Unexpected Entry

I wanted to blog about Riggs' birth so that I have an account of how the day unfolded and all the joy, and some pain, that came with it. So...here goes! (Sorry if it's a little long).

Thursday, March 3rd I went to work and had a "normal" work day. That night before bed I noticed a little bit of fluid (sorry if this is TMI) but being the nurse that I am (ha ha) I chose to ignore it and think that it was nothing, especially since I had not experienced the first braxton hicks contraction or real contraction up until this point. I was 38 weeks and 3 days. I woke up at 2:30 am to go to the bathroom and noticed more fluid. I woke Andrew up and asked him what he thought I should do:). After laying in bed wide awake for another 30 min or so I decided to call the on call Dr. who told me to come into triage of L and D and they would test the fluid. So, with all of our things mostly packed we took our time, remember I wasn't having contractions at all! So, I showered, made the bed, checked and double checked all our things, cleaned the kitchen, ect. So we finally arrived at the hospital around 5:00 am.

So here is my last pregnancy picture at 38 weeks preggo getting ready to head to the hospital and my excited face as we sit in triage waiting to head up to the L and D room. In triage I was already 3cm, 70% effaced, and to my surprise, having contractions that I wasn't feeling. So we got to L&D room 306 and pitocin was started at about 7:30am. At 10:45 I was checked and was about 4cm and 90% effaced and was ready for the epidural! Thank the good Lord for em':) The day went by really quickly as I tried to nap here and there and Andrew sat in his corner trying to finish up midterm papers and tests that were due for school the same week! At 2:50 pm I was 6cm . I was checked again at 5:15 pm and had not made any more progress. At this point I had began to spike a fever because my water had been broken for so long and I was started on antibiotics in case of any infection. My doctor decided to put in an internal monitor to make sure that Riggs was still handling the contractions ok and she said as long as he is "behaving" they would give me 2 more hours to see what progress my body would make (that would have been 8pm at that point), otherwise I would be taken to the OR for a c-section. Although, I had thought about this throughout my pregnancy I was still not prepared for Riggs to make his entrance into the world this way! After a few tears I realized that the way he got here didn't matter as long as I had a healthy baby boy. 7:15 pm Dr. Cauthen comes back in and says that he is NOT "behaving" and we would have to have a c-section. Anesthesia came into the room and gave me more medications to numb me up better and off we went! I wish I could say that this was quick and easy but it was the most difficult part of the day. Because of the anesthesia and a temp of almost 103 I was shaking, tremoring uncontrollably and itching all over. I remember it was all I could do to keep my head still to see my baby when I heard that first cry! I remember thanking God when I heard his cry and hearing Andrew say "hey there lil' buddy" over and over again! I also remember being thankful that he didn't have a huge head full of hair:) Despite this unexpected entry Hayden Riggs Anderson was born healthy and perfect on Friday, March 4th at 7:48 pm, 8 lbs 5 oz and 20 in long! We could not be more thankful to have this little miracle and answer to prayer, as we prayed specifically for each little part that was developing every week.

Here are a few pics from the day....