Meet baby Andy. He joined us on New Year’s day at 9:16pm, exactly 5 days before his due date. He’s the most precious little boy and he’s everything that we ever imagined and much more. He’s perfect in every way.
I have been meaning to write Andy’s birth story for 2 weeks now but being a new mommy has demanded a lot more of my time than I ever thought possible. If you’re not into this kind of stuff this is your time to stop reading and move on…and if you’re here for pretty baby pictures just hold tight, those will be coming in the next few days once I find time to edit them. :) The pictures below were all taken either via iPhone camera or using our small point & shoot.
Everything started with Stomp! Arturo won tickets at work to see Stomp at the ASU Gammage on the night of December 29th. I always thought I’d never make it to the show (considering I thought I’d be giving birth sometime earlier in December). The 29th came about, and given that everything was calm and quiet, off to the show we went. I had been having Braxton-Hicks contractions for several days but they weren’t painful nor regular. However, that night during the show they became a lot stronger and consistent about 10-11 minutes apart. These contractions started feeling a little different. Not super painful but definitely very uncomfortable. We spent the 1 hr 45 minute long show timing contractions on Arturo’s cell phone. They did not become closer together so we decided it was probably nothing and even went off to a late dinner right after the show. We ate at an awesome pizza & wine bistro right on Mill Ave in Tempe and had our last “date night” as a family of two that night.
As the night came to an end and December 30th rolled around the contractions dissipated and we stopped worrying about them. We spent the entire day Friday (Dec 30th) just relaxing at home and planning our New Years Eve dinner: pot roast, cuban style black beans, sweet plantains…the works. As night time approached I started having contractions again. This time they were a bit more painful and about 8-10 minutes apart. All the prenatal classes we took said to wait until contractions were 4 minutes apart and consistent for at least an hour before heading to the hospital. Clearly, I was nowhere near that so we sat outside by the fire and made S’mores with my parents!
That night I showered and went to sleep for a couple of hours only to be woken up at regular intervals of 15 minutes or so by these nasty contractions. I did not sleep at all that night. We kept timing things (did I mention there’s an iPhone app to time and record your contractions? – pretty handy!) and still too far apart so we decided to just stick around and wait for morning to come. As usual, morning came on December 31st and as I woke up to have breakfast contractions were completely gone. Seriously? We decided to postpone our New Year Eve meal…just in case you know? My mom cooked a chicken soup for me instead which was yummy. Too bad that as I was eating it, I managed to hit my front teeth with the spoon and I CHIPPED A TOOTH! Again, SERIOUSLY? I may have had a small anxiety attack at this point. About to give birth…and now a chipped tooth that I couldn’t stop touching with my tongue because it felt all rough and weird! Just what I needed!
As the day progressed still no signs of contractions. I was just chilling in front of the TV watching Dick Clark’s New Years Eve celebration with Arturo and my parents. Midnight came, we drank some non-alcoholic cider (yums!), had our 12 grapes (I had 24…a 2nd set for baby Andy in my tummy), and went to bed. I woke up around 4am on January 1st with really painful contractions this time around. Definitely a lot more painful than the previous days….like ‘take my breath away’ painful. Slowly around 6am they were 5-6 minutes apart consistently. I showered as Arturo lied in the empty tub next to the shower with the iPhone timing my contractions as I was having them. Freaked out by the frequency and intensity we decided it was time to head to the hospital! O.M.G. I was anxious and nervous but somehow calm at the same time. As I was getting ready Arturo went downstairs to wake up my parents. Clearly they were already awake and getting ready as when they heard the shower running at 6am they figured it was time to go! By the time we made it out to the car and to the hospital it was around 7:30am. And guess what? My contractions were GONE! AGAIN!!!!
At this point I was pretty sure we had just come to the hospital for no reason and that I would be sent back home until ‘real labor’ started. I was wheeled around for a bit until we got to Labor and Delivery on the 3rd floor. It was a VERY strange feeling to be pushed around in a wheel chair. It was kinda cool although I felt bad for the guy that was pushing me around. I could have walked! Really. No contractions, remember? By the time we got checked into triage it was almost 8am. The nurse came in, took my vitals, and hooked ‘us’ up to a monitor – baby Andy’s heartbeat on one side of the screen, and my uterus on the other side. The monitor was definitely recording some contractions that I couldn’t feel myself but they didn’t seem too strong on the screen. Baby Andy’s heart was strong and healthy so no worries there. After I was done telling the nurse my contraction history and sounding pretty convinced I would be getting sent home it was time to check things ‘down below’. As the nurse felt around she started saying with a little bit of amazement in her face – “oh wow, I’m so proud of you baby girl. You are 4-5cm dilated already! We’re having this baby today!”. At that point I was pretty much in shock! Seriously? Almost half way there? A rush of emotions started hitting me and I dont remember whether I started crying there or started panicking instead. I kept thinking – OMG a New Year Day baby!!!! What a date to be born on!
Within 15 minutes I was officially ‘admitted’ into Labor and Delivery and got moved to our own delivery room.
We settled in, got the bags from the car, and off I went for a 45 minute walk around the hallways of the 3rd floor. This was the plan for the day:
Walking around the halls with Arturo was fun. My parents joined in for about 20 minutes and then got tired. The walk went by pretty quickly for me. My contractions came back as I walked…maybe because I knew it was time? I dont know…but all of the sudden they returned. Everything started to become very real at this point. “Holy crap we are having a baby today” is what I kept thinking.
After getting back to the room I was hooked up to the monitors again and then it was time to get the IV put in. I had never ever had an IV in my life and I was slightly freaking out about it. Yes I know it’s simple and painless but there’s no such thing for me when it comes to hospital stuff. Of course the first time the nurse tried putting the IV in my arm she missed the vein and the saline started spilling into my arm! GREEEEAT! Within seconds I had a huge bump on my arm and it became very swollen and painful. Another nurse came in to see if she could get a better spot. Luckily she was successful the 2nd time around. I’m 2 weeks post partum today and I still have a HUGE bruise on my arm where the IV missed – I swear it’s changed into all sorts of colors over the last 15 days – green, purple, pink, etc. After the IV drama our official nurse for the day came in and said she had called the anesthesiologist for the epidural and that he’d be here within 20-30 minutes. As I sat on the bed hooked up to the monitors I started to realize I wasn’t feeling the contractions anymore. One of my biggest fears regarding the epidural (besides getting it!) was that it would delay the birth itself by slowing down contractions/dilation and that I would get stuck at 5cm fooooreeeever and not move from there. And of course at this point I wasn’t feeling contractions anymore…and the anesthesiologist would be here soon…and OMG am I seriously getting a huge needle in my back? Yes, I started to panic a bit again so I called the nurse and in hopes of delaying the epidural I asked if I could go for another walk to get things moving again. So off we went for another 45 minute walk. Except this time around we made it back to the room within 20 minutes because my contractions came back full force! They became so close together (at least 2 minutes apart) and SO painful that I decided immediately that I was no longer scared of the epidural and OMG GIVE ME THAT THING ASAP!
We came back to the room and the anesthesiologist showed up within 20 minutes. Arturo held me down as I tried my hardest not to move. I tried to ignore what was going on and forget about everything…puppies and kittens…puppies and kittens is what I kept telling myself. Within 5 minutes the dude working my back was done and my legs started to become numb. First I couldn’t feel my toes and within minutes my legs felt as if they were 100 pounds each! They helped me lie down in bed and I got a horrible case of the shakes. My entire jaw and mouth were shaking and I couldn’t get them to stop. It was such a creepy feeling. I also felt dizzy and nauseous. Probably a sign of the fast drop in blood pressure you experience after an epidural.
Around 11am once the epidural had kicked in the doctor came to visit me. Funny enough I had never met this doctor before. My OBGYN is an office with four different doctors and I kept seeing one of them regularly. Luckily for her my regular OB was probably recovering from spending her New Yrs Eve in Las Vegas so she was not around. Dr. Giali (the on call doctor) was great though. I immediately felt at ease once I saw her. She broke my membranes at that point (another thing I was terrified of) but I did not feel a thing! Blessed be that epidural! At that point I was about 7cm dilated but that the baby was facing in the opposite direction which would make it a little harder for him to come out. From there on I would have to lie down on my side with these HUGE foam pillows in between my legs to help ‘turn’ the baby around into the right position. Oh, and he was also stuck somewhere up there in la-la land at around -3 station (basically means he hadn’t dropped fully into my pelvis). The doctor felt confident that he’d drop and that he’d ‘fit’. All reassuring things. Good!
For the next 8-9 hours I would proceed to lie down on my side being rotated from left to right in one hour intervals with the humongous uncomfortable pillow between my legs. Around 5 or 6 pm I was told the baby was still up high but had dropped just a bit and that I was close to 9cm dilation. Contractions were coming fast and strong according to the monitor (again, so thankful for that epidural because I just felt some ‘pressure’ but no pain). I was stuck at 9cm for the next 2 hours and I started to freak out a bit when no progress was made in this time frame. I ended up getting a slight fever of about 99.5 degrees. Oh Oh. My biggest fear was to end up in C-section. Well, if baby isn’t dropping, I’m stuck at 9cm, and now I have a fever there’s a very good chance they’ll take me into C-section if things don’t change quickly.
Shift change came around 7pm and the most incredible nurse took over my care. She was AMAZING. She started ‘rotating’ me from one side to the other at more frequent intervals and she did some ‘stuff’ down there that I’ll spare you the details of. Just know that by the time she was done she said I was pretty close to 10cm and that the baby had dropped a bit more. I was given a dose of antibiotics via IV once my fever shot up to 101.5 degrees but baby still hadn’t dropped all the way so I had to wait a bit more. Within the hour I started feeling like I had to poop. I know, TMI! Sorry! The urge became stronger and stronger. Once I told the nurse and she checked “under the hood” she happily reported that it was time to push because baby Andy’s head was right there. RIGHT THERE???? OMG. I was overwhelmed with emotions. She stepped out of the room to call the doctor and at that point Arturo and my parents started surrounding me all together because I lost it! I was crying uncontrollably and my parents were crying too. I especially remember my dad. I don’t think I had ever seen my dad crying so desperately before. He kissed me and said I had to be strong. The whole minute this all lasted was very emotional! I was mostly thankful that I was about to push this baby out with no C-section! I remember feeling scared, nervous, happy, excited, all at the same time. Within minutes the nurse was back and she had me do a couple of practice pushes on my side. Did I mention I could feel everything down there? I know the epidural was running low a bit. They do that on purpose so that you feel the urge to push with the contractions.
Around 9 something the doctor showed up and they set me up in full push position. I don’t remember the details of the next few minutes but I do remember how concentrated in PUSHING I was. I know Arturo was on my left side helping me hold my leg up. My mom was on my right side also helping me hold the leg up, and my dad was somewhere in a corner of the room by my head probably completely freaked out. Apparently at some point I actually screamed for my mom and I said ‘Mami mami mami mami’ although I do not remember this one bit. Andy’s head was out with 5 pushes within 10 minutes. One more push and he was fully out at 9:16pm. You know how they always say the scariest part is when they finally come out and you’re waiting to hear them cry? I don’t remember this. He cried SO FAST that it took me by surprise. I remember hearing his cry and thinking – HE’S OUT ALREADY? They put him on my chest and that was the sweetest moment of pure satisfaction and joy I remember. I couldn’t believe he was the little thing I carried around inside for 9 whole months. Arturo and my parents were also fascinated by him. Within seconds the placenta was out, and within minutes they were done fixing stuff down there while I held the baby. I don’t remember any of it in detail because I was just fixated on this little person on top my chest with HUGE hands and full of life. Andy was 7 lbs 13 oz and measured 20 inches long. He was completely healthy and beautiful. He’s the most special gift we’ve ever received and we’re all so thankful and lucky that he’s here.
Proud daddy! :)
The next 2 days after birth are a total blur in my head. All in all we had a great experience at the hospital. We are so lucky for all those incredible nurses that took care of us! They’re truly amazing ladies!
A couple of days later at home I went to check a Moleskine journal I purchased a few weeks back where I’ve been writing daily notes about Andy’s life. When I first opened it after being back home from the hospital I remembered I had already started writing on it a few days before. This totally made me laugh. I quickly crossed things out and proceeded to write out the details of the day as it had happened. I clearly had NO CLUE about how our life would change on the very first day of 2012! :)
Welcome to the world baby Andres! We love you very much. We’re very excited to have you in our life and we can’t wait to see you grow over the years! :)
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