MILESTONE!

Well, I've almost made it through the day, and this day in my last pregnancy was the day Gavin was born, at 5:35 AM. So I am already 12 hours ahead! I definitely took time to appreciate still being a functioning person today. With Gavin I had spent the prior 3 weeks in the hospital, and the 3 weeks before that on bed rest at home. I was only allowed up for long enough to make a sandwich.

In the hospital I was drugged up to try to stop the preterm labor, and every day we wondered if this was going to be the day they couldn't control it. One night they had me so heavily medicated, Chad spent the night in the chair beside me, and the next morning I demanded to be taken off the medicine because it was making me crazy. They put me on an alternative medicine that hadn't been proven to work, but we thought we would give it a try. And it worked! Just as I was set up with equipment to give myself shots of medicine and hook up to monitors from home, my water broke. A week later I went into labor.

Not the mad drive to the hospital, just a walk down the hall to a delivery room. I wasn't able to have many of the pain medications. I was terrified wondering if this baby would be strong enough to make it, and what kinds of problems he was sure to have from being so premature. I was also relieved that the daily stress of wondering when this day would come was over.

There must have been at least 12 doctors and nurses in the room, a station set up beside me to intubate Gavin as soon as he came out. They wheeled my bed over to him and Chad and I each held one of his tiny hands as they worked on him. And then after all the fanfare, everyone was gone, wheeling the isolette out of the room with Chad in tow.

I so often forget how precarious a start Gavin had to life. I don't know why or how he turned out so "normal" when he had so many odds stacked against him. And with each day that passes, I am so happy to be filled with the hope that this time around I get handed a baby and we get to walk out of the hospital with him two days later. Only 3 more months to go!