Panic, shock and a Miracle

Dear Readers,

Normally I would write  about my thoughts, maybe something a little deep and with a little wisdom thrown in.  Today however, I would like to share the story of the most recent miracle of mine.

Those of you who have been following along know that my wife and I are expecting our first baby after trying to conceive for almost 5 years.  Well we are expecting no longer!  Alexander arrived safely on Sept 27th at 1:22 am.  How he arrived though was a rollercoaster of emotions.

Alexander (or Xander, as we are calling him for short) was due on Oct 17^th.  My wife was living 8 hours south of me while I tried to sell our current house, completed renovations and continued work until I found something down south.  We were supposed to have been moved at the end of August but as things changed, it became clear that she would have the baby there but then move back north until our affairs were in order, which now will not be until spring.  I had my flight booked for the 13^th of October, giving me what I thought would be plenty of wiggle room in case she went into labour early.  I was also going down to visit for the weekend and was packed and ready to go.

Thursday, Sept 26^th, 9pm.  I get a phone call from my wife.  She is going into emergency as she has not felt the baby move all day.  No panic or anything, just standard procedure to check heartbeat and movement.  I am a little worried at this point but she said nothing to worry about so I try to put my worries to rest.

11pm, I get another phone call that they are keeping her for another hour while they monitor baby’s movement.  Luckily, my mom is there to keep my wife company and her spirits up.  Now I am starting to panic, both my wife and baby are in distress and I am no where near them.

12am, I get another phone call from my mom, my wife is being prepped for an emergency C section.  She is 3 weeks early but officially (as of midnight) full term (37 weeks).  Now I am in full panic, hyperventilating, oh my god what’s happening, mode.  I immediately start to gather my things so that I can start driving 8 hours south.  However, being that it’s just after midnight and that I am already tired, my mom convinces me that it would be too risky to drive by myself.

Instead, I was able to get a hold of the airline and change my flight from Oct 13^th to 7 hours from that point for an emergency.

The incision was made at 1:22am and in less then a minute, Alexander was born.  He is born on the small side weighing 5.5 lbs and measuring 18”.  He is in distress for the first 5 minutes with 4 or 5 doctors looking at him.  Distress for 5 minutes is normal for a C section though and the reason for so many doctors is because they expect a very bad situation.  However, at the 10 minute mark, he has scores of 9 across the board and is as healthy as can be albeit a little malnourished.  He is kept in the NICU for about 9 hours while they feed him formula to get his blood sugars up but then released.  By the time I arrived at the hospital at about 10am, he was with my wife and doing very well.

As it turns out, the reason for the distress was two fold.  He was breech (actually transverse, meaning sideways) and for some unknown reason, the placenta stopped working, effectively cutting off his food supply.  The doctors decision to perform the C section was spot on.  Furthermore, if my wife had given birth the normal way (from inducing borth) Xander would certainly have not made it.

Now almost 2 weeks later, he is already surpassed his birth weight (as babies always lose a little weight after birth before gaining) and doing very well!

To go through this whole ordeal from so far away had me all over the spectrum of emotions board.  What most people don’t know, is that, at 12:30am, I was praying my heart out.  I have no doubt in my mind that God answered my prayers.  To be in such distress and have 5 doctors standing by for what was surely going to be a very bad case but then have absolutely nothing go wrong is most definitely a miracle.

This may be a long story to read for most and if you have made it this far, I thank you.  I wanted to share the harrowing story of Xander’s birth and how, in the face of such unbelievable odds, miracles can and do happen.

Miracles happen everyday, change your perception of what a miracle is and you’ll see them all around you.  – Jon Bon Jovi

P.S. With Xander now here, I will have less time to post my stories, posters etc.  but I will try to post every now and then.  I thank everyone for their continued support and welcome any comments at all 🙂