Andrew

Now that I'm caught up in other areas of life we can get to the fun stuff! The birth of our little Andrew. We couldn't be more excited to have him here!!! I've been wanting to get this post typed up for a long time, but I just got so busy with him that I'm just finally getting around to it. My handsome little angel is asleep so I have a little time to myself :)

Overall I had a really easy pregnancy...like REALLY easy. No morning sickness. No heartburn. No swelling. No problems sleeping. I was pretty comfortable clear up until the last couple weeks when he was growing lots. The only issue that came up was that I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. The way I figured it was that everything was so easy I had to have at least something go wrong....haha. I had all the nurses and doctors confused with that diagnosis. I didn't fit any of the "normal" criteria for those diagnosed. Luckily, I didn't have to change much.Ii was already working out on a regular basis and for the most part was eating like they wanted me to. I did have to cut back in a few areas. I was able to control the diabetes with diet. My doctor was really impressed since I guess a lot of those diagnosed with it end up having to be regulated with the help of medication. Yay for me! I only hope it is a one time thing like the doctor is thinking it should be. If not...oh well. It kept life interesting. We had an extra ultrasound (to make sure he wasn't huge), a ton of NSTs (per doctors orders), and lots of extra appointments so they could keep track of how everything was progressing.  With all the time I spent at the doctors office it made the last couple months fly by. 

10 weeks

29 weeks

During Tuesday of week 38 they checked to see what my body was doing and if I was starting to progress towards labor. The doctor told me I was 3cm dilated and 80 percent effaced. All I could think was that this baby might be coming early. During the appt the doctor had us set an induction date because of the diabetes and they didn't want to go past 40 weeks. They worry about the baby getting too big at that point. Daniel chose May 25th (his birthday). They also planned to strip my membranes the next Tuesday to see if they could put me into labor. I called my mom to give her the update and she was convinced he would be coming early as well. She came down to stay with us on Friday since she wanted to be here when everything happened and she's 10 hours away. Lucky for us we had her around to help us with our move the next day (Saturday). I was so glad to have her around for the move. I was hoping all the activity would help put me into labor ;) I was so excited to meet our little man that I wanted him here ASAP, knowing that he would be healthy. 


Tuesday came, they stripped my membranes and told me that if anything was going to happen it would happen within the next 48 hours. Forty-eight hours came and went with no changes. Bummer! I guess we were gonna be induced on Friday (the 25th). 

Day of Induction 39 weeks

We showed up at 5:30 AM, like they told us, got checked in, and were showed to our room. A short while later a nurse came in and informed us that the doctor was performing an emergency c-section, on another patient, and that they couldn't do anything with me until they had finished. Bummer again! (More waiting) This made me even more anxious and nervous. I had come to the hospital ready to have a baby :) They told me to walk around and maybe this would help labor progress. I had to laugh because I was walking everyday and it hadn't sent me into labor so far, so why would it now? It didn't. 

Hour after hour went by. Finally, at about 10:30, the doctor came in and said we were ready to get things going. I was so unprepared, yet ready, for everything that was about to happen. They started me on Cytotec (sp?) and I went into labor. I went for quite a few hours without feeling any pain or discomfort. Around 4:30 PM I got an epidural after I had been in pain for about an hour. It wasn't bad at all. By the way other people talked about it I expected it to be lots worse. Little man's heart rate dropped after they did this so they had to lay me down. His heart rate jumped right back up. He had to give us a little scare. Once I got the epidural I was able to take a few naps between the nurses coming in, the doctor checking progress, and the machine taking my blood pressures.

Lots went on in the next 12 hours. Poor Daniel had stayed awake the whole time because he didn't want to miss anything. I kept telling him that he should sleep since I was. I was so relieved (and tired) by the time they told me it was time to have the baby. It was also at this point that the doctor discovered that Andrew was face up and this is why it had taken so long for everything to progress. After the first set of pushes little Andrew had to give us another scare with his dropping heart rate. The doctor informed us that we might have to use the forceps or do an emergency c-section. All it took was Dr. Bragg saying this out loud and his little heart rate jumped right back up to where it was supposed to be...little stinker! With this set of pushes they were able to get him turned over and facing down. After 15 minutes of pushing, Andrew James Sorensen entered the world at 4:31 AM on May 26th, two days before his due date.

The emotions surrounding his birth are indescribable. Waiting to hear his first little cry seemed to take ages, and a little cry it was. They set him up on my chest, and I'll never forget him lifting his little head and looking up at me with his wide eyes, little pouty lip, extremely long eyelashes, and full head of hair. Yes he LIFTED his head. I knew at that moment that I have a strong baby and that he  is going to be one BIG handful.

I wish I had been able to see Daniel's reactions to everything going on, but I was completely focused on everything that I was doing. It was amazing to see him hold Andrew for the first time. You could just see and feel the love that was shared. Grandma McGinnis, and Grandma & Grandpa Sorensen were very excited to hold him for the first time. From then until we left the hospital is kind of a blur. Andrew stayed with us in the room beside when they took him to do testing. I could have just sat there and stared at our little angel for hours and hours. He was such a good baby.

We were happy to get out of the hospital and back home. This is Andrew's birth story. Hopefully, for my own sake, I haven't forgotten anything too major. I just don't want to forget a thing about that amazing day that has changed my life forever...the day I became a mom! I couldn't be more blessed!!