8 weeks early, but he’s here!

At 13 weeks, we found out I was having a little man, and with our daughter at home, we were so happy that this little one would complete our family. Two weeks later, we got the first round of bad news. Little man was diagnosed with Gastroschisis, which was a foreign word to me a few months ago. Essentially it meant little man had a hole to the side of belly button and cord and his intestines had migrated outside of his body and were floating freely in amniotic fluid, which necessitates immediate surgery after birth. We were heart broken, but ready to do whatever we needed to. The pregnancy itself was rough on me physically, but the emotional aspect of knowing our little guy would need to be in the NICU for 6-8 weeks after birth made it much harder. Fast forward to July 14, I started having strong contractions at 11:00 pm. I told Hubby it was time to get some rest and see if they would stop. I woke up every few hours with worsening contractions, and finally at 3:30, woke Hubby back up and told him it was time to go. I was just shy of 33 weeks, but already 5cm when we got to the hospital. He was coming. They gave me a quick steroid shot to try and help his lungs along, but by the time I was transferred to a room, I was 7.5 cm. The baby had to be delivered by a specialty doctor due to his condition, and the second she walked in the door, it was time to push. He was head out when they saw the cord around his neck twice. I was told to stop pushing, his cord was cut, and he was out 2 pushes later. I got to hold him for no more than 5 seconds and he was off to be intubated and have his surgery. My husband had to leave with him to sign all of his authorizations, and that’s when they realized my placenta was attached to my uterine wall, and I was losing blood fast. I was rushed to the OR, given a spinal (because I refused an epidural with both of my children... totally a personal choice), and a DNC done within an hour of giving birth.

My husband was by my side immediately after the procedure, only with more bad news. Baby boy has an intestinal aresia and will need at least one more surgery. His 6-8 week NICU stay now turned into no less than 3 months. We are heartbroken, but clinging to how much worse it could have been and still could be. This is never the birth story anyone wants, but I’m so thankful for my little family, and I know our boy is going to be so much stronger for this.

With that, I would like to formally introduce Michael Paul Delgado