Monday, November 7, 2011

My Life: Three Years Ago

Today is my son's 3rd Birthday!  Happy Birthday, Drew!
Check out this 3 year old STUD!


On a rainy, Friday night in November, 2008,  Drew joined the world - filling our hearts with love and making our family complete.  We are so proud to call him ours!

I had a really easy pregnancy with Drew:  working full-time, hitting the elliptical four days a week, and carting Bailey to all her practices and lessons.

Bailey really wanted to go to Walt Disney World for Fall Break that year.  We had never taken her and now she was seven years old - the perfect age for Disney!  BUT... I was pregnant.  Oops.  I guess I should have planned that out better.

But, haven't you heard?  I'm Superwoman.  So we flew down to Orlando for a week in September.

Drew's first trip to Disney World.  Think he will remember it?


The first day went great!  

"It's a little warm but that breeze is nice."
"It feels so good to get some exercise." 
"Oh, look!  Bailey is meeting Cinderella!!"
*wiping sentimental tear*   "I'm so glad that we decided to come to Disney World!"

I was a little more tired on the second day...  
"Honey, what's the temperature?  90 degrees?! You've got to be kidding me."  
"Brian, will you take Bailey on the next couple of rides and I'll just wait for you here?"  
*tearing up from exhaustion*  "Maybe we could go in a little early today?"

By the third day, it was getting ugly. 
"My back is KILLING ME!  I can't even get out of bed!  How am I supposed to walk for 11 hours if I can't even get out of bed?" 
"It feels like a freaking oven out here!  How do people live in this God forsaken place?!"
"I don't give a crap if Mickey Mouse spoon-feeds me Rocky Road ice cream, I'm not walking all the way to that tent!"
*sobbing*  "Why did I come to Disney World when I was pregnant??  WHY was I so stupid?!  WHY?!"

By the fourth day, I rented a Rascal to wheel around the park.

"This is the best fifty bucks that I have ever spent."  

This is on the first day.... when I could still smile. 


So here's the thing about going to Walt Disney World during the last trimester of your pregnancy: It can take a pregnancy from good to bad faster than you can say, "M-I-C... K-E-Y... M-O-U-S-E".

Shortly after returning to Georgia, I started having mild chest pains.  Normal pregnancy stuff, right?  Then, over time, the pain grew more intense.  So I called my OB's office and informed them (careful not to sound like a crazy pregnant lady), and the nurse advised me to have a physician check it out... just to be safe.

Cool.

I went to an Urgent Care facility down the street from my office.  The doctor came in to examine me.  He listened carefully to my heart.  He looked me in the eye, and he said, "Let's do an EKG."

Cool.

Thirty seconds after the EKG, he came back in the examination room and said, "Mrs. Hohenbery, you are dangerously close to having a heart attack.  We are going to call the hospital and have a cardiologist meet you."

Huh?  I wasn't counting on that.

A heart attack?  See - that's impossible.  I'm a healthy 34 year old pregnant woman.  I mean, I just walked 50 miles at Disney Wor.....  OHHHHH, I just walked 50 miles at Disney World....  Gotcha.

Mail Baby Announcements to: 
Mom and Dad
Brian's Parents
Walt Disney

That also marked the day that I had to say goodbye to my awesome, perfect pregnancy. Now I was stuck on bedrest with heart monitors and daily medication.  Pfft.

My OB scheduled me for a Cesarean delivery on November 26th - well before my December 3rd due date.
I was a little nervous about having surgery, but it couldn't be worse than the natural childbirth that I had with Bailey, right?  (And.... it wasn't.)

I told Brian that I was disappointed about scheduling the delivery, though.  It took all the excitement out of calling him at work and telling him that I was in labor.

Drew must have been listening because he gave me my wish.  I went into labor on the morning of November 7th.

Arriving to Northside Hospital. 


And although it was exciting, we were very concerned about the health of our baby boy.  It was almost a month early!

I arrived to Northside Hospital and they started the epidural.  I had labored long enough and my heart was already acting goofy.  Stupid, dumb heart.

But guess what happens when you take a borderline heart attack and you add a dramatic drop in blood pressure from the epidural?  Medical disaster.  I'm talking Grey's Anatomy season finale stuff.

I was aware that every monitor and alarm from here to there was going off in my hospital room, but was I unable to speak.  It was like a real life horror movie - where the evil monster is chasing you but you can't scream.  I think my eyes told quite a story, though.  Like, HELLOOOO?!  AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO HEARS THOSE ALARMS?!  MOVE, PEOPLE, MOVE!

The surgical team ran down the hallway as they pushed my bed toward the operating room.  Brian was chasing after us, throwing scrubs on over his clothes.    

By the time Brian walked into the room and kissed me, the doctor said, "Happy Birthday, Drew!"  And there he was!  A healthy 6 pound 13 ounce little mound of Hohenbery cuteness!

A quick glimpse of Andrew Liam before we went our separate ways.

As a precaution, they took Drew to the NICU, but he was doing great.  He took almost two ounces of formula right after his first bath.  I'm surprised he didn't ask for a Big Mac and fries.

Drew's first bath that I missed.  But I'm not bitter.  Much. 


Me, on the other hand, I got carted off to the cardiac unit - the place for real patients with real medical problems.  I didn't get to go to the maternity ward with all the other happy new parents doping over their sweet newborns.

This is me, my sisters and my daughter, Bailey, after Drew's birth.  Notice who is missing?  Yep.  The star of the show - Drew!  Almost heart attacks suck. 


The next day, they released me from the cardiac unit, and I was able to hold my son for the first time.  What an amazing moment that was!

This is what my dreams always looked like...


 Man, I can't wait to hold this story over Drew's head some day.  As in,
"Mom, can I stay out past curfew tonight?"  
"Drew, do you know EVERYTHING that I went through to get you here?!?"


Happy Birthday to my handsome, brown-eyed boy!  I love you more today than I did yesterday and I will love you even more tomorrow.