7 lbs, 7 oz
20.5 inches
"Children are a gift from the Lord..." Psalm 127:3
After being told by my doctor at 32 weeks that I was beginning to dilate and was told to "take it easy," we went ahead and decided that I would get steroid shots in case our baby made an early arrival to help the progression of lung development, a decision we are very thankful for. We prayed that the Lord would keep our sweet baby in my belly to full term, but trusted that he would see us through, even if it meant another NICU stay. After experiencing lots of back pain, without sleeping for a couple weeks and experiencing levels of discomfort I hadn't known in previous pregnancies, I went into labor at 34.5 weeks, on the morning of Wednesday, May 29.
My water broke at 6:50am (for having such spontaneous deliveries, turns out I'm actually quite predictable, as the timing was nearly exactly what happened with Grayson and Camdyn). Despite having friends and family on stand-by for weeks, the morning of, no one was answering their phones (Didn't they know I was in labor? :)) Ultimately, I ended up walking next door (yes, I walked) to our neighbors house while Brad packed to ask them to come stay with Grayson and Camdyn for all of ten minutes until our sweet friends, the Hollands, from our community group could get there to stay with them until Grandma and Aunt Whitney could get there from Dallas. It was truly a team effort of watching our older two as our neighbor, the Hollands and our friend Carrie all took shifts for the day (Thank you God for wonderful friends & neighbors!)
We got to the hospital and immediately I started feeling intense contractions (I felt nothing before that). They checked me and I was 5 cm dilated. I said, "Yes, I can get an epidural!" as I'd always been 8 cm at my first check with Grayson and Camdyn. Due to my history with fast labors, I was "somewhat" mentally prepared in case I had to do it naturally. But, since I was only 5 cm, I was hopeful that there would be enough time. As the contractions got even more intense and I began feeling the pressure, it became apparent pretty quick that it wasn't going to happen. In fact, my doctor and the anesthesiologist walked in when I was 9 and 3/4 cm dilated and they both looked at me with that sympathetic look of, "Sorry, honey, it's not going to happen." Since I thought the idea of taking a natural child birth class or reading some encyclopedia thick book after going through labor twice was pretty silly, I had asked my friend Liz to give me some scripture she memorized when she did it all-natural.
I began praying, "Strengthen my inner-most being with the power of your spirit," based on Ephesians 3:16 and reminding myself that "I can do anything through Christ who gives me strength," based on Philippians 4:13. Despite my silent reminders to myself, I was still screaming, "I can't do this!" over and over again :) It felt like the ultimate battle between the flesh and the spirit!
After the longest six minutes of my life pushing, our beautiful son was born at 8:28 AM at a whopping 7 lbs 7 oz, an hour and forty minutes after my water broke, 55 minutes after we arrived at the hospital. Although we didn't find out the sex of the baby this time, we were both so confident that it was going to be a boy, I don't think we were the least bit surprised when we saw that it was a boy.
After feeling the guilt of my water breaking that morning at the realization that I wasn't going to make it to term which would likely mean a NICU stay, that guilt immediately vanished when I heard 7 lbs, 7 oz. They immediately handed me our sweet boy. In fact, for a moment, we thought they might not even take him from us. But, as he began grunting, they knew he was under respiratory distress and wheeled him away to the NICU. It's a horrible feeling to have your baby taken away and be left with only the pain you feel after child birth. Thankfully, after an X-ray we found out that his respiratory distress was caused not because he was a preemie, but because there was fluid on his lungs due to my quick delivery, something he worked out within 24 hours after birth. We spent five LONG days in the NICU before we were able to take our boy home. Thankfully, he never had a single "preemie" issue, only normal newborn issues (jaundice, reflux).
There was lots of conversation about the possibility of my due date being a couple weeks off because of his size and the fact that his development tested more like a 38-week-er. In truth, no one will ever know for sure. While it's easy to try and analyze it all with science, we have been overwhelmed with the truth that God was preparing our little boy for an early arrival all along and he ordained every single tiny detail in advance! He is always faithful! It has been a sweet and precious reminder that he already has a perfect plan for this sweet baby's life!
Unfortunately once you go into the NICU, it seems you can never get out (but I'll save my doctor/hospital/NICU soap box for another time!) :) But, by the grace of God, we brought our little boy home Monday night (on a heart monitor which our pediatrician took us off of that Friday). He has already been a perfect and welcome blessing in our family! In many ways, it feels like he has been with us forever. He has a big brother and big sister who adore him and a Daddy and Mommy who look at him with awe in how the Lord has blessed us!
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