Receiving the Gift of Victor Albert Katterson

Composed mostly by Ben:

Victor Albert Katterson was born at 1:29am on Friday the 6th of January. He was 6 pounds 11 ounces and 20 and 3/8 inches long.

A fairly routine ultra sound appointment on Wednesday afternoon (4th) turned into an excited trip home for bags to take to the hospital. We learned that our little boys growth was fine, but his amniotic fluid was low (5cm is low and he had 3cm). It was time to induce. We spent that night in the hospital with medication to prepare Amy for the inducing medication in the morning. At 8:30am on Thursday they broke her water. There was miconium in the amniotic fluid. The doctor said we would need to have the NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit) present at birth to suction the baby’s air ways immediately. The doctor said most babies come out crying in which case the NICU team can’t suction which puts the baby at greater risk of pneumonia. We started praying for the Lord to protect our (his) baby.

We started the pitocin and the contractions intensified throughout the day. Amy was terrific. WHAT A TROOPER!!! At the beginning of the day on Thursday Amy was dilated to about 1cm. After a full morning and afternoon of quit intense labor she was barely at 2cm. (Before this 2cm check, Mom and Dad Anderson arrived and supported us through the long hours with Subway sandwiches, root-beer, and prayer.) Amy’s energy was wearing thin. At about 6pm we decided to try an epidural. The doctor said if Amy’s dilation was not significantly increased in two hours we would need to proceed to a c-section. Both Amy and I wanted to avoid a c-section, but were trusting in the Lord and His good providence (and praying HARD). The epidural took the pain away and helped her to relax. However, it also made her vomit, feel light-headed, and it made her blood pressure drop. She received four doses of blood pressure medication through the IV. At the same time she began to run a low grade fever. While Amy had a fever, the baby’s heart rate was rising. The nurses quickly diagnosed an infection and began to run antibiotics through the IV as well. The diagnosis meant that the baby would immediately go to NICU after birth for his own antibiotic treatment for 48 hours.

At 8pm the nurse checked Amy’s status and found she had dilated to 4cm. There was nearly whooping and hollering. By 10:45pm she was 7.5, 11:45 was full dilation. We began pushing at 12:30. Progress was coming so quickly that we slowed down to wait for the doctor to arrive. At 1:29am baby Victor arrived before (before the NICU team could get there). He was not crying so the doctor was able to suction his airways herself (Hallelulah!). He cried soon after and the NICU team descended on the scene like the U.S. Marines. Before they whisked him away Amy got to hold him, and Ben got to cut the cord. Ben accompanied the NICU team and Victor down to the first floor for his first bedtime. Meanwhile, Amy threw up a glass of water. When she tried to get out of the bed and use the bathroom she nearly fainted and her blood pressure dropped again. She was wheeled on a gurney to Victor’s bedside for a quick visit. At about 5am Ben and Amy crashed for a LONG night of 2 hours sleep.

Friday was filled with wheelchair rides from the 4th floor (Labor and Delivery) to the 1st floor (NICU) for feeding and visits with naps squeezed in where possible.

We know so many people have been praying for us and our new son. Both mom and son (and sometimes dad) are doing well and recovering by the grace of the Lord.

A Note from Amy:
This experience of God’s giving us a son has been so full of challenge and joy and answered prayer. I wish that I were able to talk with so many of you in person to share the story, thank you for your care, and rejoice together with you—but I have been much more depleted and slow to bounce back than I expected… I know that we will have many days ahead to introduce Victor to you all, and until then, just know how much we love you and thank the Lord for your support! I also want to publicly thank the Lord for my husband who has been an awesome, God-sent gift and minister of grace to me and to our son already. I love you, Benjamin, and God’s help to me through you has been a rock to me already.