Details.

Wow. It has been a long couple of days! I am currently sitting in the hospital, and thought I would give more of the details of what exactly has happened so far.  Well, as best as I can-I'm not exactly sure of everything that has gone on.

Tuesday evening, I was having some abdominal pain, but not consistently, so I couldn't figure out what it was.  Although I wasn't sure what it was, it didn't seem to be getting stronger or closer together, and I wasn't having any back pain or spotting.  I was also feeling my little boy kicking and moving all the time, so I thought everything was ok.  I had a doctor's appointment scheduled for this week already anyway, so I decided I would talk to her about it then. As I was getting ready for bed, I noticed some discharge that had just a little blood in it, so I decided I would not wait any longer and my husband and I prepared to go to the hospital. Some of our fantastic friends came to the house to sit while our daughter slept.  The last words out of my mouth were, "Thank you so much for coming, we will be back soon!!"

At the hospital, everything was a complete whirlwind.  I got into a room and the nurses began to monitor me around 11:30 pm.  They did a test to see if I was in labor, and while they were waiting for results, checked to see if I was dilated at all.  By the time they checked it was after midnight, and after two different nurses checked, they had to tell me that I was already dilated to six centimeters.  My doctor arrived and they began frantically pumping drugs into me to try and stop labor.  They also gave me a steroid shot to try and help my little boy's lungs develop more quickly.

We were talking with a nurse from the Children's hospital who was trying to keep me calm and explain what would be happening, what our options were, and trying to answer all the "what-if's."  All of a sudden, after calming down a little and turning down the lights, my water broke.  The nurses and doctors rushed me to a delivery room, but as soon as we arrived, my son was born at 1:21 a.m on November 11.  It could not have been more than 2 minutes after my water broke.

As scary as it was, he came out crying and breathing on his own, which was a great sign!  He was also a really good size to be so early: 2 pounds, 14.9 oz, and 15 inches long.  I was able to hold him for the shortest second of my life, and kiss his sweet little head, then the team from the Children's hospital had to take him and get him ready to be transported.

They brought him back before taking him to the hospital so we could say goodbye, and I was able to hold his hand for a few minutes.

Since being born, he has yet to need a ventilator to breathe, which is fantastic.  He is getting fed a little at a time through a feeding tube right now, although can't quite digest it completely on his own yet.  He has had a couple short spells of apnea, but has been able to recover on his own.

The next few steps will be x-rays in the morning of his chest and abdomen to see how everything looks, then an ultrasound of his head on Monday to check for damage or ruptured blood vessels.  Hopefully everything will come back looking great!  He may also become a little jaundiced, so we are preparing for that (he will have to be under lights to help bring his biliruben levels down).  We continue to pray, and appreciate all your prayers and support as well.  It is going to be a long couple of months.  Right now we are thinking he will probably be in the hospital until his original due date (January 30).  But he is a strong little boy who is already showing us his feisty personality!  I have no doubt that God has big plans for our sweet little boy.  I will continue to update as we get more news.