I am Jade’s husband, Matt. Since many key parts of Jade’s experience giving birth are a blur for her and since she seems right now to be perpetually feeding Andi, we decided to give me a crack at telling our story of Andi’s arrival into our lives.
After more than one doctor told us our baby would come early, and the last ultrasound indicated she might be more than eight pounds (which freaked Jade out!), as Christmas approached Jade and I were anxiously waiting for something to happen. She was having contractions intermittently throughout the day, but nothing was happening even though Jade’s due date was January 1st. Finally, we scheduled with our doctor for Jade to be induced on the evening of January 5th and we resigned ourselves to waiting.
And then, on Saturday January 3rd, we were reminded of the Yiddish saying, “Man plans and God laughs.” As we were eating a late breakfast, Jade got up, screamed, “Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God” and ran into the bathroom where her water broke just like in the movies, ie. with a big splash and a scream (and an Irish Jig by me in the background)!
Jade, my dad, and I then frantically ran around our apartment gathering what we needed, including Jade’s hospital bag and 19 different pink baby outfits ;), and then rushed over to the hospital. As soon as we got to the labor and delivery unit, Jade and I said a prayer, and then began the waiting game.
The nurse hooked Jade up to the monitors and we got acclimated to our delivery room. After the initial excitement passed, we started to sense that it was going to be a while. Thankfully, Jade’s two sisters Niki and Tori, and best friend Kelsey, and my dad, all came to the hospital to sit with us and provide support. Jade had steady contractions for about 6 hours, and then the pain became unbearable and she decided to get an epidural. While it helped with the pain, it caused Jade to start shaking uncontrollably, which seemed to be almost as bad as the pain of contractions.
Unfortunately, Jade was not dilating quickly, and around 12:00tshe spiked a fever and Andi’s heart rate jumped, both signs of infection. The doctor tried to get Jade’s fever in check, but ultimately was unable to and suggested we do an emergency C-section. As they were preparing to wheel Jade into the operating room, her parents arrived after a rushed 12 hour drive from North Carolina and were able to give Jade a hug and kiss before she went in to surgery.
Frankly, it all happened so fast at this point that I think Jade and I did not really have much of an opportunity to get scared or anxious as were going in. The surgery started at 2:00 and Anderson Rose Scott was born at 2:06 am, weighing 6 pounds 14 ounces (so much for the predictive value of late term ultrasounds!). I could tell that the physical pressure of pulling the baby out was incredibly painful for Jade, and my heart ached to see that. Then Andi was delivered, and she was not making any sounds, which obviously scared us. Turns out, she had Meconium and her cord wrapped around her neck twice. The doctors and nurses were able to get Andi breathing, and after cleaning her up, brought her over to Jade’s face to say hello for the first time. Jade immediately started crying tears of joy and said, “I never thought I would have a baby of my own,” which naturally caused me to choke up and cry. Candidly, after everything Jade (and to a lesser extent I) went through to get pregnant, my happiest moment was not so much seeing the baby for the first time but seeing Jade see the baby for the first time. The nurses then rushed Andi to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Jade was transferred to our recovery room where we waited for an update on Andi.
About 3 hours later, I was allowed to visit Andi in the NICU and was incredibly relieved to find out she was doing good but would need to stay in the NICU for observation and IV antibiotics for a few days. As I walked back to Jade’s recovery room to update her, here is how I felt: https://vine.co/v/OnHjg757MMg .
What followed over the next few days were countless visits to the NICU with Jade to see and feed the baby, breast feeding acclimation, struggling with carpal tunnel syndrome, and rounds of antibiotics for Jade, washed down by hotdogs and other pregnancy forbidden foods. Turns out Jade got an infection in her placenta from her water breaking and being in labor for such a long time. Luckily it was on Jade's side of the placenta and not on Andi's. Jade got SO swollen. Looking back it was funny but at the time Jade was so worried about it she was constantly asking the nurse if it was normal. She literally looked like she had on a fat suit from the knees down. Thankfully that went down pretty quickly after being home. On Wednesday, January 7, Jade dressed Andi up in her finest outfit and we took her home.
We are excited and hopeful and nervous as we embark on this new chapter in our lives, but at this time we are more than anything thankful. We are thankful to God for the blessing that Andi is and that she is healthy. We are thankful for Dr. Fahey and Dr. Noel, and the labor and delivery nurses, and the recovery nurses, and amazing NICU doctors and nurses at Broward Health Medical Center. We are thankful to our parents, siblings, and friends for their love and support. And we are thankful to you, Jade’s blog readers and Instagram followers. As strange as it may sound, your support and interest in our IVF process and pregnancy was an incredibly meaningful and powerful positive force in our lives. So, we thank you. Many more pics to follow . . . .
I am so thankful Matt was able to write this for me because it does all seem like a blur to me. I get so emotional just thinking about it. Things did not go how we expected them to but I wouldn't change it for the world. I am just so happy that after everything we have a happy healthy baby that I love more then anything.
I am planning on starting to blog again soon. It had been so nice to be able to take time to just enjoy and spend time with Andi. It goes by so fast. Also I am still struggling with carpel tunnel so that has made it hard to do a lot of things and we are still just trying to get in a routine and figure everything out. Also recovering from a c section has made things a little more challenging then I expected. But I am really starting to feel better. I just can not wait to be able to lift things. Hopefully by next week I will have some outfits posted. Thank you all so much for following along and for all of the support. It means so much. And I can't wait to share her newborn pictures soon!
I am so thankful Matt was able to write this for me because it does all seem like a blur to me. I get so emotional just thinking about it. Things did not go how we expected them to but I wouldn't change it for the world. I am just so happy that after everything we have a happy healthy baby that I love more then anything.
I am planning on starting to blog again soon. It had been so nice to be able to take time to just enjoy and spend time with Andi. It goes by so fast. Also I am still struggling with carpel tunnel so that has made it hard to do a lot of things and we are still just trying to get in a routine and figure everything out. Also recovering from a c section has made things a little more challenging then I expected. But I am really starting to feel better. I just can not wait to be able to lift things. Hopefully by next week I will have some outfits posted. Thank you all so much for following along and for all of the support. It means so much. And I can't wait to share her newborn pictures soon!
