8. Davin's Birth Story
Friday July 7th, 2017.
Friday morning Justin and I had planned to spend the day hiking up in northern Michigan, taking photos of several beautiful waterfalls. I had not slept well the night before, waking up about every half hour We stopped in the local town to grab lunch and run a few errands. While standing in line for my sub, I started getting very uncomfortable. The pain in my back started getting worse, and I was having a hard time standing. I tried moving side to side, walking a little bit, shifting my weight but nothing seemed to be helping. I got a little nervous about this pain an pressure not going away, but I figured as soon as we got to the waterfalls and started hiking everything would be fine. We finally got our lunch and headed on our way to the waterfalls.
We spent the day hiking about 5-6 miles through the woods and trails to see several different waterfalls. It was so beautiful, and I didn't realize it then but it was our last little adventure as a family of three. The picture above is a butterfly we saw as soon as we got to the first waterfall, and a couple of pictures of us along the way. I felt better while we were hiking and moving around, but when we reached the fourth waterfall I felt like I had hit my limit of hiking for the day. We decided to walk back to our car, which was about 2 miles away. I had to stop several times along the way because I was getting increasingly uncomfortable again. Justin was starting to get a little concerned, especially when I said I hoped I wasn't going into labor. He offered several times to go get the car and let me rest along the way, but I was too stubborn to let him do that.
We finally made it to the car and decided to go up to visit Lake Superior, which was about 5 minutes up the road by car. At this point I was having a hard time walking, and when we reached the beach I let Justin go on ahead of me to walk along the shore. I tried sitting in every position I could think of to get comfortable, and finally dug myself a hole in the sand like a giant turtle, and flopped myself down onto the sand, with my stomach in the hole. There were a few people nearby, who watched me like I was a bit crazy. Which I probably looked like. At about 4:45 we decided to head back to the cabin, and by this point we both knew something wasn't right. I told Justin that if I wasn't able to make this pain and pressure go away, we might need to go be seen by a doctor. We didn't talk much on the way home, I was curling up in every position imaginable in the back seat while Justin drove me around like an Uber driver. I almost made him stop at a hospital along the way, but I really didn't want my baby born in Michigan, and some part of me didn't really believe this was happening.
We made it home at about 5:45 and I went up to take a shower to see if this would help my pain go away like it had done the night before. No such luck. At this point I knew for sure what was happening. We were having this baby, and it wasn't going to take much longer. Justin and I agreed that I should probably go in to be evaluated and he went to go get his mom who, as soon as she saw me, knew what was happening. At 6:30 we left for the hospital with Justin's mom behind the wheel. We made it to the Howard Young hospital in Woodruff, WI around 7:00, and after checking in at the emergency department I was wheeled upstairs to the labor and delivery floor. By this time my contractions were about 2 minutes apart. The nurse up on the floor checked me in and helped me get settled. I was so uncomfortable at this point, I felt like I was going to burst. She kept trying to put the fetal heart monitor on my stomach, which was SO uncomfortable. Justin finally took it off my stomach when he could tell I couldn't take it any more, which the nurse wasn't too thrilled about.
The doctor arrived around 7:20, and we began explaining the situation to him. I was only 29 weeks along, and dealing with a rare disorder that he definitely wasn't familiar with. He checked me, and found that I was about 8cm at that point. While he was talking with me and examining me the nurse had managed to get in contact with my OB back at home, who was miraculously on call that night. She explained the situation to the nurse, and confirmed everything I was explaining. The doctor finished asking me some questions and then did an ultrasound to see what we were dealing with. Davin was unfortunately breech at that point, but his little heart was beating a strong 153 beats a minute. He suggested that if he broke my water I would feel much more comfortable, so at about 7:35 he broke my water. And I felt SO much better. I told the doctor that I hadn't felt that good in weeks. A couple minutes later I felt a contraction, and the doctor told me to start pushing. A little less than 15 minutes later little Davin George made his appearance into this world at 7:52 pm on July 7th, 2017.
At some point during his birth, my little Davin went home to be with Jesus. As I held him I don't think reality had sunk in yet. I kept watching him, hoping and expecting his eyes to open, for him to start crying. The shock of it all, and how fast everything happened didn't give my mind time to process everything. My sweet, perfect little boy was gone, faster than I could have ever imagined. Although it was so difficult to never know his cry, or to see him move, or to watch him open his eyes, I have found so much comfort in knowing that he didn't suffer. All he would have known on this earth was the terrifying feeling that he couldn't breathe, and he never had to experience that. Instead, he is home with Jesus. He is fully complete, with a perfect, new body that will never fail him like our human bodies do. He is my little butterfly baby. While he endured being a caterpillar here on this earth, he has been transformed through Christ, and raised to life. I know he is loving his knew wings that Jesus has given to him.
