AJ's Arrival

Well, AJ decided to come on his own, which made life a little crazy for us all.  On September 28th, I went with my students on a Field Trip to the beach and ended up spending most of the trip in my boss's car with the air conditioning running while having some serious contractions.  I had a constant contraction all the way back to the school.  I didn't think much of it because I had been having contractions for over 8 weeks.  Once back at the school, I decided to go home early.  I was beginning to get a headache and wanted to lay in my bed to take a nap.  So Andrew came down to the school to pick me up.  I took a cold bath to help me relax and cool off.  My nap was amazing and 1.5 hours long.  Andrew got back home about 5:30, and I just laid in the bed resting and still having contractions.  They were inconstant and didn't last very long so I wasn't trying to track them at all.  At about 7pm, I was ready for something to eat.  I walked into the living room to ask Andrew to make me a PB&J and  felt something run down my leg.  I had just gone to the bathroom so I was like oh well maybe AJ pushed down on my bladder, and it was a leak.  Yea I didn't have a bladder leak.  I called Andrew into the bathroom, and he said we had to go to the hospital.  We began to throw what we thought we needed into a suitcase and calling our parents to let them know that I was in labor (Dr. Max had already picked on me Tuesday, Sept. 26th at my appointment for not having my bag packed).  We get in the car and Andrew calmly drives us to the hospital.
I called my Dr's office and talk to the answering service to let them know that I was on my way to the hospital.  Once at the hospital, I walk in and tell the staff that I'm in labor, and they all jump to their feet to take care of me.  The question of the hour was did you drive yourself.   I said no, and my husband was parking the car.  They get me in a wheelchair and within 5 minutes I was being pushed upstairs to labor and delivery.  My nurse, Judith, walked me in my room and started asking all the important questions and did an exam.  The exam didn't really prove that I was in labor.  However, I was having some serious contractions, and they weren't going to send me home until those stopped.  We were talking for about 45minutes and filling out all the paperwork, when I felt something running down my leg again.  She does another exam and sure enough I was in labor so she called the on call dr.   I was about 1/2cm dilated and about 80% thinned.  He came in and was amazing.  He said we will have a baby by 11pm (it was like 9:15pm when he said this).  Andrew called Matt to see if he and Kirby could rush to the hospital.  They make it just in time.  Judith started me on antibiotic as soon as the dr left the room.   We were having a baby that night.  My head began to spin about all the stuff I hadn't done yet, as in taking a tour of L&D, filled out paperwork, and finished organizing all AJ's new clothes.  I didn't have time to panic over the whole procedure, which helped me stay calm about all of it.  Andrew and I call our parents to let them know the update.  Then the prep for Andrew and Matt began.  I was rushed off to the OR, while Andrew and Matt waited in the hall.  I began to get anxious as I was wheeled into the OR.  They all talked me through everything that they were doing and made me relaxed as I could be.  After about 15minutes, Andrew and Matt came into the room.  Andrew watched the whole procedure.  He loved watching everything.   After about 5 minutes of them being in the room, I heard the most beautiful sound in the world; a baby's cry.  My baby's cry.  It was amazing.  I started crying and so did Andrew.   I then asked did he have hair.  They said yes and asked if I had had a lot of heartburn, which I did. Matt captured the most beautiful photos.  Andrew went over to AJ and helped get him cleaned up.  That's when we found out that AJ was having trouble breathing.  He breathed in a lot of fluid on his way out, which was causing him to breath faster than he liked.  He's APGAR was a 7 then a 9 on second assessment.    He stayed in the NICU for the first 3-4 days to help with his breathing.  If we wanted to see him, we had to go to him.  He was finally able to nurse Monday and came at it like a champ.  He's been amazing and we can't get enough of him.  I'm still overwhelmed that he's actually here.  Here are a few photos from his arrival. 

Thanks Matt and Kirby for being there with us and for the beautiful photos.  For this child we had prayed, 1 Samuel 1:27.  Our rainbow baby had finally arrived. Andrew James "AJ" was born on September 28th at 10:58pm, weighing in at 6lbs and 3oz and 19 inches long.