So Our Baby Came 11 Weeks Early.....

Ok so we are going to blog about baby Eli. Basically to keep everyone updated on whats going on and as a journal for us. So baby's due date was December 28th. On Thursday, I started feeling episodes of pressure in my lower back that radiated forward to my lower belly. It didn't hurt, was just a little uncomfortable. The baby was moving around like normal so I didn't think much of it. Thursday night into Friday morning these episodes were coming more frequently and becoming slightly painful. So I called the midwife, she thought they were Braxton Hicks contractions and told me to drink more water and call back if they became rhythmical. By noon we were headed back to my house and the "episodes" were every 20 mins apart like clockwork. So I called the midwifes and they had me come in to be assessed. I was hooked up to the fetal monitor and they weren't seeing anything. My midwife checked my cervix and said that it was a little thinner than she would like it to be but not super worried. She also did a test to see if I was in preterm labor. She consulted with the OB who said to send me across the street to the hospital for more tests. So at the hospital they ran the test to see if I was in preterm labor, it came back positive, however they said not to freak out because this test has a high instance of false positives. They then did an ultrasound on my cervix and found that I was 1 1/2 cm dilated. Everything was looking good with the baby but they decided to admit me and give me a shot of steroids to accelerate his lung development and IV of magnesium sulfate that would help slow the labor if I was actually in labor as well as help with neuro development. At this point one of the nurses said something like oh dont worry the last woman we had like this just left the hospital after being here for four weeks on observation. So clearly I'm freaking out that I'm going to be on bed rest for until I have the baby in DECEMBER. So I get admitted and taken to my room, get hooked up to the IV mag sulfate, get the steroid shot, and get my foley cath put in. I'm told I could have the baby soon or we could do all this stuff and the baby could come a week past his due date, we just don't know.  Jon, Dee, Oma are there and even Pastor Joey stops by to pray with us and read us Psalm 46.  These "episodes" which we are now pretty sure are contractions are coming more frequently and are lasting longer.  I'm still pretty sure the baby isn't coming anytime soon. I was also sure the baby was a girl so ya..Dad and Pete showed up. Then doc n PA from the NICU come in to talk with us about what to expect if the baby does come in the next couple days. Its scary and overwhelming but I'm still like ok well that probably wont happen as the PA is looking at me and noticing that I'm having a contraction while she's talking. So the night goes on Jon's asleep, I get an ambien to help me sleep but they have to assess me every hours being on the mag sulfate so I get like no sleep. Around 4 am I notice that these things are like coming every five minutes...uh ohh. By 5:30 they are really super painful especially in my back. So we call the nurse and she has my midwife come check me out. I'm 6cm dilated. Jon's like mb we should call your mom and my mom. Still I'm like no its cool lets wait and see whats going on.  At the same time my midwife starts getting all the baby arrival equitment ready and has the nurse let everyone know whats going on. A little while later I feel funny and realize I'm bleeding so in comes Vanessa to check me again, I'm at 8cm. My water hasn't broken yet, I'm told that pretty soon she's going to break my water and as soon as she does the baby will be here. We call Dee and tell her to hurry up. She walks in the room as Vanessa breaks my water and it time for me to push. Maybe three pushes and he was out. It was 7:38a. He had a true knot in his umbilical cord. 2lbs 12oz 15 inches long

Baby and Daddy went down to the NICU. Baby was given surfactant into his lungs, he was put on CPAP, and an umbilical lines were put in. I was able to see him for a few minutes between transferring from L&D to the postpartum units. For such a stressful scary time we were extremely blessed from having family able to be here, to having people all over the WORLD praying for us, and most importantly having a beautiful baby boy who is doing as well as he possibly can be doing for his age.