Baby Andrew

Today, marks a week since I gave birth to baby Andrew. He was born by c-section at 7:37pm on December 3rd, 2013 at St. David's Hospital.

Andrew's Birth stats:
Birth weight: 4 pounds, 10 ounces
Length: 17 inches long

It does my heart good when I was able to visit and hold my newborn baby.



Currently, baby Andrew is in NICU. He has been there for a few days already. We are ready to have him home. It is hard on us. They want to make sure that his liver is okay. The doctor said that his live is irritated and wanted to keep him a few more days to do more lab work. We were hoping that he'll be released today but that's a concern that just showed up. They wanted to double check to make sure it isn't serious. Also, the doctor mentioned his pituitary gland seem out of place and wants to examine that as well to see if it is causing anything such as hormone changes. Please continue to keep him in prayers.

He has been told that he had some bleeding in his brain. Then his genital were small. His hands were small. His head was small. His nose bridge was wide and said that it could like to who knows what? So baby Andrew had to have a lot of blood work drawn. He even had to get another ultrasound on his brain. He also had to go through MRI testing and has been pricked a lot to get his blood drawn for a lot of other testings. They moved him to a room alone to check and see if he had herpes. They also checked to see if he had meningitis. Oh, and to check for infection virus. We had to wash our hands for 3 minutes before we can enter the room. The soap and scrub they provided for us to wash with made our hands dry. They are strict. To begin with, his blood sugar was low and he is said to be lazy when being fed. Yes, I have a hard time breastfeeding him. I am now using a pump and bottle feeding him. It's a first to bottle feed my baby. I didn't have to do that with Joanna and Peter but with Andrew.

I am thankful that Andrew seemed to be doing better with his feeding. Although, we still have to help him get his feeding going as in waking him up for him to eat. He falls asleep when feeding. NICU is a sad place to be. I hated it. It makes me sad to see all the helpless babies that are having problems.


About my 3rd pregnancy birthing experience:

Let me started off by saying it is the scariest I have ever experienced. I don't even know if I want to go through this again. In other words, this may be my last pregnancy but then again... I really don't know. That is just how I currently feel about it. After having c-section, I used to tell myself that will be the end of it. I'm really confused. I don't know what the Lord wants for me. I would like to have another child but that's not up to me. If you are wondering...

So, I headed to the hospital at 5AM but they didn't start inducing me until 8AM. I ended up having contractions but they weren't really doing anything to cause me to have strong contractions. They kept giving increasing my pitocin drug through an iv to get things moving but I was just "hanging out" in the hospital bed with little contractions. Eventually, my doctor came in the room to check on me and see if she could break my water to speed and get those contractions moving. Before doing so, she checked my cervix to see how much I have dilated and I was like a 3cm but then she felt fingers. She then brought an ultrasound to see where the baby is positioned. Well, she found out that he turned in a breech position. Just the week before, he was facing head down already in his birthing position. He just turned. I figured great.. now I can go home and that's what I told her. So, she said okay she'll let the pitocin die off and check on me again before releasing me. So, they stop the pitocin. I stayed a couple of hours. Then the doctor came back to check on me again. This time, things took a turn unexpected. She was quiet at first and I could tell something was up and that the baby hasn't moved. Although, she didn't say that... I just knew. My contractions started getting worse as I was being weaned off the pitocin drug. My doctor told me that she would like for me to go with c-section and even begged me to go with it. I was quiet. I didn't really see the need to have c-section since I was only 3 cm dilated. She didn't leave my bed. She begged me again. I stayed quiet. I was not happy with her decisions. I was trying to think of a way to kindly tell her I just want to go home and come back. Before I made a decision, I wanted to make sure how much I was dilated first. So I asked, "How much did you say I was dilated?" She then replied, "You are 10 cm, you are dilated all the way." I said, "Are you serious?" She said, "Yes, that's why I don't want to leave the room. I'm afraid that your water could break anytime and that you'll have to be rushed into emergency." That explains my strong contractions I have having and the pressure down below as I got up to go to the restroom before she came in. She said, "Please, I have never lost a baby. If your water break there is a chance that the you could squished the cord which is what gives oxygen to the baby's brain. If he loses oxygen, he can have permanent brain damaged or even death." She then added, "You have two options, either wait until your water breaks and be rushed to ER or to go the smooth way. Either way, you'll end up with c-section. I know you don't like it but... you will be priority and the rest of the pregnant women can wait. Please... (she begged)" SIGHS. That was it. I had no choice. It was like having a life or death situation for my baby. At first, I refused to have c-section but then knowing that I was at high risk... I decided to go with it. There's just no way that I could do that to my baby. I'll regret it for the rest of my life if I hadn't made that choice. I'm thankful that God allowed her to see what needed to be done. She showed she cared. If she didn't care, she could have let me go and all. Right?

So, they took me to OR. I was already scared. Shaking the whole time. They wheeled me to a different room. I saw a lot of nurses or doctors in there. My doctor was present too. She held my hand for a little bit then the nurse took over while someone else got a needle and poked my spine (to numb my waist down). I've been shaven, how embarrassing. Then they put a cover from my below the breasts up. I couldn't see what they were doing. I was shivering. Matt came in later and held my left hand. I felt them work on me but all I can say that it was uncomfortable because I moved while they try to take the baby out. You know what I mean? After all is done, they stitched me back. I was still shaking as they were doing that. This is my first major surgery. Ever. The nurses were cleaning baby Andrew so I was able to take a small glimpse of him. Then they moved me to another room. They gave me some strong pain killers. I was helpless and pretty sore. I'm amazed at everything the nurses do. I have such respect for them. They cleaned me and changed me. That's something not many of us wants to do. I had to stay in bed. I was wondering.. how was I going to go to the restroom? They put a catheter to empty the bladder of urine. I know it is gross but... that's what they did to me. I was helpless. I stayed at the hospital for 5 days. It is a much longer stay for c-section than it is for natural birth. I understand that they want to make sure that I heal properly and that nothing leaks out from the surgery or is infected. I was released on Saturday, December 7th.

Every day since my release, Matt and I have been visiting baby Andrew at NICU. It's tiring and we're ready for him to come home. Lord's willing, hopefully soon. He has to stay a few more days for more testings. Your prayers are greatly appreciated.