Happy Birthday Big Boy

I mention my three kids often in my blog. Not surprising since they are the main focus of nearly everything I do.

What some of you may not know is that Braden, my youngest child and only son, was born early and quite traumatically. Since the retelling his birth story is good therapy for me, I'm going to share it here. I hope you won't mind.

Braden was due on April 14, 2007. My pregnancy had been uneventful for the most part. There was no real reason for us to suspect that anything would go wrong so late in the game. After all, it was my third pregnancy and this one seemed to be much the same as the other two.

The weekend of March 9 we sent our girls, Jade and Megan, to stay with my parents for the weekend. Rob and I saw this as an opportunity to get some last minute preparations done and maybe even a last date night in before the baby was born.

On Saturday we went to Cadillac, MI, which is just a bit north of where we live. The plan was to see a movie, do some shopping and get dinner at a restaurant called Timbers. We left early in the day so we could take our time and just leisurely enjoy our day.

We saw a matinee showing of "Wild Hogs" where I laughed harder than I had in years at a movie. After that we did some shopping at the local Walmart or Meijer. I honestly can't remember now if we went to one or the other, or may we went to both. What I do remember is that while we were shopping I started to have sharp pains down the front of my belly. They were quick and fleeting. Really not a whole lot different than I remember having near the end of my pregnancies with the girls. It was almost like the baby wanted to stretch and was pushing his feet against my belly. So nothing alarming.

Once we finished shopping, we headed to the restaurant. I remember as we walked in the door I had a very sharp pain that caused me to stop in my tracks to catch my breath. That was the first one that seemed to be very different from what I had experienced in the past. Even so, it passed rather quickly and I figured I had just been on my feet too much that day. So we went in with the intention of having our dinner and then going home where I would spend the rest of the weekend with my feet up resting from the days exertion.

I ordered a cup of herbal tea, I think Rob ordered a beer (probably a Guiness) and we ordered an appetizer. While we waited for that to come, I got up to go to the bathroom. Not unusual for a woman who is nearly 8 months pregnant, right?

While in the restroom, I suddenly began to hemorrhage. I was one of the most frightening moments of my life. I remember being on the edge of panic. But somewhere a voice in the back of my mind said "if you loose it now, how long will it be before someone finds you?" and so I somehow kept a level head and went back out to calmly, yet firmly, tell my husband we needed to get to the hospital.

So we head out the door apologizing to the waitress that we need to cancel our order. Since our appetizer had just come up, one of the waitresses threw it in a to go container and thrust it at Rob. He was very thankful for this as it would have been several hours before he would have had a chance to get anything at all to eat.

The ride to the hospital seemed to take forever, though in reality it took less than 10 minutes. I remember struggling to keep my mind blank for fear of what thoughts would be there if I didn't. By the time we got to the hospital they were ready for us. Someone at Timbers had the foresight to call ahead and let them know we were on our way. We were later told that the Dr. had been in the parking lot in his car to leave when the call came in. I'm forever grateful to that person for a calling ahead for us. Who knows how many valuable minutes were saved.

While the nurses took my vital signs, health history and checked for the baby's heartbeat, Rob called our parents to calmly tell them what was happening. My mother told me recently that he was so calm that she wouldn't have known anything was wrong except that he said I was being prepped for a c-section and she KNEW there was no way I would allow that unless something was very wrong. Sometimes I love how level headed my husband can remain in any situation. He was my rock that night without a doubt.

And so my son, Braden James, was born by emergency c-section on March 10, 2007 at 8:17pm. He weighed 6lbs 15oz and was 21 1/2 inches long. Born five weeks early, his lungs were slightly under developed so he was rushed that night to DeVos Childrens Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI. He was there for 12 days.

To look at him now, you would never know the rocky start he had or how close we were to loosing him. We are thankful every day that he is a part of our lives.

Happy birthday little man. Mommy loves you.