Anders W N: The Story of My Birth

It all started June 30th, 2007. Mom & Dad got married.

About 6 week later, I started to sprout. We didn't tell anyone until Halloween. The news was quite a shocker - but everyone was happy. Overall Mom's pregnancy was easy & I was healthy. Dad made sure Mom & I had healthy meals & were taking our vitamins. He came with us to every check-up.

On December 20th they found out I was going to be a Boy. They only had a girl name picked out "Amelia" - so they had to really work on finding a good name for me. They had quite a list - some of the names on Dad's list, Mom vetoed were "Hampton" & Dad vetoed "Milo". There was also Ben, Christian, and Soren.

Before I knew it, it was as Tuesday, April 29th, 2008. Mom, Dad & I had our 38 week check-up. We saw Dr Peterson & she said everything was looking and sounding good. Mom was barely dilated to 1cm (and Dr. Peterson said that was being generous with the measurement). That was O.K. with mom since she said “We just have to make it until May 1st because I want an Emerald for a Mothers ring”. I could tell Mom was hoping to have me early… she even had her massage therapist she her the “not to touch” points in her feet to start rubbing to get things moving along if necessary.

We then proceeded with our regular after appointment routine… Breugger’s Bagels – everything with light veggie cream cheese – a family Favorite! Mom & Dad then went on their separate work days.

Later that night, we met up with Dad’s Family at the Lakeside for Dinner. Here is a bit of Movie Trivia for you all…it was in the movie Fargo! Mom ordered the jumbo shrimp… it came with this nice & spicy cocktail sauce. She was talking to everyone about how over the weekend, she was going to use all the wives tails she’s heard to get me to come out early: long walk, rubbing the feet, a beer. My actual due date was May 10th.

We went home and had a pretty normal night. Dad took Chloe for a walk, etc.

The next thing I remember was Mom’s alarm going off at 5:00am on Wednesday morning. She rolled over in bet to turn it off & Plush. Her water broke! She said to Dad, “Honey, the bed it wet.” He said, “Did you wet it?” She said, “No!” He got up & turned on the lights and said, “Yup, the bed is wet, call the doctor, you are having a baby today.”

So, Mom called the doc & she said take you time, but come to the hospital in the next few hours. So Mom finished packing, made breakfast & took a shower. Meanwhile, Dad was running around getting stuff ready for people to take care of the pug & getting fresh batteries or the camera. We called a few people to let them know what was going on. Oh, and Mom called work to say she wouldn’t be in.

By 8:00, we arrived at the hospital. Mom went up to MAC while Dad parked the car. They ran some tests on mom to make sure her water really broke & put the fetal heart monitor on me. Other than that… nothing much was happening… no contractions.

The Dr. Roxy came in to visit & check on Mom & suggested she start on Pitocin to get things moving. We agreed since Mom had tested Rh positive. We got check into the room & got settled. Mom told the nurse “I am a wimp- I want an epidural as soon as possible.” About 11:00 contractions started. They weren’t too bad, but the nurse ordered the epidural saying it would be about an hour before the doctor would be in to give it. During that time, Mom was pretty uncomfortable.

The doctor came in about noon for the epidural. He was pretty young looking so Mom asked him all kinds of questions. He took off his mask & hat and was actually40 years old with grey hair. Mom thought the Epidural was the bomb diggity! There was no more pain. She rested most of the afternoon, taking naps & watching TV. The nurses kept coming in every hour to check on her (and me) to see how we were doing. Dad kept busy calling people and giving them an update.

About 6:00 the Doctor came in and checked on Mom again. Her contractions were strong, but still only dilated to 3 cm. The nurses started to turn Mom over & twist her legs to get me to move down further. They did this for a while, but I still was not interested in moving down further. Mom said it was a typical man… In a hurry to get going, but wouldn’t stop to ask for directions.

About 9:00, Dr. Peterson (remember the doctor from her 38 week check up???) came in to check on Mom and said “You are only dilated to about 5 cm, it has been over 12 hours since your water broke, this baby is not interested in coming out, how do you feel about a C-section?” Mom & Dad looked at each other & said “OK”. Dad called everyone again to let them know the update.

Well, that certainly created a stir. A bunch of new doctors came in and checked Mom & me over, gave her some new stuff in her epidural, made her drink this nasty stuff. They wheeled us down the hall to another room. They made Dad dress in these funny blue scrubs. They got mom all prepped and ready to go, placing a tent over her belly, stretching her arms out and gave her oxygen tubes to breath.

They used this thing called a “kiwi” to get me out & I still was not very interested in coming out. As Dr. Peterson had to try a few times to pull me thru. As she was delivering me she said to Mom, “You were the one who wanted a May baby for the Emerald right? Sorry, that is not going to happen.”

I was born on 4/30/08 9:58pm
7lbs 6oz 21.5”

I only got to see mom for a few minutes before the doctors & nurses whisked me away to check me out & wash me off. She was instantly in love with me & was surprised at how much hair I had. Dad was pretty smitten too and was taking a bunch of pictures.