Well, we waited and waited for our "any day now" and it didn't come. So, today is the day!
We got up early and got checked in.
Once the room was assigned, the paper work was filled out, and a few veins blown in my arms (OUCH!), I was hooked up and ready to start the day around 10am!
I feel like I did pretty good most of the morning and early afternoon.
I walked some. Bounced on the birthing ball. And tried to rest... but rest isn't so easy when you're so excited. However, my mom gives the best foot massages and those did relax me quite a bit.
Around 1:30pm my doctor broke my water. By the way, for all the many many people, even strangers, who asked if I was sure there was only one baby in there... rest assured, just one baby and about a million gallons of fluid. Even the nurse, ever so sweetly, had bulging eyes and while acting shocked, told me that she's never seen that much fluid. Lovely.
At 3:30pm I got an epidural to help me relax a little more and see if it would help me dilate.. and I didn't want to wait too long and then have it be too late to get one. I was pretty scared getting another epidural but I knew I didn't want to do it without one either. The first time, with Elliott, it hurt pretty bad and the anesthesiologist hit a nerve and sent a huge shock down my leg. It just wasn't a pleasant experience at all and didn't work very well either. This time was different- the Dr. talked a lot.. pretty sure he told us his entire life story involving everything from medical school to his deployments, his wife's life story, and all about his kids... but he also explained everything he was doing and what to expect (push, prick, bending, etc) which made a world of difference. The only thing that really sucked this time was that after a little while my blood pressure fell really low. We're talking 70/35 BP where the nurse rushes in and calls anesthesia back in. Saline didn't work. Ephedrine didn't work. They added some phenylephrine and it came back up. Whew. That was crazy. I didn't pass out but I was sure loopy and couldn't keep my eyes open no matter how hard I tried. Then the itching. OMG. I itched and whatever they gave me to stop the itching made me loopy also and I started getting all philosophical by saying, "You know, drugs are incredible things. Think of how they can control our bodies and these tiny receptor sites on our cells know what to accept and how blah, blah, blah"! So embarrassing! And I'm really glad I didn't mention anything at the time about the birthday cakes in the shopping carts that I had a weird delusion of seeing... So.Ridiculous!
So, I labored for a while. At one point the pain was so intense. I'm pretty sure the epidural wasn't working at all. I was on my hands and knees rocking back and forth promising myself I would never have another child! Then they refilled the bag, upped the epidural, and things were better!
At 10:21pm I started pushing. It was such a better setting this time around. I had my doctor (which was awesome because the doctor I had with E wasn't there for the birth) and, ironically, the same resident that delivered Elliott was on call this weekend also. The doctors, Tony, and my mom all did a great job of coaching me through it. I felt like it was a much more calm and relaxing atmosphere, even though it felt like way more intense pain and pushing than when I had Elliott... but it was only 32 minutes of pushing compared to 3.5 HOURS of straight pushing!
At 10:53 PM our 8lbs 9oz and 21.5 in. little boy stole my heart and instantly made our lives so much sweeter!
Welcome to this big, wild, world Anderson Anton Dreier! I'm SO happy to have you here in my arms! You will never know how special you are and how many times through my pregnancy when we would have a scare (miscarriage possibility, genetic testing) just how many thousands of prayers I have said for you already! And that's just the beginning-- I will never stop praying for you! You are loved more than you will ever ever know! Welcome to our family, buddy.... may the fun Dreier Adventures continue with the 4 of US!!!
Rise and Shine-- It's BABY TIME!
He even came up to the hospital for a little bit and loved the playground... and walking along the glass window ledge. (Ha!)
And then... the moment our little Anderson was born and placed upon my chest!
We had "the stork hour" where Mommy holds him skin-to-skin and nobody interrupts us.
Then he got all checked out and cleaned up... and was not very happy about it!
I love the little wink. Probably thinking, "This place is too bright!"
Found out he's Blood Type O+ (like Mommy) so we don't have to worry about Coombs.
Grandpop taking a little peek!
WE ARE SUCH HAPPY AND PROUD PARENTS.
And these are some of your proud grandparents!
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