Andrew David Herren
Born on June 28, 2012 at 12:44 p.m. Weight: 7 lbs 10 oz Length: 20 in
"If you want to make God laugh, tell him about YOUR plans."
Well, the original plan was to meet our son on June 29; however, God had a different plan of his own. On the way home from some pool time on Wednesday (June 27), I began having contractions 3 minutes apart. With this being my first pregnancy, I wasn't quite sure exactly what I was feeling. After speaking with my doctor and my husband, we decided to go ahead to the hospital to make sure everything was okay. We then packed all of our things in the car just in case this was the real thing. Upon arriving at the hospital, I was taken back into an exam room to check the status of my contractions. We then found out I was contracting regularly. I was immediately taken back to a labor and delivery room. I was so excited!! We were finally going to meet our son! We called our families and friends to let them know to head our way. Gran, Papa, Jenna, and David were there with me with smiles on their faces!! Jacob, Mel and the twins immediately got in the car to head our way! :) Papa Joe and Nana made their plans to head our way as well! Our sweet friends, Kelsey, Jimmy and uncle Taylor, were one of the first ones to join us at the hospital. The doctor broke my water at 10:20 p.m. and I was given an epidural at 11:00 p.m. I was very nervous about both procedures; however, they were not as bad as I had expected! I then spent the next 13 hours in labor going from a 3 cm dilation to a 9 cm. My wonderful doctor came in the every hour the last 5 hours checking on me and making sure everything was going as planned. I was pretty pain free for the first 13 hours, but then I began to feel the contractions intensely!!! The last hour of labor was very emotional and exhausting. We finally reached a point where we had to decide what was best for my body and the baby. After much consideration and prayer, it was decided that we were going to have to do an emergency c section. We were all surprised since we had not even began to consider this as an option. With David by my side, I was wheeled to the operating room looking forward to finally meeting our little Andrew. Within 45 minutes, Dr. Presley held up our healthy little boy. We were so relieved to hear his sweet little cry. They washed him off and quickly placed him on my chest to hold and love on. What an incredible feeling I will never forget! I had never seen David so happy and relieved! He was BEAMING with pride!
After finishing up the procedure, I was wheeled to a recovery room where I was supposed to spend 2 hours resting and loving on my son. David was in awe of God's power and love as he stared and admired one of His creations. It was about this time that my body began to suffer difficult effects from the trauma of the day. David began noticing that my blood pressure elevated and my mental status was altered. He quickly brought this to my nurse's attention where she then phoned my doctor to come immediately. It was then determined that I had preeclampsia. I was started on magnesium and taken to an observation room where I would spend the next 24 hours. The medicine was proving to work and I began coming back to reality. It was a very scary time, but we were comforted knowing that God was in control. By Friday night (June 29), I was taken to my final room to recover. It is amazing how much better a shower and clean pair of clothes can make you feel! We were able to keep Andrew in our room the whole time allowing us to bond and grow as a family. We had so much fun welcoming friends and family into our room to meet Andrew. After being at the hospital from June 27 to July 1st, we were ready to head home. With the great progress I had made, we were given the okay to take our son home! :)
The proud dad!!
Our wonderful doctor, Dr. Presley!
Our precious little blessing!
