10.27.15

Six months into a pleasant pregnancy, life was good.  Fall was here, the change in season reminded us we were soon to be rounding into the third trimester.  Time to plan a baby shower.  Life had other plans.  This is our story.

Due to complications, on October 25th we went into preterm labor fast and furiously.  We rushed to the hospital we planned to deliver at in February but within hours were rushed to another because of their level to care for very premature babies.  The hope was to stop contractions and ride the rest of this pregnancy out on bed rest.  We were only 24 weeks along, the survival rate of a baby is 50/50 outside the mother’s womb right at this week.  Bed rest was not the plan our baby had.  Within another few painful hours full of steroid shots to accelerate the baby’s development, enough magnesium to stop contractions and take down a horse, and lying somewhat upside down to use gravity to keep this baby in — water broke and Mom was being scooted to the edge of a bed and told to push.  We hadn’t read that chapter of the pregnancy book yet. We were planning a baby shower.

The room was rushed with more than fifteen neonatal doctors and nurses all ready to get to work on our baby boy once he came spiraling into this world too soon.  And that he did.  We learned how to push right then and there.  We heard a cry and realized our world as we know it just changed forever.

Jack Thomas Moreau was born at 4:51am on October 27, 2015.  He was 16 weeks early and weighed in at 1 pound, 11 ounces.  He was whisked away from us immediately to the NICU and our empty room was filled with silence, fear, confusion but also hope.
Our baby boy arrived and has been fighting like hell in a NICU nursery to survive.  We don’t know what the road leads ahead but plan to bring our baby home with us months from now healthy and strong to start our lives as a family, at home, where we belong.  Until then, this is our journey inside the NICU with our mighty Jack Thomas.