2 weeks old tonight

Tonight at 10:36 p.m., Mason will be 2 weeks old. Hard to believe. I guess I should go ahead and talk about what happened before I forget because at this rate I could forget pretty quickly. On Monday, 5/21 in afternoon car duty I began having some cramps but didn't really think much of it. I remember calling Josh on the way to my dentist appointment that afternoon and telling him I was tired and hoped that he could be home from work at a decent time so that he could help me with Corbin. After that I felt pretty much ok and went and got Corbin and headed to the grocery store. About the time I got home and was unloading the groceries I went to the bathroom and realized that I was bleeding. Pretty badly. I was actually on the phone with Josh (who was on his way home) and I hurried off to call my dr. I remember the dr. saying well, it is probably. Well, come on in anyway just to ease your mind and they will check you out. So as soon as my mom got there to take care of Corbin we headed on to the hospital. When we got there it was pretty busy in the waiting room and I was trying not to think the worst. They called me back and did the usual work up but when the lady checked me she immediately put me back on my head and her eyes got big. My bag of waters was right there and she wasn't expecting that. She went to call my dr. and let her know what was happening and they got to work setting up IVs for magnesium. After a what seemed like a whirlwind, I was being admitted, taken up to a room to wait things out hoping that the magnesium would work and I would be on bedrest or even better gravity would take over and everything would kind of go back to where it was supposed to be and they would stitch up/close my cervix.

The next day was filled with many meetings with the neonatologist to discuss what our plans would be for our baby when it would come. The odds weren't good...this year so far at Women's NICU they haven't had a 23 weeker survive and of those that did survive in country 80% of them have global delays. An outside ultrasound tech. came to see how big the baby was and discuss options. Off and on during all of this, I was having contractions and they moved me to a labor/delivery room. For a couple of hour I was contraction free which was exciting and Josh was planning to stay home with Corbin but I really felt like he needed to be up there that night. We had talked several times during the day trying to decide what we were going to do and couldn't make a decision. I knew I wanted dr.'s in the assess the baby but that is as far as we could get. Later on that night my contractions came back like gang busters and were 2 minutes apart and I was feeling like I needed to push. No dr. was there and my nurses weren't being very helpful but it wasn't too long and my water had broke. All of a sudden a midwife appeared and the NICU team. Fran, the midwife started searching for the baby's heartbeat and couldn't find it so she said it was time to push. With 1 push, Mason was out and I remember they kept saying for Dad/Josh to hurry up and cut the cord. I remember hearing Mason making noises which I felt like was a good sign and Josh came over and said the dr. said he was fighting to breath on his own and his skin looked good and they were going to help him. I was so thankful that we didn't have to make that decision. The dr. would later come into our room at around 2:30 a.m. and talk with us and say that he was a fighter and that he did nothing heroic by doing what he did and that any other dr. would have done the same thing. Again, so thankful that God had a plan during that time because there is no way as a parent we could have made that decision.

I had posted his picture on facebook and news that he had been born. By 2:30 a.m. I already had a message from a mother who had reached out the me because she had a child born in the same situation (another 23 weeker). The outpouring of love and support from people who have found out Mason's story and reached out to us have been wonderful and we have felt totally supported and prayed for by God. We are truly only making it through this because God is carrying us every step of the way and because of those who keep reaching out to us through their prayers and support. Thank you all for your continued prayers for this sweet boy.