My little guy August was born 5 weeks early on July 21st. He is my third child; my first son, Ari, is almost 3 years old, and my second son, Isaac, is just about 11 months old. He was born with an extremely rare (1 in a million) genetic defect that has caused him to be significantly and severely disabled. I got pregnant with August as a “whoopsie” very shortly after having Isaac. We did not know if we would be able to have more children or if we wanted to, but the decision turned out to be not ours!

I had what I thought was a contraction at about 3pm that Sunday. As things progressed I did not believe it was labor as I was so early! I decided to head into hospital as a precaution; I was either having the baby or obviously something was wrong that I was having such strong contractions. As I threw some clothes on to get in the car, I knew the baby was coming. We drove the 20 minutes to the hospital and after waiting to be let in to the labor ward (nobody was answering the bell!) and waiting to be let into triage (all the nurses and doctor were with another patient!) I was finally seen. 10 centimeters dilated, bag of water intact, head ready to go! They admitted me as they raced me down the hall to the delivery room. Once there, the doctor broke my water and I almost immediately had the urge to push; one long push and August Daniel was out, at about 5pm! We were unprepared but happily surprised to meet our little man so early!

I just received the histology report on my placenta and there is evidence of inflammation and decreased blood flow. I am horrified to think of what could have happened if that blood flow continued to decrease through the rest of a term pregnancy. I have never felt more blessed than thinking about my little guy and how lucky we are to have him here and healthy!