Elijah has been home for two weeks now, and it has all gone by like a whirlwind. A very exhausting and sometimes looong-feeling whirlwind! I know how anxious everyone is to see more pictures, so we'll try not to keep you waiting much longer! I am also trying to bust all this out before the little man...oops too late...be right back!
I started this post last Friday, if that's any indication of how crazy things have been! Elijah is now 3 weeks, and 2 days old and has already grown so much! Today was his due date, but our little fall baby ended up being an end-of-summer baby! He was 6 lbs. when he was discharged from the hospital but has gained back his birth weight and more and is probably at about 7+ lbs. now. His little cheeks and legs are getting chubby and he is certainly feeling a little more "substantial" when we hold him! You can draw your own conclusions from the pics below:
One week old
Two weeks old
Three weeks old
This is Elijah's going-home-from-the-hospital outfit, courtesy of my sister! It was the only preemie outfit we had, so it was the only thing that fit him perfectly at the time. As you can see, he won't be wearing this much longer!
We have had lots of "firsts" during these first 3 weeks:
Elijah got his first bath!
First walk
Notice Elijah rockin' the "gangsta style." He's far too cool to ever wear his hat straight!
First trip to church...okay this pic was at his second trip to church, but we were too flustered the first time to get a pic!
And for all of you picture-starved fans, here are some pictures that I just plain love!
So what exactly happened? Well...absolutely nothing that I had planned, but fortunately nothing that God wasn't aware of. On Wednesday, September 16th, I woke up feeling that "burst of energy" that all the pregnancy books describe. I hadn't been feeling too great for quite awhile, so I wanted to take full advantage! I started some laundry, organized the apartment and made plans for dinner that night. I went to my doctor's appointment that morning with plans to run some errands afterwards. I had tons of food in the fridge for making extra meals to freeze and a "To-Do" list of things I wanted accomplished before the birth. I was in a joyful mood that morning, singing worship songs at the top of my lungs as I drove. God must have been prepping me for all that was to come.
Everything changed as soon as the nurse took my blood pressure. I typically have a low bp and it was abnormally high that day. I didn't really think much of it until the nurse came back and told me she had called the doctor who as on call that morning. He wanted me to go over the hospital and wait for him in triage so he could run some blood work. I really thought that all this was totally unnecessary as I waddled with my swollen feet to the hospital side of the building. I laid in bed for several hours, hooked up to several monitors and was poked more often than I wanted. All they told me was that if they found something abnormal, they would keep me. That didn't sound too promising, but I tried my best not to panic. My appointment was at 11am and I found out sometime around 3pm that they found "something." I was finally able to reach Daniel (he had been in meetings) to tell him that they were keeping me for some unknown reason, but that he had better get my bag and get here fast!
It turned out that I had severe pre-eclampsia. No one knows exactly what causes pre-eclampsia, just that it has something to do with a chemical reaction with the placenta. My eating healthy and working out 3 times a week did nothing to mitigate all the symptoms. At least I finally had an explanation for my severe swelling, the painful ringing in my ear and my slightly blurry vision. In short, the doctor was extremely concerned saying that it meant I was at high risk for a seizure. They not only told me I couldn't go home, they also wouldn't allow me out of bed. They wanted the baby delivered ASAPfor the sake of my health. By God's grace, I had started to go into labor on my own, from the time I walked over from the doctor's office. Absolutely nothing but a miracle!
To my intense relief, Daniel showed up just before they started any procedures. I was pumped full of medicine, had a catheter to my bladder, my labor accelerated (apparently my rapidly progressing labor wasn't short enough), and my blood taken, all while hooked up to every kind of monitor. Plans for "natural child-birth" went out the window as they recommended an epidural to help lower my bp. I wouldn't have been able to handle the pain anyways, with all the other stuff I had going on. My labor lasted around 5 hours and Elijah was born at 10:03pm.
Despite the slow recovery from the pre-eclampsia and a very bad tear, I have had a lot to praise God about. Just as I had been praying for the past several months, Elijah was born completely health and has been thriving ever since. Daniel returned from JASOC just three days before Elijah's birth and was there to take care of the both of us. We had all the most important items ready for the baby (even our bassinet, which was on backorder, was delivered to our apartment the following day). All our friends from church and work, knew that we were caught by surprise and brought by meals every day that next week until my mom came to help, another huge blessing. I am healing well and after 3 long weeks, am finally able to feed Elijah without supplimenting with formula. Nothing about this birth fit into my neat plans, but I can confidently say that I am at peace. These have been some of the most physically and emotionally challenging weeks I have ever faced, but God has still been faithful through everything, and it would be short-sighted of me to not see the blessings He has showered us with. This little 7 lb. blessing makes it all worth it!
"The Maker of heaven and earth, Creator of the universe, Author of all that is seen and unseen...rejoices over me with singing!" -Zephaniah 3:17
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