Monday, November 3rd, 2014: Since I had been on heparin throughout my pregnancy, they scheduled my induction at 39 weeks to prevent unwanted complications. We left Mimi at the house to get Anna and Jack ready and to school and arrived at the hospital bright and early (5:30 am). By 7, I had finished the admission process, had my IV in, and the pitocin was started. I was GBS+, so Nurse Shelma gave me my first dose of antibiotic and informed us that I had to get a second dose in at 11 before I delivered. After a while, the contractions got a little stronger, so I got my epidural around 10:30 so I would be ready to go after my second antibiotic dose. When it finished, I was only 6 cm so they ramped up my pitocin to get the party started!
My sister, Sarah, was getting ready to start back to work after her maternity leave for Cam, so she used the day as a test day for the kids at daycare and came to hang out with Will and me as we sat waited for things to progress. I loved having her there with me (and her comic relief to keep us entertained). She had an ob/gyn appointment that afternoon so she wanted Drew to hurry up before she had to leave! My sweet Deddy headed up from Wilmington that morning and came in to hang out for a bit when he got there.
I was so excited because Dr. Phillip Ponder had delivered both Anna and Jack and he was scheduled for deliveries on the day of my induction!! What are the chances that out of a practice of eight OBs, that the same one would deliver all three of my babies?
Well, around 1:30 pm I began to feel uncomfortable and more than the normal pressure I had been feeling with contractions. Nurse Shelma had been busy with another mom next door who was a bit ahead of me and I didn't want to call her in unnecessarily, so I asked Will to get me a glove and I checked myself (such the nurse, I know!). I think Will was quite disturbed. Sure enough, I could feel little Drew's head!!! Will went to let Nurse Shelma know. She came back in with a strange look on her face and I had to explain myself. She said she had never had a patient check themselves before--leave it to me! She told us that Dr. Ponder had just been called down to the OR for an emergency c-section, so we had the option of waiting (YEAH RIGHT!) or they could call someone to run over from the office. I was bummed about messing up the streak, but did not want to wait. Sarah knew she was going to have to leave the room for me to deliver anyway, so she went ahead to her appointment so she could run back and meet Drew.
In a bit, Dr. Melanie Schwartz rushed in from the office to deliver sweet Drew. This was divine intervention because she had been the one to adopt me as we started on our journey for "one more" after having three miscarriages. She coordinated the plan with the high risk OBs after settling on a diagnosis of anti-phospholipid antibody syndrome (a clotting disorder) and monitored my heparin throughout the pregnancy. She was a HUGE reason we were there at that moment so it was only fitting for her to deliver Drew and share in the celebration. The ironic part was that Dr. Schwartz was the OB that Sarah was supposed to see so she was held up at the office and ultimately had to be seen by another provider. When they told her that Dr. Schwartz had to run to the hospital for a delivery, Sarah knew who they were talking about!!!
After only three good pushes, Andrew James Hege was welcomed into this world at 3:06 pm. Mimi was able to tell Anna when she got off the bus that Drew had been born five minutes earlier! He was the sweetest, most perfect thing and his daddy and I cried tears of joy and relief that he was here and everything and everybody was ok. It had been a long 10 months of praying and worrying and hoping and waiting. It was all over and Drew was here!!! Our family was complete!
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| Proud Mommy |
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| He's finally here! |
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| Andrew James Hege |
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| So full of joy and relief! |
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| He was much smaller than we expected!! |
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| Proud Daddy |
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| The excitement hit! |
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| Meeting Papa for the first time. |
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| Papa and his namesake. |
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| Pops and Nannie get their first glimpse. |
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| Proud grandparents! |
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| Sarah made it back!! |
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| Our sweet little man! |
Once we got settled in our new room,
Mimi brought Anna and Jack up to meet their new little brother!
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| Love at first sight! |
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| Our third little miracle! |
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| Big sister |
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| Big brother |
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| Aunt E and the kids watching Drew get his first bath! |
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| Our new family of 5!! |
