Welcome, Boo!

Announcing the arrival of a brand new baby: Boo! He just arrived on May 1st at 2:37am. He weighed 1 pound 13 ounces, and was 14 inches long. For those unacquainted with normal baby weights, he is about 1/7 of the size of a full term baby. Boo came as a HUGE surprise to us...he was supposed to be born in late July! We feel extremely blessed to have this miracle baby. Pregnancy is supposed to last 40 weeks and Boo was supposed to be 29 weeks into it, but when he was born, the doctors pronounced him a "25 weeker." He is perfect, with every body part in perfect form (a blessing due to not having an emergency C-section, thus bypassing the trauma of the birth canal). He does have a heart defect. In fact, he did have two, but one of them was resolved in his first week of life. We are told that he is "fiesty," and at times a "wild child."

For those who are interested in the story, here goes. On Wed, April 30th, A didn't feel Boo move except in the morning. She also hadn't been feeling very well since
Monday, but she was not concerned since everyone told her she would be tired in the third trimester. When I got home that Wednesday night (early, believe it or not), I had already worked a full 40 hour work week. A and I were ready to spend a fun night together. I asked how the baby was doing, which was when A realized that she hadn't felt him all day. While I took a nap, A surfed the internet to find out about how often she should be feeling the baby. 9 out of 10 websites talked about how babies sometimes have quiet days, and not feeling him is totally normal. 1 out of 10 talked about a stillbirth. That, of course, was enough to send A into great nervousness, and she woke me up to talk about it and decide what to do.

After praying and discussing the issue and the websites, we decided to call the doctor. The doctor on call (it was about 9:30pm) told us to go to Labor and Delivery and have a "non-stress test." She said it was no big deal and that it wouldn't take very long. Once in the car, both of us felt much more calm, and we began laughing and joking like always, thinking that this would be a fun date for us.

In Labor and Delivery, it seemed that everything was normal. The baby had a normal heart rate, and it seemed that they would be sending us home soon. But, they later asked for a urine sample (after they said A didn't need one). Then, the resident came in and said that he wasn't sure if the baby was getting off the monitor and the monitor was picking up A's heart rate, or if the baby's heart rate was decreasing significantly. Then, the nurse came in with an oxygen mask for A, with 10 liters running per minute (that is a LOT of oxygen). Shortly after that, the doctor who we had talked to on the phone came in (the resident had called her), and said that things looked "crummy" and that they would need to deliver tonight. A needed to be transferred by ambulance to the University Hospital.

Once there, the entire resident team evaluated A, informed her of her extremely high blood pressures and proteins in her urine (both definite symptoms of a condition called "preclampsia"), and that they wanted to wait 48 hours to deliver so they could administer a steroid to help the baby's lungs develop. Then, the chief resident came in and said that there was no reason to give the steroid, because they needed to deliver tonight! I gave A a blessing, and they proceeded to the OR for A to get the local anesthetic and prepare for the emergency C-section. A was awake and holding my hand during the whole thing, and we shared our love story with the anesthesiologist during the surgery. A didn't feel a thing.

In the end, A spent 4 days at the hospital recovering (and taking horrible medications that made her somewhat loopy), and Boo will spend at least until the end of July in the newborn intensive care unit. This time has not been easy...it has been and will continue to be a huge roller coaster with more ups and downs than we ever wanted, but Boo is so worth it and we love him so much. Pictures are on the way. We really appreciate all the phone calls and thoughts and prayers!