A bundle of surprises- long birth story

After almost 3 months I have finally found time to write this post. My little man came as a total surprise. My pregnancy had gone well. My then fiance lives in France and I am American. My visa was denied so I went back to the states in May 9 weeks pregnant. In July we got married in the US and I returned to France in September. It was hard not having him with me for most of the pregnancy but I had my family and we did everything we could to experience things as a couple. We were so excited when we found out we were having a girl. My friends and family sent me back to France with a suitcase full of pink tutus, lace, and dresses. My husband and I were in no rush to make big purchases. We had the stroller, car seat, and bassinet set but figured since I was due December 22nd we could find sales online on Black Friday. October 27th I went to bed and had a bit of heartburn. It was bad but I figured I had a dr. Appointment the next morning and would tell her. That morning I joked that I should have packed a bag just in case. My husband was worried but i assured him that at 32 weeks i still had time. He dropped me at the doctor's office and went to work. I had 3 appointments that day so he would come later to get me. The first dr. took my blood pressure and it was a bit high. She gave me an antacid for the heartburn and drew some blood. I went across the hall for my next appointment where my pressure was still high. While I waited for my ultrasound the three doctors met and went over my bloodwork. They called me in and said they were taking me to the hospital via ambulance and I should call my husband. My liver levels were off and my bp high. So away I went to a hospital in a foreign country 8 weeks early. They rolled me into delivery where my husband met me. Every hour I had blood drawn and my BP was taken every 10 minutes. They decided everything had settled. I was stable for the moment and we were going to keep our little girl in as long as possible. The next shift came in and everything changed. I was given an epidural and told to be ready for a csection within the hour. Blood was drawn and if the levels were still dropping they were going in...the rose. So I was carted up to maternity where I stayed for 5 days. I had 3 ivs, and the epidural in. By the 5th day I was wire free and able to walk around. But then I started to get heartburn again. They continued to draw blood and I was running out of places to stick. With one last blood draw i was rushed to delivery. They decided to induce me. Needing more blood the decided to give me one more iv in my artery. At the same time they were testing my epidural and inserting a balloon into my vajayjay. My poor husband had just gotten to work so back he rushed. They had to redo the epidural(not as scary the second time), and decided we couldn't wait for a natural delivery. So off we went to the operating room. My husband called my mother and let her know what was happening and I was prepped to meet my little girl. We were warned that because she was so early she may not have the lung capacity to cry. She would be taken to the NICU. What seemed like only a few minutes later I heard a cry. "My little Mia" I said. No one responded. They took baby and husband off to another room and closed me up. They wheeled me in to see my baby and told me they were not sure of the gender. The baby had a penis but also looked to have a vagina. I didn't care. My baby was healthy and needed only a CPAP machine to help breath. For 4 days we waited on tests. Hormones, physical examine, chromosome testing, and ultrasounds. Finally they were ready to officially claim we had a boy. He has a split scrotum that will need surgery when he is older but it gave the appearance of girl parts especially on the ultrasound. At one day old the CPAP was removed and all he needed was the heated bassinet and a feeding tube. We were told he needed to learn how to eat and then he could go home maybe a week or so before his due date. So we still had time...we thought. Three weeks later he was sucking down bottles at every feeding, was off his monitors, in a normal bassinet, and being released. In the meantime my scar became infected and filled with liquid. I had to go everyday to have it cleaned and rebadged. Luckily by the time our little one came home I was on the mend. In the end our Christmas baby came a day after Halloween(7w5d early), came home the week of Thanksgiving, and forced us to buy a whole new wardrobe for Christmas. I pumped the first month but my supply went dry and he developed a lactose allergy so he is formula fed

. Little Marco was born at 2250grams and is now at 4760. He is spoiled rotten and loves sleeping in our bed. We are finally transitioning to a bounce seat and the crib for short naps. He is our little world traveller as well. Born to American and Italian parents he was born in Switzerland, lives in France, has been to Italy for Christmas and just last weekend we went to Germany for a job interview. I look forward to taking him on his first plane ride in a few weeks to visit my family in the states. They have lived off daily pictures and video chat. I am so blessed to have my little family. And to have a healthy surprise baby boy.