Andrew James Arrived!

Sunday, November 20th we woke up like any other morning.  Little did we know, that day was just the beginning of our little man's arrival and our 96 hour hospital stay :)

Sunday night I took a shower and when I got out, I noticed there seemed to be something wrong with my face.  It looked like I had a stroke, and one side of my face wasn't moving. I went into Labor and Delivery to get checked out and they told me it looked like I had developed Bell's Palsy.  This is something that happens more often to pregnant women than other groups, and they weren't very concerned initially.  High blood pressure can cause palsy-like symptoms so they decided to begin monitoring the baby and monitoring my pressure to see what was going on.  Thankfully, baby was perfect, and still thriving inside of me.  Unfortunately, my blood pressure was through the roof.  They let me know I would be staying overnight so they could continue to watch me.  Not much longer after that, and as my blood pressure continued to rise, I was told they were going to prep me for a c-section that could happen within the next hour once my blood work came back. And not too much longer after that, they came in and said there was no time to wait for my lab work to come back, we had to go in for emergency surgery right then.  Not because the baby was in distress, but because momma really wasn't doing well.

We arrived at Labor and Delivery around 10:00 p.m., and baby was born at 11:13 p.m.  It was a very fast process.  I woke up in a recovery room to Tom and the baby.  Who knew that actually having the baby would be the easy part...

My recovery was difficult and slow.  My blood pressure remained dangerously high throughout the night and the next day.  Coupled with my c-section recovery and my on-going Bell's Palsy, I had a lot going on :)  By late Monday evening they moved me to a normal post-partum recovery room, and by Tuesday afternoon they removed my IVs and catheter.  At least at that point I was able to eat something and could walk around my room.  Baby was still doing fantastically, and then had a name!  Andrew James Van Heest (we call him Drew).  7 pounds, 7 ounces, 20 inches. I stayed in the hospital on Tuesday and Wednesday night as well, and we were finally able to go home Thursday afternoon.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Tom was amazing throughout the whole process.  He didn't leave my side for more than 3 hours in the 96 hours we were in the hospital.  Needless to say, this wasn't my ideal Labor and Delivery, and I continue to struggle to cope with all that's happened and the circumstances.  But I'm so happy to have Drew home and we've started to settle in nicely.  He is a great baby, and pretty darn perfect and adorable.  We are very lucky, and thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers in this time.

Week One update to come soon!