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My baby boy's birth story, complete with hospital bracelets & crib card. Underneath the text I did a 70% fill of one of his first photos. The crib card is attached to the page with a brad so that it can be rotated out of the way in order to see the photo underneath. Text reads:

As soon as we found out we were going to have you, Baby Boy, I knew you’d be coming early. Your sister came over a month early and usually subsequent babies are born earlier. My concern was keeping you inside me long enough that you’d be healthy when you did come, so every week from 24 weeks till the week before you were born I got a shot of progesterone to prevent contractions from starting too early. I know . . . crazy, right? Voluntarily getting a shot every week?! It was no big deal, though, and it worked. You stayed put until 36 weeks and 1 day, three days longer than your sister, and those three days gave you time to mature enough that when you were born you were perfectly healthy. Here’s what happened:

On Monday, November 9th I was supposed to get my last shot. My nurse came by the house to give me the shot and checked my blood pressure while she was here. I have chronic hypertension, but it’s controlled pretty well with medication. When she saw the reading she got worried because it was much higher than it had been, so she called my OB and they said I had to go to the hospital for monitoring. I had to wait for Daddy to get home, and then we took Caitrin over to Uncle Jerry & Aunt Nancy’s. We stayed overnight and went home Tuesday afternoon with orders to take it easy and keep the OB appointment scheduled for the next day. We knew it was just a matter of time before you’d be here; things were following the same pattern they had just before Caitrin was born. So we flew your Nanny (my mom) in from Maine to help take care of Caitrin.

It’s a good thing we did. On Thursday the 12th, I started feeling yucky around lunchtime. I had a pretty good idea what was going on, but I was in denial. I did NOT want to go back to the hospital. I tried lying down, but that only gave me time to focus on how I felt and realize I was having contractions. When the contractions were coming 3-4 minutes apart, I told Nanny what was going on and called your dad. He left work, but had to wait for a train to get home. I didn’t think I had time to wait, so I called the OB and they said to go to the hospital. Your Nanny saved the day. She helped me get things in the truck and then drove Caitrin and me to the hospital. She and Caitrin weren’t allowed to stay with me once we got there and I was worried I would have you all alone, but Daddy got there about an hour after us. It turned out that Dr. Edwards, my favorite doctor in the OB group, was on call that night and that really put me at ease. She gave me some medicine to help with my blood pressure and some antibiotics, and the anesthesiologist gave me an epidural. Then it was a waiting game. Aunt Nancy stayed with us for the first few hours of her shift, which helped pass the time. After the antibiotics had a chance to work, Dr. Edwards broke my water, and then things happened pretty quickly. It was great to have the epidural, because when it came time to push I wasn’t in any pain and could enjoy the process. It only took 4 ½ minutes of pushing before you were born, at 1:52 am, and I saw the whole thing! As soon as I saw you I cried, “He’s so beautiful!” The NICU team had to take you for a few minutes to make sure you were breathing properly, but they let Daddy cut the cord and gave us a chance to hold you first. You looked right at me and I said, “I see you, Baby Boy! Mama loves you, Collin!” They brought you back to us about 45 minutes later and told us you were fine and your Apgar scores were 8 and 9. Then we found out your weight – 6 lbs., 7 oz., and your length – 20 inches. I spent the rest of the night nursing and cuddling you. It was so amazing to finally have you here! We love you so very, very much!


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