Ezra’s Birth Story
August 31, [Thursday night] I was a bag of tears as my in laws came over and picked up Jack to stay with them for the weekend. We were going to the hospital in the morning to have our second son via cesarean section. I was nervous, but mostly I was excited to meet our newest addition to our little family. We went to bed around 11 pm, and set our alarms for 4:30 am. In the morning, we rushed to get ready and get all of our hospital bags into the van. We left at 5:15 am, and arrived at the hospital before 6. They checked me into women’s hospital, and showed me to a small room in triage. I was no longer nervous, just so excited that in an hour or so, I would be holding my new son! Time went quickly, they got me dressed and ready, and showed me to the OR. I got on the table, and they prepped me for surgery. They gave me a spinal, and quickly had me lay down before I froze completely. The nurses and doctors were all so friendly, making sure I was comfortable and not nervous. They put up the curtain, and then Mike was allowed in. Shortly after Mike sat down next to me, they told him he could watch and take pictures. Ezra was coming! Then I heard him cry, and I started crying. My baby was here! My doctor walked around the curtain and showed us our boy. He was so perfect! They took him to be weighed and cleaned, and brought him right over to me to hold. This is something I wasn't able to do with Jack, so it meant so much to me to hold my baby right after birth.
While they were wheeling me to the recovery room, the nurse told me that they needed to watch Ezra’s breathing. He was squeaking a little bit with every breath. I didn't think it was something to be worried about, but it turned out it was a bigger issue than we thought. I got to hold Ezra for about an hour after he was born, and then the paediatric nurses took him away to be examined. They told us he might be gone for an hour or two, or it could end up being a couple days in the NICU in women's. The thought of being away from Ezra for a couple hours broke my heart, never mind a couple of days. But unfortunately we got the news that he had been admitted to the NICU and wouldn't be coming to my room with me. Mike went with Ezra to the NICU while the nurses brought me to my hospital room. It felt like forever that I was away from them, and wasn't given a wheelchair to visit my baby for a couple hours. Finally I was able to see him, and it broke my heart to see my baby attached to different machines and have a breathing mask on his face. Thankfully the nurses were all very friendly and positive that Ezra would be better soon.
The next few days felt like they were never-ending. Every day we were told by the doctors that Ezra should be getting better within 24-48 hours, and every day we had hope that they could take the breathing mask off, but it wasn't happening. On September 3 [sunday night] I was discharged from the hospital, so Mike and I left Ezra in the NICU and went home. This was heartbreaking, leaving the hospital without our child. Being home and not seeing him in the basinet was heartbreaking. Finally Mike and I went to bed because we knew we would want to go to the hospital early in the morning. In the middle of the night I got a phone call from the NICU that the worse case scenario (they had told us the day previous that this was worst case scenario) had happened for Ezra. They had to put a breathing tube in his throat to give him surfactant in his lungs (which is basically something we all have in our lungs, but premature babies often don't have enough). I accepted this, because it seemed necessary to get him better, and start breathing properly. A few hours later I got another phone call. The doctors decided to transfer him to the NICU in children’s hospital so he could have better care. They had to put the breathing tube back into his throat to regulate his breathing. At this point Mike and I were so scared and broken over the fact that our baby was struggling, and we had no idea what he was going through or how it would end. We were awake for hours praying that Ezra would be ok and that God would save our baby.
In the morning, we rushed to the hospital, both heartbroken and hoping that Ezra was doing better and not worse. When we saw Ezra in the Children’s NICU, we realized that this was a good move for him. He was doing so much better. He was no longer incubated, and wasn't stressed out when anyone touched him. The day before I was not able to touch Ezra at all because every little touch stressed him out and raised his need for more oxygen. We thanked God for the move to children’s, because it clearly was what he needed.
Every day from there Ezra showed signs of improvement. On September 8th we woke up and took our time eating breakfast and getting ready before going to see Ezra, and once we got there, our nurse saw us and had the biggest smile on her face. We walked in the room, and she said “we have a surprise for you!”. We went over to see Ezra’s breathing mask was off, and he was doing great breathing on his own! We were able to hold him as much as we wanted after that point, and I even tried breastfeeding for the first time. Ezra latched immediately, and hasn't had an issue breastfeeding at all.
We spent my birthday in the hospital, watching Ezra get better and better. Jack was brought to the hospital for a long visit that day, which made the day even better. I left the hospital for the first time in four days, (we were staying in the Ronald Mcdonald room, so I had no need to leave the hospital for those four days prior) and we watched Jack play outside, which was a great distraction from what had all happened in the past week. The Bouwman family came for supper that day, and most of them were able to see Ezra and even hold him.
That night I was able to stay in a room with Ezra so I could breastfeed when he needed. The nurse came in to check on us twice that night, and Ezra was doing perfectly fine. In the morning, she came back to tell us we would be discharged in a few hours. I was finally going to take my baby home! Mike and Jack came to the hospital to pick us up. It was so good to finally all be in the same place at the same time, and Jack could actually see his baby brother without all the tubes and wires attached to him.
We are so thankful for everyone who has thought about us, and prayed for us during this time. (And brought us food or offered to help in any way!) It was so difficult to go through, but now that its over it feels like a distant memory. My baby is home and healthy, and we are all so happy. Praise God for taking care of us when we need him the most, and for healing our son.
“Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.” Isaiah 25:1
my last bump picture the morning we went to the hospital.
All ready to have a baby!
minutes after birth.
holding Ezra for the first time. So in love.
When we saw him for the first time in the NICU.
The nurse let me hold him for a few minutes, but he wasn't tolerating it well, so I had to put him back in the incubator.
Jack seeing Ezra for the first time. He was excited, but obviously didn't understand what was going on, and didn't want to stay in the room with us.
Skin to skin
The morning after he was transferred to Children's NICU. Doing so much better.
Our first family photo. So happy to all be together.
Mike's first time holding Ezra since he was born. What a good moment for him!
Jack was loving playing in the Ronald McDonald room with daddy.
Such a strong little dude.
Jack still was always excited to see his brother, but never wanted to stay long.
Finally off CPAP! and looking super excited about it!
So many cuddles.
My birthday supper at the Ronald McDonald room.
Mine and Ezra's first night together!
Finally going home!!
