Happy birthday Big Viking

Today is the fifth birthday of our #2 son.  I can’t believe it’s already been five years since he was born.  When it was close to a week after his due date, and my blood pressure was creeping up, my doctor and and I decided to schedule his induction.  So one week after his due date my husband and I headed in to the hospital.  It was something like 5 AM and as my husband came to a rolling stop at a stop sign in our neighborhood, we were pulled over by the town police!  When the officer asked where we were going we let him know that we were on the way to the hospital to have a baby.  When are we ever going to have that excuse again?  My husband did tell him that I wasn’t in labor, it was a scheduled thing, but the officer looked at me and ask if I was okay long enough for him to do his paperwork.  He let us off with a warning and we were on our way.  A few minutes later I realized I had forgotten my i.d. at home.  Not knowing if I would need it, we headed back, but I made my husband go into the neighborhood through a back road.  I didn’t want the police officer thinking we had lied to him!

We finally made it to the hospital and all went very smoothly from there.  By far this was the quickest labor I have ever had.  It was so quick that our big 9 lb. 11 oz. boy’s lungs collapsed upon delivery.  The details are hazy, but I recall hearing the doctor call in the NICU team as our son was being born.  I remember that after he was born there wasn’t much crying, and I thought that was strange.  The team worked on him a few minutes in the delivery room and then took him out to the NICU.  I sent my husband with them so we would know what was happening.  Shortly after the doctor finished her work and left, as did the delivery nurses.  That left me all alone in the room with a student nurse who was so nervous and didn’t know what to do.  I think she felt relieved to get out of there when she offered to get me something to drink and I accepted.  So there I was, all alone after having just delivered our boy.  I had no idea how he was doing or what was going on.  Fortunately my husband came back soon after and a NICU doctor came to give us the prognosis.  Our son had collapsed both lungs and their estimate was that he would have to stay in the NICU for a week.

We spent a lot of time down at NICU and the nurses were fantastic!  I’m sure it must be a difficult one, but what a great vocation for them.  Every single one was attentive, kind, and went out of their way for us.  They joked about how our son was the biggest baby they had seen in their ward in a long time.  They are used to preemie babies, and our great big boy took up a huge portion of the little bed.  He had to wear what we called a space helmet as he got enough oxygen.  He also had a feeding tube put in.

A day and a half after delivery I was discharged from the hospital but we had to leave our little boy there.  I remember holding back tears as the nurse wheeled me down to the car.  She was so nice and motherly and told me a similar story when she had to leave her little one.  She gave me permission to have my cry, and sure enough once I got it out, I felt much better.  We of course spent much of our time at the hospital.  I was able to pump and bring in some food for our baby to be put through his feeding tube.  Two or so days after being born, the nurse said he was doing so well that we could try feeding him with a bottle.  She warned us that he probably wouldn’t eat much and it would take a while for him to finish.  Five minutes later we showed up at the nurses’ station with an empty bottle.  She jumped up, laughed and said, “I’m taking out his feeding tube!”

Our boy recovered so quickly that the original estimate of a week in the NICU actually ended up only being about 3 days.  We got to bring our boy home sooner than expected.

I thank God for my beautiful boy.  He is a handful, but also a joy!  Thank you, Lord, for every day you give me with him!