Happy Birthday Little Man

Andrew is 2. I can’t believe it!!
I am a planner through and through; well Andrew threw us for a loop. Abby was planned, Andrew was not. I found out I was pregnant with Andrew the day before Abby’s 2nd birthday on Friday the 13th (that should have been a sign as to what was headed our way) I will admit that I was not jumping up and down with excitement, in fact I called my sister at 11:00 at night crying, she has since repaid me by called me at 6:45 in the morning to tell me she was pregnant. I have always said that mom had something to do with Andrew, he was born a year and a week after her funeral, talk about bitter sweet. Marty and I were not going to have any more babies because I had such a hard time laboring and delivering Abby and we were scared of me getting Pre-eclampsia again. I talked to my doctor and she gave me a 3% chance of getting PE again, I could handle those odds. Again, Andrew defied all the odds and at 14 weeks my blood pressure started creeping up. My BP stayed decent until about 32 weeks, and then it really started climbing. At 34 weeks I was taken out of work and put on bed rest, there is no such thing as bed rest with a 2 year old by the way. I start seeing the doctor twice a week, Tuesdays was my biophysical ultrasound and Thursdays was my non stress test. I had a great doctor that took excellent care of me, very proactive. At 38 weeks I go in for my non stress test and my BP is way up, I get sent to the hospital for monitoring. While there my doctor decides that tomorrow is the day. We are to be back at the hospital at 9:00 the next morning to be induced. Let me tell you how hard it was saying bye to Abby the next morning. Marty and I knew what was going to happen but the poor baby had no idea, we were about to turn her life upside down and she just happily kissed and hugged us goodbye.
We get to the hospital and my biggest fear was having to be put on Magnesium Sulfate again (that stuff is the enemy himself) I was able to avoid Mag for 9 hours but Dr. Z said she just didn’t feel comfortable without it anymore (Mag is used to prevent seizures in women with PE) I bawled because I knew what it did to me with Abby. Dr. Z knew my feelings and started me with a very low dose thankfully. When I got my epidural, it lowered my BP so much that I had to be given a shot epinephrine to raise it back up (yes we had been fighting high BP the whole pregnancy) It was a wild and crazy ride. We sent the family home (except for my sister) at about 11:00 pm because I was stuck at 5 cm. My labor nurse came in at 11:35 and said that we were going to have a baby by midnight, WHAT?!? Marty calls his mom and tells her that she better get back to the hospital if she wanted to see her grandson being born. I wasn’t convinced that he would be born by midnight because I pushed for 3 hours with Abby, but I was excited to finally get to that point. Well, Andrew was born at 11:47 pm, 13 minutes before midnight and just minutes after Jeannie and Gidget get there. He weighed 7 pounds 12 ounce and was 19 ¼ inches long, 2 weeks early. Our life changed for the better yet again at 11:47 on April 8th 2005.
I think back to what a blessing and a pleasure he has been. Had there not been an Andrew, I wouldn’t hear “mommy, get me” in the monitor in the mornings, or get sweet slobbery kisses, or have a mommy’s boy. Oh don’t get me wrong, I know what’s in store for us, he is Marty’s son after all. But he is just so darn cute and it melts my heart to see him and Abby playing (nicely) together. We might not have meant to but we did a good thing. Happy Birthday sweet boy, ok a day late.