growing, growing, every day growing...

I haven't posted in awhile because I've been busy being Henry's mum. I have never been so sleep deprived in all my life; nor have I ever felt happier or more complete. The feeling of holding this little being that is part Michael and part me is just completely indescribable. Simply put, Henry is the epitome of all that is good and beautiful in the world.

I labored for two days so that Henry could be born. Post due date by eleven days, the little guy was just a little too comfortable in there. The delivery was unbelievable- I felt like Wonder Woman when he popped out. Mike was by my side the entire time I labored; he even cut the cord, which he had sworn from the beginning he wouldn't be able to do.

The hospital was going to discharge us early on Friday because Henry and I received the go-ahead from our doctors. About twenty minutes after they told us about our early discharge, Henry's pediatrician called. The nursery had discovered that Henry's temperature spiked to 102.7. The pediatrician explained that they had to move him into the newborn intensive care unit, and that they had to run a battery of tests, including a spinal tap. This was one of the scariest moments of my life. Mike and I felt so completely helpless. I felt like I would lose my mind. I think perhaps that I did, a bit.

To make a long story short, he was in the nicu from Friday until Sunday. All of the tests came back negative. The only thing that explains the temperature spike is possible dehydration. I could not have made it through that weekend had it not been for Michael- every three hours he ran my milk to the hospital; if I couldn't make it downtown with him, he sat with Henry and fed him by bottle. It is crazy how we bonded so strongly as a family, the three of us, there in the middle of the nicu; amongst premature babies in warming machines, with all of the strange monitors and beeping sounds, there in the dim light of a hospital, instead of by the warmth in our home. I will never forget these moments as long as I live.

Henry had his two week check up today and got a clean bill of health. He has grown an inch and a quarter, and now weighs eight pounds eleven ounces. Every day I feel luckier that all is well and happier that he is finally home.