Our Little Miracle

As most of you know, our little man came early!
And the story begins ...

Saturday afternoon was our family baby shower, which was amazing!!! I felt great. My family was in town from Colorado and California so we were just spending the weekend hanging out. I woke up early Sunday morning around 3:00, not able to fall back asleep, so I got up and did some of Gabe's laundry. I noticed I was having menstrual like cramps on and off, but didn't think much of it. I finally laid back down for a couple hours of sleep and woke up around 9:00, still having cramps. We got dressed and went to my mom and dad's house for breakfast, and as I was sitting at the table the cramps became a little more uncomfortable. I went to lay down on the bed and as I did so, my sister and sister-in-law were counting silently how far apart the "cramps" were coming. At that point they were coming every 2 to 3 minutes. My sister-in-law finally convinced me to call the doctor and of course she requested for me to go to triage to be monitored. We chose to go ahead to Methodist because my doctor was there seeing a patient. We arrived at the hospital around 12:00 and went to triage. They put me on the monitor and sure enough the "cramps" were contractions. The midwife checked me and I was already 4 cm! The quickly admitted me and started a bolus of Magnesium sulfate to try to stop my labor. Around 1:30, the nurse checked me by request of my doctor and I was 5 1/2 cm! At that point, my doctor was on her way in. She arrived around 2:30, checked me, I was 8 cm, she broke my water, and I quickly dilated to 10 cm!! NO TIME FOR PAIN RELIEF!! I pushed for about 20 minutes and .....

Gabriel Wetherbee Johnson was born on
10/11/09 at 3:14 pm
3 lbs 14 oz, 17 1/4 in

He was 32 weeks and 3 days, so of course he had to go to the NICU. We were able to hold him briefly before they whisked him away. I remember how warm his cheek felt against mine ... so amazing!



After the delivery, I only required one tiny stitch, which at that point we thought was great! Well ... I continued to bleed and pass grapefruit sized clots. The nurse called my doctor, who was already on her way home, and she had the resident check me. WOW, I will have to say that was worse than delivering Gabe. The nurse told me to find a "happy place" before the resident came in. The resident couldn't find the source of my bleeding, so she told my nurse to call my doctor if I continued to do so. Well, I did, very heavily. Enough so that my doctor came back in to the hospital to take me to the OR for a DNC. By the time my doctor made it back to the hospital I had lost a LOT of blood. I remember feeling very weak and tired as everyone was urgently trying to get me back to the OR. By the time they wheeled me from my labor room to the OR, I had lost almost double what I lost previously. I was back in the OR for about 1hr and 15 min and thankfully made it out ok! What a scary experience! I have recovered very well, only a little sore : ). The day was such a whirlwind, I'm sure I left out some details, but you get the idea!

Gabriel was put on CPAP, but was quickly weaned to a NC at 6:00 the next morning! He is doing very well. They started feedings on Tuesday of 4 mL of my breast milk every 3 hours. Today, they increased him to 9 mL and he is tolerating it great! He is still under one bank of lights for his bilirubin, but his level is coming down quickly, so hopefully he will be out from under that tomorrow! We have been able to snuggle with him and be involved in his care. Our experience has really been wonderful at Methodist. Here are some pics and videos to enjoy : )















We want to thank all of our family and friends for being so supportive during this series of events! We couldn't have made it through with out you! Although we have a long road ahead, we feel so blessed to have our sweet baby here with us and are looking forward to watching him grow!