Fourteen Hours

On May 21st, Henry was born into this world with the help of two amazing surgeons. My cesarean went absolutely perfectly.

Every miracle we asked for, we got. He flipped head down on Monday, and that allowed us to have a low transverse incision. This means that this surgery will not impact future pregnancies, should we decide to have more children. He was more than cooperative.

Despite only being 35 weeks gestation, Henry weighed in at 8lbs 9ozs, and 23 inches long. Compare this to Amelia! She was 41 weeks, 8lbs 2oz, and 20.5 inches long. Henry grew - not just his head! - at an amazing rate and it allowed him to spend more time with us.

Jason was able to cut his cord. Our pastor was with us in the OR and baptized him immediately, since we had no idea how much time we'd have with him. We have this all on video - simply gorgeous clips, minutes of his life captured for us to relive when we miss him.

My stitches are perfect. They're healing really well so far. It's definitely different from delivering vaginally - you don't have the full body aches, but the aches you do have rival that helpless feeling that comes along with delivery. Percocet is managing my physical pain.

My family was here to meet him. We had a crowd waiting for us, coming back from the operating theater. Amelia got to meet her little brother - and that was beautiful. She loved on him so much! She was absolutely irate when we took him away from her to meet his grandparents. She followed him around, demanding him back in her angry toddler speak. Arms up, grunting, and stomping her little feet. It was adorable.

I got to hold both of my children. I wasn't sure that would be a possibility. 

My family.

Henry made little purring noises with each breath, which was both adorable and scary at the same time. Within an hour, we knew he was crashing. His oxygen saturation levels were steadily declining. By noon, weren't sure how much longer he would hang on.

He really is beautiful. Perfect cupid's bow mouth, his daddy/s eyes. He looked a lot like my dad - forehead, chin, nose.. Just beautiful. 

Grandpa & Henry

We spent the day together. I was bedridden because of the spinal, but Jason and my dad brought Henry outside for a walk. He breathed fresh air and was around the spring flowers. I like to think it was a preview of Heaven.

We had a big group of people. I'm trying to remember all of who was here - but all I can remember is his perfect little face. The warmth of him in my arms. His eyes, just like Jason's. He is perfect. 

We started giving him morphine around 7:00 pm. He refused to drink anything, and refused to keep the morphine down. Henry was a little fighter.

By 8:00 pm, his saturation levels had dropped below a significant point. They hovered around 25 for the next few hours, removing his candidacy for liver donation. He was still a candidate for the heart valve donation. 

We only put him down to check his vitals. Otherwise, that boy was always in someone's arms. He felt love, warmth, and happiness. And hundreds of kisses in that time!

At 10:00pm, he really started to decline. 11:00 he perked up a bit, and then declined again. My son went to Heaven at 11:56pm on May 21st, 2013, from his Daddy's arms. 

Jason walked him down to the operating room, where LifeSource took care of him.

My son lived for fourteen hours, and they were filled with love and miracles. Every moment with him was perfect. 

We were blessed for one day. Now, we'll be blessed for the rest of our lives. We're seeing signs that he's all ready watching over us, our very own guardian angel. Amelia talked to him all night on Wednesday, and he's visited a few others as well. I like to think that he can become an angel - especially since he was so very, very loved by so many people.

Goodnight, my sweet prince. We love you.