our gabe baby made his entrance into the world a day earlier, just like his brother jack.
we weren't doing anything especially exciting or strenuous so he just wanted to come on his own day.
i started having regular contractions at 11pm but they were very far apart, 10 minutes or so. i let mike sleep all night and i spent the night in the hot shower, on my yoga ball. they were continuously getting closer and closer so by around 5am, they were about 4-5 minutes apart and we decided to go ahead and head to the hospital. on the way, i said to mike, please don't freak out but i already have that urge to push. luckily, we made it to labor and delivery and checked in with my midwife team. i remember telling my nurse that if i was only 4 cm, i'd cry.
i was 8.
she said i would definitely have this baby within her shift that ended in 1 1/2 hours.
of course not.
but i did have him within 3 hours of being admitted!
and with only 10 total hours of labor, i was encouraged and excited!
i couldn't believe how much more alert and strong i was this time around.
i guess if you aren't laboring for literal days on end, your body can be more energized!
i could actually speak between contraction pushes and even though he got stuck coming out (the midwife was overseeing a resident who actually had to ask for forceps before my midwife rolled her eyes and moved her out of the way), his birth was much easier.
mike has wanted to deliver the past three babies but since jack was born on the floor and gabe's head got stuck, he had to try one last time for #4. but that story is for next week :)
gabe was born at 9:34am and weighed 9 1/2 pounds. he checked out perfectly and we were just finishing up some paperwork when the pediatrician said that he didn't like gabriel's breathing and we were being transferred to the nicu for further tests.
we were kind of in shock for the next few hours. his o-sat levels were low, i think the lowest he got was around 89%. so they x-rayed for pneumonia but could never confirm it. just to be sure, we stayed in the nicu for a couple days on antibiotics and breathing treatments. then we were transferred to pediatrics for a couple more days and by the time he was 8 days old, we were going home.
it was incredibly stressful and i feel for the mamas and babies who stay in the nicu for months. we were there for six days.
it was pretty terrible too. to see our newborn hooked up to breathing tubes and feeding tubes and an iv port was terrible. to not be able to nurse him was terrible.
but the nurses were amazing and the Lord was watching over us.
i pumped milk like crazy so that everything that went through that little tube was all mama. he only had to be on it for a day or two before they let me nurse him again properly but it was still nerve-wracking.
again, we were only there for six days and he was never actually diagnosed with anything so i cannot even imagine what the mothers and babies go through when its something life-threatening and dangerous.
the Lord pulled gabe (and us!) through and continues to do so through every cough and cold that makes me nervous and we are continually blessed by His love and faithfulness to our little family.
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