Time Traveling

These past few days and the anticipation of the weekend have been like time travel for me. I think it is pretty normal for a mom to relive the days prior to a child's birth. I have to admit, I have been feeling a little sorry for myself . . . I just didn't imagine I would I would be reminiscing without my baby boy here. The day he was born was the most difficult day of all. We were happy to have a beautiful little boy, but we were shocked, scared, sad and heartbroken with the news of his health. So, for the sake of remembering I thought I would do a little timeline of the day before and his birthday.


Thursday July 26, 2007



9:00am My brother Matt is leaving for the Boy Scout Jamboree in London and sends me a text that says, "Don't have baby while I am gone." I send a text back and say, "No worries. He won't be here for another four weeks."



9:30am I arrive at my 36 week check up with my OB. I tell him that I have noticed a difference in fetal movement since last night. He was still moving, but it wasn't quite the same.



9:45am My doctor sets me up on a non stress test to observe fetal movement in his office.



10:15am The nurse brings in a glass of juice to give the baby sugar in hopes that he will move a little more.



10:45am The baby is barely moving and the doctor tells me to go get lunch, drink something really sugary and meet him at Valley Hospital triage for more observation.



10:50am I call Jason and inform him I have to go to the hospital. He freaks. I call my mom who is at the airport with 20 boys scouts trying to get them on their international flight to London. She starts freaking out too and I say, "Mom, there is NO WAY I am having this baby today. Don't freak out."



11:30am I go to the mall and eat a Hot-Dog-On-a-Stick and order a large lemonade. I was sure food would get the baby moving.



Noon I meet Jason in the parking lot at Valley Hospital. I really wasn't worried, but I could tell Jason was nervous.



1:00pm I am hooked up to a monitor to observe the baby's movements. He is not moving at all, but he has a very strong heartbeat.



3:00pm The decided to induce contractions to see how he reacts to them and see if that will get him moving.



5:00pm The doctors discover that the baby's heartbeat is dropping every time I contract. They stop the induced contractions and we wait to hear from my OB.



6:30pm We discuss our options with my OB and he feels like the cord may be compressed and it is too much stress on the baby. A lack of oxygen could cause damage to the baby. We decided to induce labor that night.



7:00pm My mother and brother James arrived at the hospital after we call to tell them we are having the baby tonight. Jason gives me a blessing before they take me to my labor and delivery room. In the blessing he tells me that I will be bringing one of the Lord's choicest spirits to this earth. As soon as the blessing was over I asked Jason, "How special is this boy? Does he have brain damage?" They all tell me I am overreacting . . .



7:15pm My dad arrives at the hospital and takes Jason home to pack the bags and get the car seat. We are all a little nervous, but mostly excited.



8:00pm A nurse comes in with a wheelchair to take me to the labor and delivery room. My brother James pushes me down the hallway.



9:00pm My dad and Jason return with newborn outfits, a car seat and all the essentials to take a baby home. The nurse starts the pitocin.



11:00pm My family leaves the hospital knowing it will be a long night for us.

**** A LITTLE BIT TOO MUCH INFORMATION COULD BE GIVEN HERE THAT I WILL SPARE YOU OF ****

Friday July 27, 2007

6:00am Jason calls my mom and asks her to come sit with me for a bit. Poor guy . . . he had been up all night with me.

6:45am My mom arrives and brings the hairbrush I requested. (I won't even begin to describe what my hair looked like.)

7:00am I actually fall asleep for a little bit with the aid of the epidural and my momma. :)

8:00am The nurse comes in to tell us that it is time to get ready to have the baby.

10:31am Our sweet baby Gavin James Bailey is born. He is silent and stretches as soon as he is laid down on the table.

10:40am They wrap Gavin in a blanket and let me hold him for a few seconds. I told him he was beautiful and that he looked just like his daddy.

10:45am The nurses took Gavin from our room to the nursery. It wasn't until Jason came back into the room that we found they took him right to the NICU.

I would love to end this story by saying that they brought Gavin back into the room, I was able to nurse him for the first time and we carried our baby boy out of the hospital a few days later to go home. But, as most of you know, that is not our story. That is not Gavin's story. Beautiful as that one may have been - our story is beautiful too.