I gave birth at 26 weeks !!!

Watch our video to hear our crazy story from pregnancy until the introduction of our son !

https://youtu.be/eHnNrLwslz8

Ok ladies. This story begins on Thursday night, and its lennggthyyy.

So last Thursday, me and my fiance did the nasty, because, well, that's how we got this baby 😂 and we typically do it a few times throughout the week. So Friday morning, I wake up, and there is a little blood, just when I wiped, and I was surprised, cause sex never led to spotting before, even though I know it's a possible thing in pregnancy. I went to the emergency room, just because I was a little worried, but I was so sure they'd send me home just with pelvic rest that I told my job I'd be at work later that day.

In the OB Energency room at the hospital, they told me that the bleeding was probably just sex, especially since I had stopped and I didn't have any pain. Thankfully, they performed an ultrasound on me, and found that I had a short cervix. This meant that the baby was already laying low in my tummy. I mean the baby was head-down and to take ultrasound pictures of the head, they were looking at images through my vagina. Not my belly, near my bellybutton. The head was waaayy down there, cause my cervix was only mm long, when the avg cervix measures some centimeters.

My cervix was closed, so they concluded that I was not in active labor. They sent me home with a prescription for progesterone. Would've gave it to me at the hospital,but apparently, they didn't have it at the time 🤷🏾‍♀️ They released me at 10pm and I went home on the train and went on a quest the next day to fill my prescription for progesterone. They told me that I had a 20% chance of having a premie; and the progesterone could lower that chance to 10%. They told me how sickly babies born at 26 weeks were, and that It was my choice to medicate or not, but ummm I didn't want a sickly baby so I searched a whole bunch of pharmacies for this medicine.

By Tuesday, I was still searching for a pharmacy with progesterone that accepted my insurance, with no luck. I gave in and spend $75 out of pocket for this prescription and inserted the vaginal suppository Tuesday night before bed. I was minding my business, enjoying my sleep when BOOM, I woke up at 2:47 am having to pee. I laid back down, but this dull achy back pain kept me awake. An hour later and this pain seemed to be 5-10 minutes apart, and I had woke up my fiance to help me endure the pain. Mind you, progesterone is supposed to DELAY birth. I thought this was just some menstrual type pain that was coming and going. Around 4 or 5, my fiance convinced me to call the hospital, they told me that I should come in. By 6, we had arrived in the emergency room, and my pains were exactly 2 minutes apart every time.

I'm freaking out, cause the hospital just told me how sickly babies born at 26 weeks were, and I know that these definitely feel like contractions. By 7 the pains were so strong I was squeezing the feeling out of my fiance's hand. The nurses were telling me to breathe, and I was getting steroids, magnesium, they were preparing for a birth while trying to prevent it from happening. My contractions didn't ease up at all! I mean, the baby didn't even respond to the progesterone last night, so I dont think he wanted to wait any longer!

The contractions were getting very painful, and I was starting to feel like I had to push. The medicine they had given me with magnesium made me hot, and I stripped off the blankets they had on top of me and asked that they please strip me of my gown. Ya'll I was lying on that table butt naked in a room full of strangers and I did not care. It was becoming clear to me and the others in the room that i was in labor. The pains were just seconds apart when I admitted that I felt like I needed to push. I pushed 3 or 4 times and my baby boy came out, weighting 1.98 lbs (which is large for 26 weeks)

They took away my baby and into the NICU. All I saw was the back of a black head of hair 🙁 yall I cried. I cried cause I couldn't see my baby and I cried because He was born at only 26 weeks. He didn't cry but my fiance reported seeing him moving about right after birth. I felt his lil big foot self kicking in between my contractions even when I thought he would just fall out by himself. Time of birth: 7:27 am

By 1 they FINALLY admitted me to my own room in the hospital, and I was able to go see my baby. I've been in and out of his NICU room all day. He is my little beautiful miracle. At 26 weeks, the lungs are still developing, so here he is, in an incubator with breathing tubes 😊 I am going to start pumping soon. I miss him so much. I would stand over him in the NICU all day if my body would let me !

UPDATE:

It's the day after his birth, he is breathing on his own, with extra oxygen. His skin is still developing and I got to touch him for the first time today in the NICU. He was so strong 😁

4 DAYS OLD

Tyrone Jr. has a little face just like his dad and long "piano fingers" like me. he fusses with Linda, his lovely nurse when she changes his diaper and disrupts his sleep lol. he's still a fighter. I've got video of his tiny hands slapping Linda on the arm while she changed his IV 😂 (his grandma/ my mom says that he gets that irritability from her lol. must've skipped a generation)

Its little things like that keeping me sane. I'm healing at home, and pumping breastmilk that my fiance brings to the hospital to make sure he gets stronger.

He's currently under a light most of the day to help with his skin levels. Because of the light, his eyes are protected and covered with a thick mask. Yesterday Linda called me into the NICU from the waiting room and Junior shared a moment with me where I got to look into his eyes while he held onto my finger. Then, he shared a similar moment with his dad. That has been the most precious moment ❤

p.s. the hormones / the vitamins/ both

have made my nails ridiculously long. I'm usually a biter but they're crazy strong too. I clipped them down really short for the next time I go see junior.

15 DAYS OLD

He is doing well. I was supposed to be 7 months pregnant now, I paid for this Summer's semester of class and I want expecting to spend my afternoons in class after a morning in the hospital, but school has been great and a nice way to get out of the house because sometimes it's a sad place without him.

He was put on a respirator a couple days ago but since then hes improving and is weaning off of it. His personality is coming through, he hates to be touched when he's sleeping and pulls at his IV sometimes... me and my fiancè joke about it sometimes because every new nurse that has cared for our baby has a nickname for him and his stubbornness 😭. Babies lose some "water weight" the week following their birth, and now Junior weighs a little more than he did when he was born. My fiance and I think he's getting chunky 😊

2 Months Old!

No respirator. No oxygen tank. 3 lb 10oz, and fiesty as hell lol. Tyrone is now just working on getting rid of his feeding tube and transitioning to a bottle. Hopefully in my next update, we are taking him home