So without further ado... we welcome Andrew James into our family!
My pregnancy with Andrew was pretty similar to the rest. I have pretty easy pregnancies,as far as pregnancies go. I was probably a little more achy towards the end than usual but I attributed that to my body being a little older and this being my 4th. One big difference was our inability to come up with a name. We have always been able to come up with a name either right before our 20 week ultrasound or immediately thereafter. This time however, as much as we tried, nothing seemed quite right. Add to that the fact that I was constantly telling people that I was uncertain that the baby in my belly was really a girl and I think it's safe to say that I had some pretty strong mother's intuition telling me that we actually had a little boy on his way.
I decided to go with the doctors assessment of the ultrasound though and made full preparations for a girl. Keith painted a room, I bought pink, frilly clothes and I was even given 2 baby showers with lots of girly gifts. During the last week or two of my pregnancy I went headfirst into washing new clothes and making sure that everything was ready to bring home a baby girl. We were as ready as we could have been.
At 39 weeks, following the doctors suggestion, Keith and I decided to schedule an induction for November 16th. My delivery with Ben was very fast and all signs were pointing toward a similar scenario so, we decided it was best to play it safe and avoid having this baby in the car. We arrived at the hospital bright and early and after a small dose of pitocin and my water being broken, we were quickly on our way to baby time. Fortunately not too quickly though and I was able to get my epidural this time. At 12:37 pm, after a few minutes of pushing, Dr. Thies proclaimed that we had a beautiful baby BOY! What??? To say we were confused would be an understatement. "Was that not what we were expecting?" the doctor asked."Ummm, no" was our reply. "Was that my mistake?" he asked. "Yes" we answered. He then says,"Life is full of surprises!" and that was that. We had an 8 pound 1 ounce, 19 3/4 inch long baby boy and we loved him instantly!
The next hour or so was a blur. They had some trouble getting my bleeding to stop so there was a lot of unpleasantness that went along with fixing that problem. The NICU team also was called in because our boy was showing some symptoms of fluid in his lungs. All the while I'm still trying to process the shock of a boy instead of a girl. It was surreal! I did get to hold my little boy, give him some kisses and apologize for calling him a girl before he headed off to the nursery and eventually to the NICU where he stayed for 24 hours while the fluid in his lungs dried up.
I gave Keith the task of breaking the news to Audrey that she did not get a sister after all. I was not in an emotional state where I could do it myself. I knew that Audrey would love him no matter what but my heart ached for her because I knew how excited she was for a baby girl. As expected, she cried. A lot. Sam, on the other hand, was thrilled! Audrey's sadness didn't last long though. When she met him the following day, she was in love! Sam and Ben fell in love quickly too.
Naming him was hard. We didn't want to leave the hospital without a name but 2 days isn't a lot of time when you're starting from scratch. After some discussion we came up with 2 possibilities, Oliver or Andrew. On the morning that we were discharged from the hospital, I wrote Andrew James on his birth certificate paperwork and it was final. We brought him home later that day and started the rest of our lives as a family of 6!
I decided to go with the doctors assessment of the ultrasound though and made full preparations for a girl. Keith painted a room, I bought pink, frilly clothes and I was even given 2 baby showers with lots of girly gifts. During the last week or two of my pregnancy I went headfirst into washing new clothes and making sure that everything was ready to bring home a baby girl. We were as ready as we could have been.
At 39 weeks, following the doctors suggestion, Keith and I decided to schedule an induction for November 16th. My delivery with Ben was very fast and all signs were pointing toward a similar scenario so, we decided it was best to play it safe and avoid having this baby in the car. We arrived at the hospital bright and early and after a small dose of pitocin and my water being broken, we were quickly on our way to baby time. Fortunately not too quickly though and I was able to get my epidural this time. At 12:37 pm, after a few minutes of pushing, Dr. Thies proclaimed that we had a beautiful baby BOY! What??? To say we were confused would be an understatement. "Was that not what we were expecting?" the doctor asked."Ummm, no" was our reply. "Was that my mistake?" he asked. "Yes" we answered. He then says,"Life is full of surprises!" and that was that. We had an 8 pound 1 ounce, 19 3/4 inch long baby boy and we loved him instantly!
The next hour or so was a blur. They had some trouble getting my bleeding to stop so there was a lot of unpleasantness that went along with fixing that problem. The NICU team also was called in because our boy was showing some symptoms of fluid in his lungs. All the while I'm still trying to process the shock of a boy instead of a girl. It was surreal! I did get to hold my little boy, give him some kisses and apologize for calling him a girl before he headed off to the nursery and eventually to the NICU where he stayed for 24 hours while the fluid in his lungs dried up.
I gave Keith the task of breaking the news to Audrey that she did not get a sister after all. I was not in an emotional state where I could do it myself. I knew that Audrey would love him no matter what but my heart ached for her because I knew how excited she was for a baby girl. As expected, she cried. A lot. Sam, on the other hand, was thrilled! Audrey's sadness didn't last long though. When she met him the following day, she was in love! Sam and Ben fell in love quickly too.
Naming him was hard. We didn't want to leave the hospital without a name but 2 days isn't a lot of time when you're starting from scratch. After some discussion we came up with 2 possibilities, Oliver or Andrew. On the morning that we were discharged from the hospital, I wrote Andrew James on his birth certificate paperwork and it was final. We brought him home later that day and started the rest of our lives as a family of 6!
1 comment:
Perfectly written!! So happy for you! He is beautiful!! Love you much!
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