Arie's Birth Story

If you are close to Matt & I, you know we were trying for quite some time to add a brother or sister to our family. In November 2017, we lost our third baby. In August 2018, we lost our fourth. Both were very traumatic for me. I have always been very open about my miscarriages, because they are apart of me.. & those two babies are apart of our family, even if they aren't here physically. I can write another post about that subject in detail at another time. So, needless to say, when I found out in January of 2019 that I was pregnant again, fear was all I felt. God surprised me with Arie. He was meant to be. And our family is smitten.

It has been five and a half months since our little Arie Michael joined our crazy family. Five and a half months of pure bliss.

The week before he was born, I started having contractions, but nothing crazy & they were SO far apart, so it wasn't really anything to worry about. I was feeling pretty large. Much bigger than I was with the twins. I had a checkup on the 14th, and everything was just fine.

We hung out at home that night and around 11pm, I woke up with contractions that were really sporadic, but very strong. We live almost an hour from the hospital, so I was a little nervous. I kept track of them for the next few hours & at 5am, decided to call the hospital. I kissed (and cried) Parker & Peyton while they slept. I couldn't believe my babies, weren't babies anymore. They were about to be big brothers! My emotions were all over. I met my mom at the front door so she could be there with the twins when they woke up...and we were off.

If you know me at all, you know I was panicking that I was going to deliver in the car on the turnpike and Matt would be passed out at the wheel. God bless.

We got to the hospital around 6am and my contractions were strong, but still very sporadic. They ran a few tests & hooked me up to some machines for a few hours. I was contracting & dilated, but not enough to keep me. They were about to send me home, when my last test result came back saying that I was preeclamptic. In just about 2 minutes time, I went from just about to get dressed to come home to being admitted and induced.

LET'S DO THIS.

I have heard of preeclampsia before, but I never really knew what it was or how serious it could be until I was diagnosed. My doctors & nurses assured me I would be fine, & baby would be fine. But, my fears of losing my baby boy ( or my life/both) overcame me. My anxiety is usually pretty bad, but this really sent me over the edge. Matt did his best to keep me calm, but he was visibly worried too. Dang emotions.

I started Pitocin around 10am & everything was going as planned until later in the afternoon. The pain was becoming pretty bad. I was having contractions a few minutes apart, but I wasn't progressing as much as I should have been at that time. They came in to get me ready for my epidural & to break my water. Matt left almost immediately... needles are not his thing. I won't go into detail about either process, but I knew it meant my boy would be making his debut soon. I was so excited, but also terrified because of the preeclampsia. My L&D nurse was amazing!! She stayed with me & I literally hugged her the entire time I got my epidural. She was an angel!

After a few more hours of waiting......it was time. I looked at Matt & told him "you need to go get someone, NOW. He's coming!" He ran out into the hall & grabbed a nurse. They checked & surely enough, he was ready!! I couldn't wait to see him!

I started pushing and within a few minutes, his head was out. All of a sudden, "code blue" was being yelled out of the room & nurses were running in. I had no idea what was going on, I just wanted to get him in my arms, so I just closed my eyes & kept pushing. The entire staff was in the room encouraging me & cheering me on. Matt was behind me and said "I think I need to sit down." I was not surprised by this one bit! HA! After a few more pushes, he was here!!! He was whisked away immediately to get checked out from the PICU team in my room. Matt went to check on him & finally, I heard Arie let out a huge cry! I was so relieved to hear that sound! Matt yelled over to me, "He looks like your brother & Ollie!" I thought, ugh then he must be so cute!!!  bring.him.to.me.now.

Finally, I got to meet my boy! Arie Michael Steigerwalt. He was p e r f e c t. 7lbs 11 ounces of big, fat love! Our guy. My double rainbow. Born on September 15th at 1:52am.

He was born with the cord wrapped around his neck a few times, so his entire face was blue. This was the reason for the code blue & why Matt needed to sit (he thought the worst). It was scary to see, but it faded over the course of the next few hours & he was totally fine! PRAISE.

Years of trying & lots of heartache. but you were worth it ALL, sweet boy.