Baby Austin's Birth Story

I can't believe he's here and we are now a family of 5!

Happy Birth Day, Austin Jonathon!

It's been a whirlwind of emotions the last few days! Austin is now 4 days old!  I am so glad we are finally home and settling in with his big sisters!  We could not have made it without all the prayers and support from our family and friends, especially my parents who spent a lot of their time with our girls while we needed to be at the hospital for our little (big) guy!

Tuesday, September 15th, I had my weekly routine doctor's appointment. I was at 4cm and the doctor was surprised I hadn't gone into labor yet. He had offered to induce my on the 14th at my previous appointment, but since my due date was not until the 18th, I really didn't want to be induced and wanted to go into labor naturally since I had been induced with both of the girls. At this appointment, the doctor stated that he was 95% sure I wouldn't make it past the weekend, but I could come in anytime during the weekend and all he was pretty confident all he would have to do is break my water and it would be go time!  Well, Austin had a slightly different plan.

After my doctor's appointment, I started feeling a little crampy, but nothing significant. The next day (Wednesday), I knew I was having contractions all day long, but since I had never gone into labor naturally I wasn't 100% sure today would be the day. My contractions earlier in the day/afternoon were anywhere between 3 and 7 minutes, but never lasted the full minute, usually only up to about 45 minutes. I didn't want to give the go ahead to anyway to start heading on down to Terre Haute since it was the middle of the week, people had to work, and I could possibly be in false labor, or have contractions lasting for days. However, a little later into the evening, the contractions were getting closer to 2-4 minutes apart and were definitely increasing in intensity. I really didn't want to get to the hospital and then they just sent me straight home, but because they were getting stronger, I thought it was time to rally the troops.

Melissa came over to watch our girls, earlier in the evening because of the increased contractions, I made sure to give the girls a bath, feed them dinner, and even made our bed with fresh sheets in case we were admitted and Melissa could sleep in our bed instead of the couch. Luckily, Wednesdays are an activity-free evening for Melissa and her family, so she was able to come over without a problem and Nate was able to take care of their kids at their house.

Luckily we weren't in a hurry to get to the hospital because we were stopped by a train (imagine that in Terre Haute) and then when we got to the hospital we assumed we had to go to registration so we sat there for a little while since 2 people were ahead of us getting registered. However, we didn't have to wait at all because we were supposed to go directly to Labor and Delivery where they checked us in and put us in triage to monitor my contractions and check dilation. I was still at 4cm, but confirmed I was having contractions regularly like I thought while we were at home. Since I was a 4 in the office the day before, they wanted me to walk around for an hour, then come back and get checked before deciding if I went home or if it was baby time. After walking around for an hour with Bobby, with contractions as close to 1.5 to 2 minutes apart with even more increased intensity, I was checked again and told I was at 5cm and I would be admitted. This was around 10:30p Wednesday 9/16. Bobby told me we should have waited until midnight so we weren't charged for a day at the hospital where we were technically only admitted for 1.5 hours. Little did we know that would be the least of our concerns when it comes to our hospital stay bill.

A little before midnight, I was taken to the labor room. During the walk to the room, I asked the nurse how soon I could get the epidural because the contractions were getting a lot more painful and was told any time, but it could also slow down labor if I got it too early. Right after we got put into the labor room, the doctor on-call, Dr. Yeagley asked if I wanted him to break my water. I asked his opinion, which he basically said it was my choice, but breaking my water would more than likely cause me to have the baby sooner rather than later. I agreed to have my water broken with the understanding that I wanted the epidural immediately after because I knew that as soon as my water broke, the contractions would be even stronger from experience with Natalie and Aubrey's births. Getting my water broken was really uncomfortable, followed by really strong contractions, but the epidural was placed right around midnight and it was the best thing ever! I couldn't feel a thing and was able to get a short nap in. When the nurse came into check me, I was progressing nicely. The doctor anticipated I would give birth around 3:30-4:30a. My parents were en route with a 4 hour drive which would put them at the hospital around 2:30a.

Around 2a or a little after, the nurse asked if I was feeling pressure, which I was feeling nothing since having the epidural. She checked me, asked me to push just to see where I was at and just like with Aubrey, she told me to stop and got the doctor and other nurses in for delivery! I pushed 2.5 to 3 times and Austin was born!  Bobby and I were guessing he would be 8lbs, plus, but never imagined I would push out a 10 lb baby!  I was pretty shocked by how big he was and only had a first degree tear which is better than both of my other deliveries.

Austin Jonathon Andreae
Born at 2:26am
10lb 3oz
21 1/2 inches

Just as Bobby texted my parents the picture of Austin, they had just parked at the hospital, but would have to wait an hour to come in to see us since they want you to do skin-to-skin and try to breastfeed your baby within the first hour. He latched well, but the nursing staff was concerned about his rapid respirations and his sugar was lower than they wanted it to be (I can't remember what it was). According to the nursing staff, it is common for larger babies to have trouble transitioning outside of the womb and have the same issues he was having. Bobby and my parents were all able to spend about 30 minutes with him before he was being evaluated by the NICU staff. The NICU doctor determined it would be best for him to go to the NICU. It was so hard because once he was in the NICU, we weren't allowed to hold him. Basically we could only touch the top of his head and bottom of his feet.

Funny story about this picture. My parents and I were down in the NICU and Bobby was in charge of the girls. Aubrey and Bobby fell asleep. I had texted Bobby after being downstairs for awhile and after there was no response, we decided to head upstairs to check on the situation. Luckily, Natalie was happily occupied by the iPad while Bobby and Aubrey napped!  

How I de-stressed Saturday night after dealing with the NICU doctor...

The next 3 days were the longest days ever!  Never was I concerned about him not getting better, more concerned about how long it would take him to get better. He was hooked up to a heart rate, respiration, oxygen saturation monitor and had to have heel sticks before every feeding, plus have an IV with glucose to maintain a good blood sugar. We were finally able to hold him with all of his wires once his respirations were at normal levels, which was so great!  He was also on a 3-4 hour nursing schedule, so I would go from the 3rd floor to the 1st floor 8-9 times a day/night to feed him. He also had to have a blood culture done to rule out infection, but we wouldn't have the results until 48 hours from the time they took it. So, as a precaution, he was given 2 different antibiotics through his IV. By Saturday morning, he was completely weaned off his IV and antibiotics due to stable blood sugars and a negative blood culture, which means he didn't have an infection. Then, we had to wait 24 hours per MD orders to make sure his sugars stayed within normal levels with feedings only since the IV was discontinued.

So, basically, by Saturday they were only doing heel sticks to check his blood sugars which were always between 54 and 77. From what I read, above 40 is normal in newborns, but per the nurses, the NICU doctors want it to be above 50, except the crazy, conservative doctor we got stuck with Saturday and Sunday. Bobby and I wanted to be able to take him up to our room Saturday night so our family and girls could actually be with him instead of only being allowed a short amount of time and we could only have 3 visitors at a time which included Bobby or I each time. By Saturday, I was an emotional mess and was over being at the hospital and just wanted my baby home. I could have done the heel sticks with no difficulty at all, especially considering my medical background. I was also so sick of hearing the beeping and alarms going off constantly whenever we held him because they are so sensitive with how he was positioned. I know many families are there much longer, but with all the labs and blood sugars showing normal levels, I couldn't understand (still don't) why we were still in the NICU. So, on Saturday evening (when Austin's blood sugars had been within normal limits all day long), the nurse did his blood sugar check which revealed a 54 (which is normal), but the conservative NICU doctor that knew nothing about us decided we couldn't have him upstairs with us because she wanted it to be 60. I was so furious!!!  I know she may have had his best interest at heart, but he had passed EVERYTHING he was asked to pass.

So, the next morning (Sunday) was his final blood sugar check to determine if he would be able to go home that day. It was 67!!!!  I was so happy. However, now we still had to wait for him to be circumcised by the OB doctor, which happened to be my own OB that I had seen all throughout my pregnancy. So, we waited and waited and waited some more from 12:30-4:30 until he finally showed up to circumcise Austin. Luckily our nurse had paged him because he had "forgot" about our circumcision and had gone home. I was so mad because when he discharged me the day before, he knew Austin was on his list to circumcise and chose to wait until Sunday to do it instead of doing it on Saturday when it was originally scheduled. Needless to say, I will be following up with the doctor that did my delivery and will never see my OB ever again!  Then, we had to wait 2 hours before we could go home so they could make sure he wasn't still bleeding after 2 hours. Thank goodness he wasn't because I think they probably would have had to restrain me and put me on the psychiatric floor!

What an emotional roller coaster! We made it home before 7p on Sunday 9/20! The girls were SO excited to finally be able to hold him and love on him!  I barely took any pictures in the hospital, so I'm sure we'll get plenty of pictures here at home. I just love having him home and seeing the girls interact with him, it's so sweet!

Never did I imagine Austin's birth would go the way it did, but we are so happy to be home with our boy! My pregnancy was pretty textbook with no complications. I'm not sure where all 10 lbs of him fit?! Aubrey calls him 'my baby' and loves to sing songs to him! Natalie has enjoyed holding him. Both girls get so excited when he is awake and has his eyes open!  They have both been sharing their toys with him, but I'm sure that will change once he can actually play with their toys...haha!  This little guy is surrounded by so much love!  He won't be spoiled at all! ;)

Bobby did a great job with trying to spread himself amongst all of us. He was able to spend time with the girls, me, and Austin. He was great support and it helped that a lot of the nursing staff in the NICU, Labor/Delivery, and Postpartum know him from working there. He was always great about asking the nurses questions or trying to get information on our little guy!  I love him so much and I could not ask for a better husband or father to our babies!

I also could not ask for better parents! They unselfishly took over the responsibility of our girls (which can be so exhausting) while we dealt with our hospital stay!

I am also blessed with awesome friends that stop everything they are doing in their busy days just to come help cheer me up while in the hospital. We have so many friends and family that prayed for us throughout our stay and those prayers were definitely heard and answered. Thank you everyone for taking time to think about us during this difficult, happy event in our lives!

Went on our first walk today!

My boys! Is this not the most precious thing ever?!  I think I have multiple pictures over the years of Bobby asleep with one of our babies asleep on his chest! 

So far, Austin is a super chill baby! He's a perfect fit to our family and we all love him so much!