about the chance of having the same doctor nearly 2 years later, and I told him he had done a great job with my first and I didn’t feel a thing and had every confidence that this one would be just good.-famous last words! So at 12:10am (now the 14th) the resident checked me and I was only 4 cm dilated-same slow progress as last time. About 1am the nurse brought in the oxygen mask-Andrew’s heart rate was staying down longer than they liked so it was time for the mask. At 2:25am the resident came in to place internal monitors to get a better idea how Andrew was really dealing with labor. I knew how this all went, all the same stuff happened the first time around so I wasn’t worried yet. It had been 2 hours since my last check and I had only progressed one more centimeter putting me up to 5cm. We had all resigned ourselves to Andrew not coming any time soon, so my mom and Amanda left so Amanda could get some sleep before the wedding she was in later that day. About 15 minutes later, I started feeling my contractions. I could feel the monitors inside every time I contracted which was different from the first time, and it kept getting worse. I had Ryan push the button to top off my epidural and it did nothing so I decided to page the nurse. I told her I was really feeling my contractions and lots of pressure so one of three things was happening-I had really bad gas, I had made super fast progress, or I was crazy. I was leaning towards gas as I'd been having issues with it all day. It was bad enough I was really having to focus and breathe to make it through my contraction so she said we would top my epidural one more time and if it didn’t help she would page the anesthesiologist to come back and dose me again. I made it another few minutes and the pressure was so bad I told her “I really think you need to check me, I feel like I need to push”. She said okay, though you could tell by the look on her face she thought I was crazy, and when she checked (now 3am) I was complete! In 35 minutes I went from 5cm to complete! I was shocked, as was the nurse, so we all frantically started making phone calls-the nurse to the resident and my OB and Ryan to my mom to tell her to get back ASAP if she wanted to make it in time. Next came the hard part-I had to spend another 30 minutes blowing through my contractions while we waited for the OB to get to the hospital. My mom got back to the hospital about 3:15am and right about 3:30am the OB arrived. Once the OB was finally there, I pushed through 4 contractions-feeling everything-and Andrew David was born at 3:36am. I always thought pushing out the baby’s head would be the most painful thing, but for me, his shoulders nearly did me in and I almost missed getting to pull him out the rest of the way because of the shock of the pain from his shoulders coming out. Thankfully, I did get to finish pulling him out and the idea that I got to be the first person to really touch my baby was just as wonderful as it was with my first. I did end up with a first degree tear, but with as quickly as I progressed I was surprised it wasn’t worse than that. Andrew had the cord around his neck which explained the heart rate issues. It really was a blessing I went fast so I didn’t end up with a c-section because of his heart rate-I knew from last time if it didn't get better that would be our next discussion. Andrew’s Apgars were 8 and 8 and I was able to breast feed him within just a few minutes of him being born. Everything afterwards went perfectly and all of the staff were fantastic. I really couldn’t have asked for a better experience this time around-even the post partum staff were great!
Life with Baby...
By 10am that morning I was ready to go home-I felt great! We didn’t get to come home until Saturday evening but everything during our stay was wonderful and it’s been the same since we got home. My back was a little sore from the epidural, but that and the worst of the after pains are gone already (5 days post partum) and aside from my 2 stitches being a little sore when I use the bathroom I feel great! Seriously, I never could have imagined things would go so well this time. Andrew is a wonderful baby and the best nurser! He’s such a content baby and for all my gender disappointment when we found out he was a “he”, I wouldn’t trade my baby boy for anything.
Andrew had his first pediatrician appointment Monday, December 17th and he was down to 6 pounds 8 ounces and his biliruben level was elevated so we had to take him in again Tuesday. Thankfully his biliruben level had already come down and his weight was up enough that they also cancelled his weight check for Friday!
Nicholas is doing great with Andrew. It seems I spend half the day letting Nicholas “hold” Andrew-it’s the sweetest thing ever. It’s amazing to me how attentive Nicholas is at only 20 months old himself (well, he’ll be 20 months in 2 days so close enough!) If I’m not standing right there when Andrew cries, Nicholas is coming to find me to tell me Andrew is crying “Drew Drew crying!” usually followed with “Nurse Drew Drew”. Oh, and did I mention Nicholas likes to pretend HE is using my breast pump? Yeah I’ve got to get a picture of that-it’s hilarious!
As always life has been a series of dramas since Andrew was born, but we’re not letting them ruin our baby moon. Everything right now is in Heavenly Father’s hands and we have faith that as we continue to push forward things will work out in time.