I call Matthew a lot of things (Man Cub, buddy, little man, sweet boy), but I refer to him as "our bonus baby." I thought after I had Bella, our family was complete. I had wanted and prayed for one more baby. But every avenue that we tried (foster, adoption) just didn't seem to fit right. I had nearly settled on the fact that we were happy to just be a family of 5, when two lines appeared on the test. I could hardly believe it. Here I was...newly 36 years old (gasp...advanced maternal age) pregnant.
I told Mark we were pregnant in our favorite Thai food restaurant. He was a little less than thrilled. My history with pregnancy didn't really put the odds in our favor for a healthy baby. So we kept the "news" quiet until I was nearly 10 weeks along and had seen a heartbeat and several ultrasounds of growing baby.
Shortly after I became pregnant with Matthew, I had a dream that I was holding a beautiful newborn baby with dark hair. Later, I would realize the baby in my dream would look exactly like my new son.
My age didn't make pregnancy very easy. I feel like I made it through by the skin-of-my-teeth. I had a couple close calls with genetic testing, too much amniotic fluid and gestational diabetes. Regardless, the morning of Wednesday, February 17, 2016 @ 7:57am, I gave birth to the biggest most beautiful baby boy. Matthew weighed in at 9 pounds and 9 ounces. His transition into the world was a little rough. He wouldn't cry and I waited for what seemed like an eternity to hear his little precious squeal. Matthew's Apgar's were a low; 4 and then 8. He had trouble maintaining his blood sugar the first 24 hours. Later I would find out the pediatrician's office at the Vancouver Clinic worked very hard with Legacy Salmon Creek to keep him out of the NICU. I guess I really didn't realize until later how close Matthew came to being admitted.
Matthew was an unexpected and much wanted gift. I treasure him. He is everything I didn't know that I wanted. Mark now can't imagine his life without his buddy. They have an incredible bond. I am so thankful for the gift of Matthew to our family and cannot even imagine our life without him.
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