Andrew is Here!

My water broke at 5:30 am. I got up and went to the bathroom and thought I tinkled on myself! Hmm, not that's not like me! I changed and went back to bed, only to get up 5 minutes later when I tinkled on myself again. When it happened a second time, I realized what was going on. I cleaned up again and tip-toed over to the bed and tapped John on the shoulder. I said, Honey, I think my water just broke-oh my GOODNESS; I have never see John move that fast! I wasn't in a hurry, but I guess he was.

So, in Becca and John fashion, we slowly start getting ready. About two hours later we start heading to the hospital. In the mean time, we text all of our family. Then about two seconds later Julie-John's sister- came into the bathroom where I was showering! She was SO excited that she was going to be in town for this! So Julie started getting ready and heading to the office so she could re-schedule John's day. (Just a side note, there was a patient that was actually angry and wasn't going re-schedule with John-they were going to go to another surgeon. I think her dentist talked her into re-scheduling. I guess she would rather her surgeon miss the birth of his son!) Really, REALLY!!!

When I walked in they said, have you called your doctor, "Um no, was I suppose to? Should I call him now? Who knew? I don't think anyone told me that!" We sat in triage for about an hour while they checked me to make sure my water was for sure broken. Then the doctor came in to see me, my doctor wasn't on call-so this was his associate. When she walked in, my husband said, "Hey, I know you" she said, "um, you do" he said," Yeah, you were my chief resident when I was on my OB rotation." So they discussed this for some time, meanwhile-I am still having contractions! SO, am I in labor or not! Yes, of course! So, I got to know his associate quickly and realized I was really going to like her! (This was after she told me I could have my

epidural as soon as I wanted!)

I was then taken to a room, where I had a DARLING nurse. They started an IV, an epidural, and a little pitocin. Things were going so great, I thought, this can't possibly be LABOR and DELIVERY! This was not what I remembered from nursing school. I remembered women yelling, daddy's passing out, etc! We coasted along like this for a while, then I look over and notice that his heart rate was 65, hmm, I guess the monitor has shifted. So, being the good nurse that I am, I move it around an little but kept getting the same numbers. I let John know, he came over and looked at things then hauled buns out the door and grabbed the first nurse he found to come in. Then several of them, including Darling Nurse came hauling buns in. Sure enough, his heart rate was in the 60's. Being a pediatric nurse, I knew what that little boy's heart rate should have been and in the 60's wasn't close! So, about 6 darling L&D nurses started flipping, checking me, and giving me shots (to relax my uterus.) They put a monitor in Andrew's scalp to get an accurate reading of his heart rate. They were just buzzing around the room taking care of things. Of course in Becca and John fashion, we were very calm and watched them work (All along, just praying and realizing that this was all in the Lord's control.) Finally, after about 7 minutes, his heart rate came back up. Dr Associate came down, she was so relaxed and calming. (John said she was like this when he was a resident too!) She just told us that she would watch us and we would see what happened.

So, Darling Nurse came in and started the pitocin again. My friends and family came back in and all was calm. (We just prayed that our little heart rate incident was our only hiccup!) So, gradually Darling Nurse increased my pitocin and a little later, I noticed a different pressure "down there", just about that time Darling Nurse came in and told me that his heart rate was trending down again. I told her about this new sensation and so she checked me again, (even though she just checked me about an hour earlier and I was a 5 and about 90% effaced.) So, when she pulled back the cover to check me, she looked down and said, "Oh there's his head!" So, I guess we are getting close! (She could see his black hair!!!!)

Once again, the nurses started buzzing around my room. The bed came apart, the lights dropped out of the ceiling, surgical trays were brought in, etc. Then Dr Associate came down and gowned up. Side note-

he was so low, they wouldn't let me practice pushing! Once everyone was set up, they had me practice. One, two, three, four, five, ok push harder, down lower, (oh ok!) When my next contraction started, the nurse said, can she push now? Oh, of course! Darling Nurse-One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Good! (Yeah, one down!) Ok, go again (same contraction!) One, two, three, four, five "OH STOP STOP STOP! STOP PUSHING!!" DR Associate said suddenly. Well, I will have you know, that stopping mid-psuh is almost as hard as PUSHING! But, he was out! That was all that was needed to get him out! I guess my momma was right, I do have "birthin hips"!!!! (Okay, so really my mom would never tell me that, but apparently I DO have birthin hips!!!) But, there he was, Andrew William Wallace was born at 4:45 pm and was the most beautiful slippery, slimy baby I have EVER seen!! And I have seen a LOT of babies!! There he was sitting on my chest all slippery and slimy! So, Darling Nurse took him and assessed him and gave him back. We spent some of the best hours of my life. We were skin to skin for two hours! It was dark, quiet, and calm. I don't know what happened around me, but all I know was that little baby was the sweetest thing I had EVER seen!

WOW! Thank You GOD for a healthy baby!