Happy Birthday son...

So, if anyone can tell me how my firstborn is now 5 years old, you let me know!

I used the TechnoStamper sketch from before Christmas. CTMH school zone stamp (paper pieced) with CTMH It's a guy paper (i think?). Lots of distressing, of course. Hopefully in a few years he'll appreciate it (or his wife, or kids, or maybe grandkids??.... hmmm)

so, here is the personal part (but it's a good story!)

The passage of time has been surreal. I distinctly remember my pregnancy (developed preclampsia at 30 weeks and went downhill from there). His birth, and life, are a miracle from God.

I woke up early one morning (still too early to have a baby safely) with a headache. Took Tylenol and headed to the OB's (went a lot b/c of the preclampsia and bedrest). Told the nurse it wasn't better, so could I take some more... within a few minutes my OB walked into the room and said, "Okay, we're having a baby!" I was kinda shocked (and excited, not realizing that a headache that wouldn't go away was a HUGE danger sign for my life and my baby) but called dh and off we went to the hospital. I had to be induced b/c I wasn't far enough along. We didn't know what we were having, so there was some concern b/c boys lungs aren't as developed at that stage, but I tried to keep calm.

The next morning the induction was in full swing. Lots of labor pain, lots of waiting. My water broke around 4:30pm and I dialated a little quicker and finally was able to get my epidural after 5:30. This is where things went vastly wrong...

The doc doing the epi knew something was wrong immediately. My bp that had been high all day (preeclampsia) dropped suddenly. I told my nurse something was wrong. There was no baby movement or heartbeat and my bp was dropping. She rolled me around and got things (and the baby) stabalized. Normal bp is 100-120/70-80. My bp HAd been 140-150/100, and it had dropped to 80/50.

The doc left, the nurse didn't. The epi was completely in effect and I looked at my nurse (her name was Lisa) and said, I am not okay. No baby movement, heartbeat, and my bp was 70/50 and dropping (everytime she took it, it dropped). The on-call OB and a million nurses were in the room immediately. I don't remember much at that point, except her walking to my bed and saying, "I would like to do a c-section, okay?" I nodded, or said okay. I was REALLY going quickly.

I had the fastest c-section on record at that time. From her saying, okay, to my son out of my body was only 11 minutes. It was a 2-minute "skin to skin" (scalpel starting to cut to her touching my son). SUPER fast! The doc who did the epi wouldn't let my dh into the OR. He kept saying "I'm losing her, he can't come in"... at the time I was vaguely aware that he meant me, but was much too worried about my baby and if it was a girl or boy!

Jake had an Apgar of 1/3. Most babies are a 9/9. He was born not breathing, the cord had wrapped around his shoulder like a purse strap and everytime I had a contraction it cut off blood flow and oxygen. To shorten this part... the neonatologist (newborn specialist) told us about 48 hours after he was born that he should have been dead, severely brain damaged, in a coma.

None of those things were the case... he was in the NICU for 10 days. He was only on a ventilator for 12 hours, and had to stay so long b/c he wouldn't eat! (little did we know he'd be picky forever!)

But, he IS a miracle. Had I not been preeclampsic, had the headache that wouldn't go away, the induction that lead to my bp plummeting, no c-section would have been done so quickly and yet the cord being tangled would still have happened. The docs and nurses told us we were "blessed parents" b/c he shouldn't have lived.

Thanks for sticking through to the end (if you did)... We are blessed to have him in our lives... he's a mini-me for my husband- sweet spirit, loving, rambuctious when he wants to be, and always inquistive.

happy birthday kiddo!