Arrival
Last Tuesday, after Abby’s ultrasound at 34 weeks, her doctor was concerned about the baby’s size, and sent us to the hospital for some additional tests. Indeed he was small (they told us 3 pounds, 1 ounce), and even though his heart beat well and he passed a sort of stress test that measured how he would respond to contractions, Abby was discharged with the expectation that she would deliver in two weeks by c-section or possibly by inducing labor.
She was discharged just in time for a wonderful baby shower on Saturday with my mom and her parents both in town.
Then on Wednesday, after another doctor’s appointment, the doctor told us again to go to the hospital. More drama – Abby’s fluid had dropped. Another ultrasound confirmed this finding — some measurement of amniotic fluid had dropped from 18 to 4. Fortunately, our triage doctor knew our ob-gyn personally, and when she called, he scheduled the C-section for 5pm on Thursday. He wasn’t even on call, but wanted to do the surgery himself.
So on Thursday, April 26, at 5:56pm in an operating room of Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Children, James William Gjertsen was born into this world.
2 pounds 14 ounces was the official birthweight. We were a little surprised it was less than 3 pounds, since the earlier ultrasounds had estimated him heavier. Abby barely got to see him at all before he was whisked off to the intensive care area, but I got a chance to snap a few photos.
3 Responses to “Arrival”
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Omgoodness James is soooooo cute!!! We are praying for you guys. I hope that James can come home soon!
Love ya guys
Susan Bowerman
Wow, he has the biggest smile on his face, as if it to say, helloooo here I am and I’m so happy to be here. He’s just adorable, I look forward to reading more. I found you from the cake wrecks blog, and your story is a blessing and a wake up call for lots of families, thank you for sharing this with us!
Thankyou so so much for sharing your story abut your James with us. I too had a child, also called James, and he had the same birth defects to a t as your James, plus Gastroscesis. James was only diagnosed 3 weeks after he was born, and even his doctors looked appalled as he looked perfect. The docs made my partner and I make the choice to take James home to die, and so we did; it was that or leave him in hospital all his short life. We had him for a total of 6 weeks, only 3 days f which was spent at home. If I had had the luck to find your story a year ago, when we still had James, I would have done things differently. Thankyou, so very much, for showing me there are others out there who have gone through the same thing, in a different manner, and coped no matter what.