Overall, we had a wonderful pregnancy. I felt good after the first trimester sickness ended, exercised, ate (mostly) healthy and stayed focused on the joys of pregnancy. Our pregnancy did have some ups and downs, though. At 29 weeks we were hospitalized for a couple days because Andie's heart rate was having "variables", or dropping suddenly for short periods of time. They gave us a shot called betamethasone, which can help develop her little lungs and organs at a little quicker pace in case they decided to take her really early. I was also having contractions beginning at 29 weeks, but they weren't anything that was making progress for birth, so they put us on modified bed rest and sent us home.
I went into the hospital a couple times a week for stress testing, or "antepartum testing". They hooked my belly up to the machines and listened to her heart for about an hour. The little variables would still happen, but not nearly as much as they were happening before we were admitted to the hospital. At about 34 weeks, they let us skip out on the fetal stress testing and just starting seeing us more often to keep an eye out. The entire experience was scary. They aren't sure what was causing these little drops, but from what they could tell, there was compression in there somewhere that was causing it. They did lots of tests and ultrasounds - and assured us everything was okay with Andie. In fact, at 29 weeks - she measured larger than average for her gestational age.
At our 36 week check up appointment, my doctor told me Andie was a little on the small side and may not be growing like normal. I had zero progress for labor even with all of the contractions I could feel and they could see when I was hooked up to the machines.
On May 10th, we went back for our 37 week appointment. When my doctor measured me, he again expressed a little concern that she still didn't seem to be growing. So, he sent us back into radiology at the hospital to get another big ultrasound to track her growth. Before we left to go, he mentioned that there was a chance he would want to induce us if she was smaller than 6 pounds. We went in for the ultrasound and about 30 minutes after getting home, we got a call from my doctor telling us to come back... he wanted us to be induced. Andie was measuring right around 5 pounds, give or take a pound. Because she was measuring so big at our previous ultrasounds, they estimated that she stopped growing at about 34 or 35 weeks. He called my situation "IUGR" - or Irregular Uterine Growth Restriction. Basically, the girl was out of room and not growing anymore. She was measuring in the 4th percentile. My doctor, the radiologist, and the doctors he consulted with all believed it was best for her to come now.
It was surreal. The details of this day are a little foggy to me. TL and I were frantically running around our house, putting the car seat in the car, packing bags (thank goodness my sister had given me a list of items for the hospital and already started packing for me), and hopped in the car. We made it back to the hospital by 2:45pm. I was having contractions on my own, about 1-3 minutes apart. At my appointment that day, I was 1 cm dilated and about 80% effaced.
For induction they started giving me the drug Pitocin. I've heard horror stories about this drug, but I decided to ignore it all and just think about the end result. Andie. They started me on the smallest dose. After just a few minutes of pitocin, Andie's heart rate dropped into the 90s for about 90 seconds. The doctors and nurses ran in and decided to kill the Pitocin and decided on another form of induction... the foley bulb. This is a not-so-fun form of inducing labor {click to read what it is if you don't know}, but the risks of dropping her heart rate were much less. The bulb helped dilate me to a little more than 3 cm... it took about 11 very uncomfortable hours to do the trick.
At 4am, the foley bulb had done its job and I decided to get the epidural. TL and I didn't sleep at all that night, but the excitement was looming about what the next 24 hours would bring. In the middle of the night, Andie's heart rate dropped twice, causing the cluster of nurses and doctor to come in and hook us up to oxygen... but other than that, she was taking labor well!
By 7am, I had made progress on my own to about 6 cm. The doctor broke my water to keep the progression going. At 11am, they decided to once again start pitocin to see how she would handle it. They started it at the lowest level... and this time, she took it well. By about 1:30pm, my nurse came in and said she was going to start preparing the room for delivery based on how close my contractions were to each other. Thinking the pitocin would take hours like they had warned, TL jumped into the shower (our delivery room had a bathroom with a shower), and my sister Julie started knocking on the door to let him know that she was going to be coming soon! Within a minute or two, the doctor came in to check me, and sure enough, I was at just under 10 cm - Andie was ready to come soon! My doctor and nurse were amazing.
My sister, Julie, stayed in the room with me until TL was out of the shower (quickest shower of his life). She and I talked about my fears. I was scared. So scared. I was nervous about Andie - after everything we had been through, was she going to be healthy? Would her heart work? Would she fit through the birth canal? Would she come out breathing? Would she have 10 fingers and 10 toes? She and my nurse calmly reassured me that we would be okay... that she was healthy.
When TL was out of the shower and by my side... it was just he and I with our nurse and doctor. It was quiet. Intimate. I kept telling them how scared I was, but I was constantly reassured that we would be great... that Andie would be okay. A few minutes later, the nurse prepped and explained to me how the pushing would all work.
I was told that it could take hours for moms to push out their first baby. But... after one contraction she was already making progress. My nurse said after one push "well, she has hair!" My epidural was the perfect strength. I could feel the pressure with each contraction, but the pain was dull. The doctor, nurse, and TL talked me through 3 more contractions - and out came our little girl at 2:47pm. TL watched her enter the world and cut her cord.
I was so scared to see her for the first time. My mind raced with fears - and as I kept my eyes clamped shut, I could hear the doctor and TL telling me to open my eyes - that she was perfect. And just after I opened my eyes, she was placed on my chest... and I heard her cry. And I fell in love. And I had the overwhelming realization that my whole life was changing at that moment. This little part of me was suddenly out in the world. I sobbed. It was the only way my heart could release my feelings.
There we were. TL, Andie, and me. Our family of 3... crying. Joy. Bliss. TL held me as we admired her.
I don't know how to express how the moments were after her birth in writing.
But they were some of the happiest moments of my life.
Our last picture of our family of 2, shortly before her arrival.
A few minutes after she was born.
Daddy comforting her as they took all of her measurements.
A very proud and happy dad.
Skin to skin with his baby girl.
First photos as a family of 3.
She's about 24 hours old here!
Leaving the hospital with our girl on May 13th.
First picture at home.
Andie was 5 pounds 15 ounces and 18 and a half inches long.
