The Life of Rob & Jess Plus Two: Andrew's Birth Story

Dear Andrew,

Today I plan to document the story of your arrival to this world. It was not very dramatic, stressful or crazy… it ended up being just perfect and everything went just the way it was supposed to go. I have a feeling this is going to be a part of your personality because you are just perfect without all of the drama. You seem to be pretty easy-going and laid-back. In fact, I don’t even think I’ve seen you hard-core cry for me, yet. You just kind of whimper and chomp on your hands when you are ready to wake up and eat. But, I regress… about that day.

On Tuesday, September 27, 2016, Robert and I woke up and got Parker ready for school. DD Nana and T-Pa were here, too. They helped us get Parker ready for school and took him to school while mom and dad got all of our things together for our stay at the hospital. Per usual, whenever there is a big trip, Rob always has to do something last minute and in this case it was he had to go to the bathroom. So, I finished packing the suitcase, packed the cooler with his snacks (dad gets grumpy when he doesn’t have yogurt or his juice), backed the car out of the driveway and reversed it in so the back-end of the car was more adaptable to putting luggage in, loaded the back of the car, and just waited for your dad to finally be ready.

And, we were off by 8:15 AM so that we made it to the hospital by 9. We showed up at registration, gave them our names and headed on back to labor and delivery where they took me to the C-Section prep room. It wasn’t very glamorous—just a large room sectioned off with three similar holding rooms with two chairs and a baby monitor. I changed my clothes and got hooked up to the monitor where we made sure you were doing OK in mom’s tummy. And you were! I got hooked up to my IV and waited on the doctor to be ready.

The doctor showed up at 10 and made sure all was well and said we could go early if an operating room was ready. Your daddy then went down to get him a Dr. Pepper because you were going to be born during lunch and he gets pretty feisty without all three meals a day. Well, while he was gone the doctors came back and said they were ready. I know, of course they did! Perfect timing, this is exactly what happened when your big brother was born… your daddy was getting a Dr. Pepper when it was time to start pushing. So, alas, I had to tell them to wait and your daddy walked in soon after. Thank goodness.

I walked back to the OR and dad went to a different c-section room where he put on his scrubs. They prepped me in the OR and I got my epidural. I had a little trouble getting the epidural to spread high enough over my belly so they had to lay my table all sorts of different ways, at one point I thought I might slide off head first! But, it eventually ended up working right. Then, dad came in and they pulled you out. You gave a healthy scream and were a perfect color. They cleaned you up, got your measurements and then handed you to daddy. It was all very smooth and you were doing great. I got to hold you for a little bit while they worked on sewing me up and dad took you to see DD Nana and T-Pa while they finished working on me, too. I met you and your dad in the recovery room where I got to hold you some more and make sure my pain levels were under control. They were, which was a relief. I knew exactly what to ask for and made sure they gave me plenty of the “good stuff.” I didn’t want what happened with your big brother to happen with you… and it didn’t! I only had to spend about 45 minutes in recovery before they moved us all to our regular room.

So, DD Nana and T-Pa went to pick up Parker from school and get some items from home that I had forgotten (such as the boppy) and met us at the hospital around 3:30 or so that afternoon. As soon as your big brother, Parker, saw you he immediately climbed up on the bed and said, “need that” and kept pointing at you and repeating that same phrase. He was fascinated with you! Once he got to hold you, he loved touching your nose and giving you hugs and kisses. He loves you so much! From then on, when he saw me holding you Parker would look at me with his palms out and say “hold him.” It was a picture perfect moment. Big brother, mom and dad both love you so much!

You did very well at the hospital and things went well with mom, too. We got to go home Friday around lunch time and we’ve been figuring out this whole “family of four” thing ever since. I think it’s going pretty well. T-Pa and DD Nana went home a week after you were born and they were a huge help. We will miss having them here. We are about to embark on our first weekend without any help! Dad’s parents are coming the following weekend I think and Aunt Kate is headed to Dallas. So, it’s just going to be us. It will be fun!

All in all, everything went wonderfully. You are a beautiful baby boy. You weighed 7lbs 10 oz when born and 7 lbs 2 oz when we left the hospital. You were 19.5 inches long, too. Overall, you are very comparable in size to your big brother when he was a newborn. But, I will say… you have a lot of T-Pa’s features on your daddy-sized head. J You also have your momma’s toes (which are also T-Pa’s).

I will post your two-week update next week. We all love you baby boy, always and forever. You feel like you’ve been a part of our family forever and it’s only been a week! You are the perfect addition for us.

I love you, baby boy.