Brady Walker Anderson
Born on June 28, 2014
7 lb, 13 oz and 20.5 inches long
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| This photo was taken shortly after Brady entered the world.
I have been struggling to write this post for the last two weeks. (Maybe it's because I have a newborn that needs most of my attention, who knows.) But, in true mama form I have rallied and made time to capture all of the significant details of the best night of our lives.
Friday, June 27 was actually a great day. I hadn't had a single contraction. For those of you that have followed my pregnancy you know that I had been having Braxton Hicks on and off for almost two weeks. I wasn't at a breaking point yet, but one thing I did know was that I REFUSED to go to the hospital with false labor again.
Brian left for work around 5 pm. I was kind lonely and mostly bored so what better way to spend my time but to go shopping. I hit up the local Old Navy. I decided that nothing in the women's section was going to fit and buying anything maternity this far along was pointless. Sooooo, I left in a worse mood than when I had gotten there. I grabbed a bite to eat (McDonald's cheeseburger and coke: my go-to pregnancy meal) and headed home. (YES! Things are super bumpin' on a Friday night when you are alone and 41 weeks pregnant.) Around 8 pm Brian's mom and dad insisted on coming over to take the dogs for a walk and check in. His mom said she had a feeling that I needed someone to stay with me. I told them that I felt great and that they were welcome to stop in, but that I didn't need anyone to stay. Well this ended up being partially true...
Around 9 pm Brian's parents walked in the door. At the same exact time I had my first contraction of the day. WHOA! The difference was this contraction was way harder than any other contraction I had had in the past few weeks. In the back of my head I was somewhat excited because this could be it. However, the thought of being sent home again still lingered. I decided to shake it off. I did ask Brian's mom to stay for a little bit to see if anything else happened. She camped out on the couch and I headed to our room to time the contractions. Sure enough they began shortly after, but were totally bearable and were at crazy intervals. Nothing regular.
I came upstairs and showed the timer to Brian's mom. She thought it couldn't hurt to just call the triage nurse and see what her thoughts were. Because I was already at 4cm at the last doctor's visit we thought maybe, just maybe, they would keep me. I called triage and the nurse said that I didn't sound like I was in active labor, but she would stay on the phone with me for 15 to 20 minutes and we would see if anything progressed. We chit-chatted about random stuff related to my pregnancy. About ten minutes in another hard core contraction hit. I could barely talk to the nurse. She was great despite my apparent agony! She was so calming and let me just breathe through it without saying a word. Not even a minute later I had another one and then another one. I could tell the nurse was a bit panicky. She told me to find my ride and get to Presbyterian Hospital ASAP.
Instantly I knew there wasn't going to be any laboring at the house. We had to go NOW. I drug my duffle bag upstairs, fell on the floor and told Anne to call Brian because I didn't think I was going to be able to. Contractions were coming strong and hard every 30 seconds to 1 minute. She called and it was such a God thing that Brian just so happened to be right near the phone. I had previously worried about him being somewhere hard to reach in the plant. However, he was taking his dinner break and was easily reached. He said he would be home in 10 minutes. They were the longest 10 minutes of my life! I literally layed in our foyer with my duffle bag the whole time screaming "When the hell is he going to be home!"
I am pretty sure I freaked Brian out looking like a possessed woman as he entered the doorway. He grabbed our stuff and we were off. I don't really remember the 25 minute drive to uptown, Charlotte. The next thing I really do remember is being in triage and the nurse checking me saying that my contractions were super close together, but that I was still only at a 4. This was around 11:30 pm. She wanted us to go walk for an hour and come back to see if I had dilated any further. I was pretty discouraged. I knew that if I didn't dilate that I would most likely be sent home. I couldn't fathom the idea of being in this much pain for much longer.
The longest walk ever began. We made the same loop over and over, all the while every 5 minutes I would ask how much longer we had. Brian was amazing! He was so encouraging and knew exactly how to push me without pissing me off. It was the perfect balance of coaching and love that I needed. Around 1 am we made our way back to triage. I was checked and in my opinion I don't think I really dilated at all, but the nurse said I was "just over 4". She called the doctor and was told to admit me. THANK GOD!
Things moved so quickly after that. My orders for an epidural were put in and my IV fluid bag was started. By 1:30 am I was officially transferred into the nicest L & D room. The lights were dimmed and the hallway was super private. We also were alone with just one nurse, Ashley, who was simply amazing. She was around our age and so personable. I felt like I was hanging out with a friend. It made the pain a bit more bearable.
The anesthesiologist had a few other patients before me, but our nurse told us it shouldn't be much longer. This was around 2 am. At this point I asked her when she thought our baby was going to be born. She said due to us getting the epidural it would probably be around noon later that day. I began to wrap my head around laboring for another 10 hours!
Finally, around 2:30 am the anesthesiologist showed up. As he was starting the process my water broke. (Seriously the most disgusting feeling ever!) He asked the nurse if she wanted to check my progress and she said it had only an been hour since I was at 4 cm. Plus she wanted to wait until I wasn't in pain to check me again. By 3:15 am my epidural had kicked in and I was LOVING it! It was seriously a great epidural. I could still move my legs and feel the pressure of contractions, but no pain! I was even allowed to have all of the popsicles I wanted! Say WHAAAATTT?!?!
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Around 3:30 am Ashley said she was going to check me. She was hoping I was at a 6. I watched her face as she checked and I could instantly see the shock. She said I was a full 9 cm dilated and the baby's head was right there! Sure enough you could see a head FULL of hair that was perfectly shaped into a mohawk. She ran off to page the on-call doctor. Literally minutes later Dr. Belle, another doctor from the practice, came in. She was so excited and energetic (not to mention she had the coolest Jamaican accent) that it made us that much more excited and energetic. I felt so empowered in that moment. She said that she wanted us to do some practice pushes with Ashley and that she would be back in about an hour to deliver our baby! I couldn't believe it. We had been at the hospital for less than 5 hours!
From 4:00 am to 4:30 am we did a couple sets of practice pushes. Ashley said I was doing great and that she wanted me to rest for about half an hour while we waited on Dr. Belle to return. The three of us just hung out and talked. She had Brian and I tell her the story of how we met and what brought us to Charlotte during our engagement. It was the most perfect conversation before bringing our son into the world.
At 5:00 am Dr. Belle returned and said I was fully dilated, fully effaced and baby boy was a station 1 ready to go. I pushed for exactly one hour and at 6:07 am Brady Walker entered the world with a little fuss and full head of hair. He was laid directly on my chest for an hour of skin to skin while Ashley cleaned him up and the pediatric nurse did all of the possible assessments.
We were so in love from the moment we laid eyes on him. Not only do I understand more fully the love my parents have for me, but I have somewhat of a better understanding of how much Christ loves us.
We were given alone time with Brady for about 2 hours after delivery. Both sets of grandparents stopped in to say hi. Then we were transported to recovery where we spent the next two days welcoming visitors and showing off our little guy.
I know that we have said this quite a few times, but Brian, Brady and I are so extremely grateful for everyone that has loved on us. We had so many wonderful visitors at the hospital and home. A HUGE thank you to our best friends Austyn and Paul for the meals they provided. (I am eating the spaghetti with Austyn's homemade sauce as I type this and it is fantastic.) Also, we can't thank our e-group from church enough. All of the couples brought over meals and gift cards. It was so nice to be loved on and taken care of. This is one of the many reasons we love that group of people!
Brian and I also want to say thank you to both of our parents. All four of them were ready and willing to help with whatever we needed and we can't express enough the gratitude we have for them during such a wonderful transition.
Lastly, to our precious baby boy, Brady. You have changed our world and we can't thank you enough. You have been such a sweet tempered boy and have really taken it easy on us. (Much easier than we anticipated.) We love you to the moon and back. Daddy and Mama can't way to see what amazing things you do with your life!
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