Andrew Thomas Taylor

On September 29, 2014, we happily (and quickly!) welcomed our third baby boy, Andrew Thomas, into our family! (I haven't blogged in forever, but I can't not post his birth story to the world wide web.). For weeks and possibly months I had been having braxton hicks contractions. They were getting stronger the week or two leading up to Andrew's birth, but that was to be expected since I was approaching my due date of October 3rd. I had a good night sleep the night before he was born, which I hadn't had in quite some time. I was woken up at about 6:00 that morning with a pretty painful contraction. I noticed that it was different than the contractions I had been having and mentioned it to Derek. I didn't have another one for about twenty minutes, so I really just thought it could still be a long time before I really went into labor. I had a doctor appointment already scheduled for that morning, so I thought we'd just see what progress if made and what the doctor said. The week before I was 2 cm dilated and had been scheduled for an induction on Wednesday, October 1st because of my gestational diabetes (oh yeah....I had it again this time around). As the morning went on I had several more painful contractions that still weren't very close together. Derek asked if I wanted him to stay home from work. I told him no, and he went ahead and got dressed in his suit and ready for work. Right before it was time for him to leave he made the last minute decision to stay home and take me to my doctor appointment. At my appointment it was determined that I was 4 cm. Dr. Bonpain could tell I was in some pain and asked how close my contractions were. I honestly didn't know. They were so irregular (at least I thought) I hadn't been timing them. I thought maybe 10 to 15 minutes apart. She decided to put me on the fetal monitor to get a better idea. I was actually having big contractions every 6 minutes and smaller ones in between the big ones. Since I was positive for group B strep and wanted an epidural the doctor decided to send me on to the hospital. I hadn't finished packing my hospital bag and was hungry for lunch. Since they thought it would still be a while before "Itty Bitty" (our nickname for him for 8 months) arrived I was told to grab some lunch and go finish packing my bag and then make my way to the hospital.  I wasn't in a huge hurry. We still had to figure out what to do with Zachary and Joshua when he got out of school. Our sweet friend Becky happily volunteered to take on the boys, but there was one problem.  Her husband had her car at work almost an hour away. We came up with a plan to go pick her up and take her to our house to get Derek's car and send her off with Zachary. It took a little longer than we expected to do all that, so by the time we got to the hospital it had been two hours since I left my doctors office. I still wasn't worried because I thought I had plenty of time before Andrew came. As we were checking in at the hospital my contractions started getting stronger.  The first thing the lady at registration said to me was, "we were expecting you a long time ago." Oops. The labor and delivery nurse said the same thing to me. Oops. I could tell as the nurse was getting me hooked up and asking the gazillion questions they have to ask about your medical history and such that my contractions were really getting closer and stronger. I made sure to tell her I wanted an epidural so she could go ahead and order that so we could get the ball rolling. I was in PAIN! It was crazy to me how sudden my contractions seemed to change. Not long after the nurse left my room I started feeling weird. I told Derek that I thought I was getting ready to pass out. The next thing I remember was him and the nurse calling my name and realizing I was wearing an oxygen mask. It's important to remember when you're in pain to continue to breathe because you and your baby need oxygen....apparently I had forgotten. After wearing the oxygen mask for a little bit she let me take it off with the promise to breathe on my own. I asked if I could get up to use the bathroom. She unhooked me and sent Derek and me on our way. There was no way I could walk there on my own I was hurting so badly. While on my way back to bed I had a couple more bad contractions...all within a minute of each other...and realized how much better (ha!) it felt standing up during them. I told the nurse I was going to stand there for a little bit. She walked out of the room and I immediately started feeling pressure. I told Derek about it and with mild panic told him I thought the baby was coming. He started yelling for the nurse to come back in. I struggled to get back in bed, and she came in to check me. It was declared that I was 10 cm and his head was "right there". She quickly went to get Dr. Maydew. I freaked out realizing I was about to deliver a baby WITH NO DRUGS! Then the urge to push came...while the doctor and nurse were still taking my bed apart and preparing for delivery. I couldn't control the urge and began pushing and my sac of water EXPLODED. It seriously was like a balloon that had been squeezed and burst open. I think it covered the doctor, barely missing Derek. I pushed through a few more contractions, and our beautiful baby boy arrived at 3:15pm, just six minutes (I think) after I started pushing and an hour and 45 minutes after we arrived at the hospital. We had been in the labor and delivery room for a grand total of one hour and 30 minutes. Andrew was just perfect! I on the other hand was in shock I think. While the doctor continued on with all of the after labor things you have to do to a mother I started feeling lightheaded again. They began pumping some kind of fluid into me and putting ice cold cloths all over my face and head. It woke me up that's for sure! My body shook uncontrollably for a solid hour after that. We got me all situated and settled in at hotel WakeMed to begin getting to know our newest bundle of boy...I mean joy! He had lots of visitors and is one loved little guy! We praise God for the gift of life He has entrusted to us!

Andrew Thomas Taylor

9/29/2014 ~ 3:15pm ~ 6 lb 10 oz ~ 19.5 in