Before Birth

This was a tough pregnancy. It started out great, and then around 10 weeks, I started bleeding. That continued throughout the rest of the pregnancy off and on. Around 20 weeks, I was diagnosed with a chronic placental abruption. The placenta-the organ that feeds the baby-had a massive clot on it that was bleeding. The doctor did not give us a very good prognosis. It was quite possible that we were going to lose this baby before he was able to survive outside of the womb. I was told that I needed to take it easy and not lift anything or the bleeding would become worse, which would aggravate the uterus, which would cause me to contract and go into labor. Through fasting, prayers to God, and lots of help from our parents with housework and with our three other children, I was able to last until 26 weeks and 2 days. There is no doubt in my mind that if our parents hadn't stepped in when they did, which was around 22 weeks that Malachi would not be here today. I would have done too much and he would have come so early that he would not have survived.
I was admitted to the hospital on Thursday, November 8th because of extremely heavy bleeding. For the 3 weeks previous to that, I had had iron infusions to try and get my hemoglobin's up. Because of the blood loss I was severely anemic and was getting weaker every day. When I was admitted, the doctors immediately started me on steroid shots to try and strengthen Malachi's lungs. They also put me on magnesium to try and protect his brain from cerebral palsy. Over the course of the next 48 hours I was able to receive all of the treatments that I needed to help him. As I was on bed rest in the hospital, I was very optimistic that this pregnancy was going to last a lot longer and that this little baby was going to get a better shot at life. But, sometimes things don't go how we plan.
On November 11th at 2:00 in the morning, my contractions began to increase and become much more painful. It was soon very clear that I was in active labor. In a matter of minutes, the room was filled with doctors and nurses preparing to take care of this extremely premature baby. Labor only lasted about 1 hour and Malachi was here. They wrapped him in plastic to keep him warm, put him in an incubator, and Jeff and I were able to hold his hand for a second before he was whisked off to the NICU.
And thus begins our (at least) 3-month long journey with Malachi as he grows and develops under the care of amazing doctors and nurses in the NICU.

My belly, 3 days before Malachi was born.

This was when I thought weeks of bedrest were in my future. 

One of the hardest things about having a preemie is not being able to hold them right after they are born.