It’s so strange to feel like he was here with us all along. After his delivery, Clint turned to me several times & said: “We have two kids. Isn’t it weird that it’s not weird?” It really, really isn’t. He is such a natural addition to our family.
I was so very lucky this pregnancy to have little to no complications. My days were full of the normal aches & pains of pregnancy, but it wasn’t until the last couple weeks that I started experiencing issues similar to my first.
I started having some fairly intense headaches around 38 weeks. I could feel them build up, & most of the time, I could get them to subside if I laid down & drank some water. I went in for my 38 week appointment on February 7 & Dr. Smith was a little concerned that my blood pressure was slightly elevated (about 145/90), when it has normally hung out around 130/75. Maybe you could attribute the increase in blood pressure to anxiousness of his impending arrival, the incoming storm or the fact that I had a full term baby resting on some of my arteries. He advised that if I have any high BP readings, head aches or other issues to go into the hospital right away & I would get delivered.
Because I was dilated to a 1+, an increasing BP & this was my second baby, Dr. Smith let us know that I was eligible for an induction! Something I was thrilled about! The last week of pregnancy is no joke. At that appointment, we scheduled my 39 week induction date for February 16th.
February 14th, I celebrated my birthday with my sister, mom & aunt by going to lunch, went to my last OB visit (still dilated to a 1+) & treating myself to a manicure & pedicure. Clint gave me a couple presents to open that evening & we made plans for what we were going to complete the following day before we went in to the hospital on the 16th. We got ready for bed & Clint fell asleep right away. I, however, was so mentally wrapped up in to-do lists &, really, who can sleep when you are so excited that you’re having a baby in 2 days! I laid down on the couch & was watching Friends when around midnight, I started having heart palpitations & could feel pressure building behind my eye balls. I took my blood pressure … 196/120 … Not good. I laid back down, drank some water & worked on calm breathing. Took it again 10 minutes later, 170/102. I woke Clint up & told him what was going on. He was so amazing & calm. I asked him for a blessing to help bring peace to my anxious body & mind. We packed up Hayes at 2 am, dropped him off at my parents & went to the hospital.
False alarm. By the time I got checked in & monitored, BP was back down to normal & baby looked great! The on-call doctor sent me home. I’m convinced that if Dr. Smith had been on-call, we would have had our little man on the 15th 🙂
Thursday, I took it very, very easy. We got Hayes prepped to stay the night at Grandma’s house again & cleaned up the house one last time.
Friday, February 16th, I woke up around 3 AM with an excruciating headache. The nurse who helped me just the night before, advised me to lay down, elevate my feet, take a warm bath & drink fluids to help bring that BP down. I did all of those things, but nothing would get this headache to ease. Our alarm went off at 6:30.
IT’S BABY TIME!
We called the hospital to confirm that we were good to go in. The charge nurse explained that they had had a crazy night & were going to bump me to 10 AM, instead of the planned 7 AM. After giving a run down of how my night went & telling them my BP reading, they told me to come on in.
We got to the hospital & they went through the admission process. My nurse, Charmaine (LOVE HER) & a nursing student, Breana, would help me deliver that day. Charmaine got me all hooked up to the monitors & my IV. Pitocin was started around 9 AM. She told me that Dr. Smith was actually at the hospital for a c-section & would be up within an hour or so to break my water & check up on me.
After about an hour, I still wasn’t feeling any contractions & I was still at a 1+. Dr. Smith came in & broke my water & that’s when things really got moving. An hour or so later & I was in an incredible amount of pain during each contraction. I remember looking at Clint & thinking “how in the world am I supposed to do this again?!”. Between a couple contractions, I cried & just wanted to hold my Hayes. I missed him so much in that moment & the thought of holding him brought me so much comfort.
Charmaine came in around noon & checked me. She was being generous when she said I was at a 4, but was so impressed with how well I was doing. I asked for my epidural immediately, but he was with another patient for another 20 minutes. When he finally came in, the pain was so intense that I couldn’t breathe. Fortunately, within 15 minutes, that pain was almost completely gone. My epidural actually worked this time!
A couple hours later, the contractions were more intense & I started feeling pressure. Enough that I couldn’t talk through them. They checked me again around 3 PM & I was at an 8. Within a 10 minutes, I started experiencing nausea & threw up, which is a sign of “transitioning”. When the nurse walked in, she knew exactly what was happening. She checked me again to confirm that I was dilated to a 10 & then called Dr. Smith. He was on his way.
He took a while to get there & I was in so much pain. By the time he walked in, we barely had time to get my legs in the stir-ups. We didn’t even count through any contractions. He just told me to push when I wanted.
One push & Dr. Smith was able to get the monitor out of the top of baby’s head. Second push was baby’s head. Third was his body. He came out so quickly & was covered in so much vernix (white film) that the doctor barely caught him!
Wesley Clint Anderson was born at 3:49 PM.
There were 3 things we instantly noticed: how much he looked like his brother, his little chin dimple & his long feet. He was so handsome & perfect. I loved having the choice to do skin-to-skin immediately after delivery. Having the opportunity to soak in every second with him before he was whisked away to be measured & weighed was incredible.
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