He’s here!

**Update 1/20/2012:  I’ve added a photo album for Andersen.  Go here to see more pictures.**

This past week we welcomed into the world our third child, a little boy, Andersen.  All four of us are so excited he’s finally here!!  A couple weeks ago I commented to Mike that I was so curious to meet him and know what he looked like.  Mike replied, “Looks like?  I’ll tell you what he looks like.  Blonde hair, blue eyes, short but with a long torso…”  Yeah, there isn’t a lot of variety allowed with our recessive genes. =)  Turns out he looks just like his big brother did when he was born, meaning, Daddy has another mini-me.  Check out the picture below of our two boys on their birth day.  Who is who?True to form with the other kids, Andersen was born with a full head of hair.  He weighed in at 8 pounds even (just one ounce more than Abe) and 21 inches long (did he maybe get the tall genes in the family?).  Relatively speaking, his birth was still very fast, but not quite like the craziness of April’s.  Much of that probably has to do with the fact that we were expecting it this time!  Labor and delivery took about 3 hours; God certainly answered our prayer of making it to the hospital in time, for which we are very thankful!  (Andersen’s birth story is at the end of this blog if you’re interested.)

Both kids adore him.  April wants to hold him all the time.  Abe really just wants to be near him, touch him, look at him, etc.  Both are being INCREDIBLY sweet with him and have shown no signs (yet) of any jealousy.  Unfortunately for all of us, Andersen arrived right in the middle of both Abe and April having nasty coughs.  So we’re trying the balancing act of washing hands and letting them hold/be near him, but also trying to limit the amount of hacking that happens on and around him.  Abe is really good at turning away, covering, and washing his hands when asked, but constantly touches his own face (which negates the hand washing almost immediately).  April is good at not touching her face, but really bad at covering/turning away.  Hopefully we can get through this without Andersen getting sick; my biggest concern is him getting RSV because I know that can quickly land you back in hospital.  Prayers for sure!

I’ll get an album going for him shortly.  Welcome Andersen!!  WE’RE SO EXCITED TO HAVE YOU IN OUR FAMILY!!

Andersen’s Birth Story:

I had been having some contractions throughout the day.  Nothing more significant than I had been having for the last couple weeks though, except they were just a tad more frequent.  At about 1:40pm it was time to head to pick Abe up from school, so I started getting April and my things together.  I had a couple in those few minutes, one that was significant enough for me to text Mike about.  Mike had gone into work that morning (he had been working from home or close to it since my labor with April went so fast); I knew he was about to head home and was going to make a brief stop at the store on the way.

Abe’s school isn’t far from our house and I had a couple contractions on the drive over, one that was pretty long – not overly painful, but long.  After picking Abe up (and another contraction) I called Mike from the parking lot just to tell him to skip the store.  ”It might be nothing, but better safe than sorry.”  April hadn’t had her nap yet; I had planned to lay her down after getting Abe.  Made a quick decision that I’d rather have my doctor’s office check me out than wait and have to head to the hospital, so that meant getting down there before they closed for the evening.  So I stuck the kids in front of a movie, decided I should start writing down the time of my contractions, and started making some calls.  While I was making calls and gathering stuff together, I noticed my contractions were consistently 3 minutes apart.  Their length and intensity varied, but the timing was pretty exact.  Hmm, interesting.

Mike got home, we loaded everyone into the car, and headed over to my friend Esther who had kindly agreed to watch the kids – 2:40pm.  (Esther’s amazing.  Has three little ones of her own and didn’t hesitate to watch our two.  So sweet.  I was glad her mom was in town to help too.)  This whole time I felt silly to be inconveniencing Esther and going in because the contractions weren’t anything I couldn’t talk through, etc, but I kept reminding myself that I felt silly going in with April, too, and then she was born in an hour.

On the drive down the timing of the contractions remained around 3 minutes apart, but the intensity of them picked up.  Enough that I commented to Mike, “I’d be really surprised if this wasn’t it.”  We pulled into my doctor’s office – 3:07pm – and headed right up and right in.  I knew my doctor wasn’t working today so I saw Dr. Oliver who was on-call.  She didn’t hesitate to send me to the hospital after knowing my history, seeing my contractions, and verifying that I was already dilated to 4/5cm.

3:45pm – We got to the hospital and went right in to our room.  Mike left to quickly park the car while my nurse Caren (she was awesome) got me all set up, IV in, etc.  I don’t know how shortly it was after Mike got back, but I had a string of contractions that were quite close and pretty intense.  Andersen didn’t like these very much and his heart rate dropped; because the contractions were so close together, his heart rate didn’t have time to pick up between them.  Caren gave me some extra oxygen just to help give him a little boost.  After this, the spacing of my contractions increased and he had no other “issues.”

I then started to feel him super low and the urge to push.  Dr. Oliver had requested to be called when my water broke, and I remember thinking, “Uh, she might not make it here on time if we wait until then.”  However, since I was feeling the urge to push, they summoned her, which seemed to take forever.  Waiting for her to arrive was the only time that I really wished my doctor, who had experienced the craziness with April, was there.  What I didn’t know but discovered shortly after she arrived was that she was in the middle of dealing with an ICU transfer, so things were a little crazy.  She was trying to focus on me, but had to also focus on getting this transfer.  Crazy and she felt really bad about it.  Later she told me, “You arrived today and everything seemed to hit the fan!”

The first contraction after Dr. Oliver arrived she broke my water at my request; I was done and ready to hold my baby! 4:43pm  However, I wasn’t fully dilated yet, so it took several more contractions for that to happen (those are the WORST contractions ever; when you want to push but know you can’t).  Once I was, he was born on the first push!! – 4:55pm.

Before I end this blog, I have to give a ginormous shout-out to Mike.  Many of you know that we do natural childbirth; we have now with all three kids.  In all three instances I’ve been blessed to have the world’s greatest coach right by my side.  I was reminded once again with Andersen’s birth that there is no way I could do it without him.  With Abe, he went the distance with me as we both learned about this bizarre birth process.  With April he managed the craziness with ease (wife in hard labor, 2.5 yo, nurses, getting care for 2.5 yo), never once did I have to concern myself that everything wasn’t being taken care of.  With Andersen he continued to be the perfect emotional encouragement at times when I thought I couldn’t do it and the perfect physical support through every contraction.  (And this was when I know he felt like crap because he was fighting the kids’ cold and cedar allergies, but I never saw it the whole time.)  Past the whole labor and delivery, he’s the world’s greatest Dad and a fantastic husband.  I’m so blessed to have him as my best friend and partner in life.  Mike, if I don’t tell you enough, I love you babe!