Bringing a new roommate home

Around 2:00 am, a few hours after the C-section, I had enough control back in my legs to go meet the baby. I climbed out of bed with the help of Dan and two nurses, into the wheelchair. It was probably one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done! And it HURT! My nurse summed it up well when she said, "I'm just gunna throw this out there... this is gunna suck." It did.

When I met Gavin in the nursery, he was a tangle of monitors: heart rate, oxygen, and lung. And he was on an IV. I couldn’t move well; all I could do is reach up to touch his heel. I felt small and useless. I couldn't hold my baby; I could barely touch him; his care was 100% out of my control and I had so much healing to do, I couldn't jump right in and be his mom just yet. His was the smallest foot I’ve ever seen. He was 5 pounds, 9 ounces at birth. His stay in the special care nursery began with extra oxygen, since his lungs were a little bit sticky still. His breath had a sigh upon every exhale. Each day the nurses and doctors liked what they saw in Gavin. He started eating breastmilk and formula every 3 hours - 1/6 of an ounce per serving! In a few days' time, he was up to 50 mL per serving. He spent 3 or 4 days in the incubator. We trekked out to get some smaller outfits, when the nurses graduated him out of the incubator and into a crib. We knew we needed preemie sized clothes when we couldn't stop laughing at the sight of Gavin in his newborn sized clothes. The child looked like he was playing dress up.

Life changed forever & for better on September 9, 2008, when we brought baby Gavin home with us. We know we are so lucky. When we put all of our bags down, we looked at each other and said, “Now what?” It's hard to remember what this house and this life was like without him. After 5 weeks in and out of the hospital, we were definitely ready to have our son at home with us.