Baby's Journey

Days and hours passed and our little baby was cozy in Gretchen's belly. Our doctor appt. on Thursday Dec. 3rd, eight days past the due date, showed no changes as baby was settled in. While it was frustrating news for eager new parents, we had to take the news in stride and began to accept that we would wait until Dec. 8th for a scheduled induction.

After a mellow Friday morning at home, and a trip to the movies, Gretchen decided to fit in some Christmas shopping. While Andy studied for finals at home, he received a call from Gretchen saying, "Um, I think something just happened." At about 3p.m., Gretchen was walking to the car in the Target parking lot when she thought her bags of water broke. Andy calmly told her to come home and proceeded to call the doctor to let them know what happened. Slightly blindsided, he finished packing his hospital bag and took a deep breath! The doctor advised us to head to the hospital. Gretchen was checked into the hospital about 5p.m. on Friday Dec. 4th.

Despite her water breaking, still no changes had taken place and little baby was happy and cozy. Closely monitored by the nurses and doctor, it was decided that Gretchen would begin a slow induction overnight to start the labor process. At midnight, a low dose of pitocin was begun and parents struggled to sleep in excitement. After a few short hours of sleep, we arose to intense labor pains, but baby was still happy inside.

As the labor pains intensified and the chance to rest between contractions diminished, Gretchen was working hard to move baby to the outside world. After 12 hours of laboring, a trip to the jacuzzi, pacing the halls, and different positions to maximize comfort, Gretchen needed relief from the excruciating pains; pains she described as more intense than passing kidney stones - as she has passed 3 kidney stones! It was a tough decision, but after talking together, it was best that Gretchen have an epidural to relieve pain and allow her to relax and rest. At noon, she received an epidural and soon after she was able to close her eyes and get the much needed respite she deserved. Over the next few hours, she began to slowly dilate and we were getting hopeful to see our baby soon.

By 9p.m. on Saturday Dec. 5th, Gretchen was fully dilated and was encouraged to begin pushing baby out. She dug deep down and used all of her energy, will, and might to help move baby to the outside world. After 3 hours of active pushing, with contractions every 2-3 minutes, baby was still not moving down. Our doctor was able to determine that his head was angled and tilted in just a way that would have been difficult to deliver him. The doctor actively tried to turn the baby's head to better position him for delivery; she had no luck! Again, we were brought to a big decision...keep pushing, despite very little progress after 3 hours or have a c-section. This was a tough time for both Gretchen and Andy as we never envisioned this in our birth plan. However, we had to remind ourselves that plans change and we have to do what is best for baby and mom. We had our hesitations, but we wanted to meet our baby!

After 41 weeks and 2 days, 24 hours of active labor, and 3 hours of pushing, we decided that having a c-section was in the best interest of getting baby to the outside world. We were truly ready to meet our creation! The idea of a c-section was scary for the new parents-to-be, but we had to put our trust in the doctors! After a long day and a half, with only 3-4 hours of sleep, we were ecstatic to greet Wyatt Thomas Erlandsen at 1:18a.m. on Dec. 6th, 2009! He was 8lbs. 10ozs., 21 1/4 inches long, and had a nice set of lungs! He was such a joy to final meet! After many moments of wonderment during the pregnancy, and guessing which body part was poking out, it was truly a time of peace and excitement to meet our "big" little boy! Gretchen did tremendous through the whole process and was overwhelmed with joy and relief as she listened to his first cries in the world.

After a first full day and night, Gretchen and Wyatt are doing great! He is feeding well and sleeping less! He hardly expels a cry, but when he does it's sweet music to our ears. Due to the c-section we anticipate a few extra days in the hospital with an arrival home of Tuesday or Wednesday.

Wyatt Thomas Erlandsen, meet the world...world, meet Wyatt Thomas Erlandsen!