Premature Birth

Last night I attended a birth as a doula. I hadn't planned on attending any births until October when Alder was 5 months old. This mom wasn't due until October 30th. You can imagine how surprised I was to get that call at 9:15 pm last night. Baby Boy C was born at 2:17 am after just 9 hours of labor, despite magnesium sulfate and keeping mom laying down in an attempt to stop things. She was 29 weeks 6 days pregnant, so Baby Boy C was almost 2.5 months early. He weighed just 2 lbs 14 oz. It will be a while before Mom & Dad can hold him, but they were able to touch him gently last night after he was stabilized in the NICU. This was the first premature birth I have attended. I can't believe how small he was, how fragile. It makes me sooo thankful my kids have come out full term. Mom & Dad have 6-9 weeks of practically living in the NICU to look forward to. Hopefully Baby Boy C will get passed all the major obstacles he'll be facing in the future. Birth story on this one (and the other births I've attended) coming soon.

Oh yeah, and in case you were wondering, Alder didn't even notice I was gone. He went to sleep about 20 minutes before I left and slept for 9 hours straight (by FAR the longest night ever), waking 30 minutes after I got home and asleep again. I've been a bit groggy today. Good news is I managed to pump quite a bit last night.