I’ve never thought of myself as dramatic (I can actually hear Marcus roll his eyes right now), but we had the craziest, dramatic day following MJ’s birth.

After the excitement of oh…giving birth, the three of us laid down in our respective beds and passed out around 3:30 a.m. Just 45 minutes later, MJ woke us me up, and Marcus got up to give him to me to feed him. After MJ ate, I put him back in his bassinet and got back in bed. Just as I got settled in, the nurse came in to check on me. Right as she pulled the covers back, I felt a gush of blood come out.

Oh my gosh, enough with gushing of bodily fluids already!

When I told the nurse what I felt, she reassured me that it was normal. HOWEVER, when she actually saw how much blood I lost, she got worried. She called someone to come help her, who ended up being the charge nurse. As they both worked to stop the hemorrhaging, I heard the charge nurse say that they needed to call down to labor and delivery. She also told the other nurse to set up the machine to take my blood pressure every five minutes.

I started feeling worse and worse, and I was trying to tell the nurses that I was still bleeding, which, now that I think about it, they could obviously tell. When my labor and delivery nurse got to the room (and yes, I think of her as mine now), she immediately began helping the other nurses too. She told me later that when she walked in, I was as white as the pillowcase.

I kept my eyes closed because I started feeling sick to my stomach, which I managed to tell them in case I was sick all over them. At one point, I opened my eyes to see at least four people around my bed. I heard someone call my doctor, and I heard the words “She’s hemorrhaging and we can’t stop it.” The words balloon and shot were mentioned, and as far as I can tell, they were going to put a balloon in my uterus to see if I had any more clots. I did get a shot in my leg, but I still don’t know exactly what it was (maybe one of my nurse friends can tell me?). I heard the nurses make plans to send me back to labor and delivery, but not before I heard one nurse say “I can’t even get a reading on her blood pressure.”

I’m glad I wasn’t fully aware at the moment of how serious this all was.

Not so surprisingly, Marcus and MJ slept through everything. They woke Marcus up to tell him they were taking me back down to labor and delivery, so he had them send MJ to the nursery so he could stay with me.

By the time we got downstairs (around 5:30 a.m. at this point) and they hooked me up to the monitors and put another IV in, I had stabilized. The doctor came in to check on me (poor guy – he came to the hospital twice in the span of five hours just for me). After he examined me, he looked at my L&D nurse and said, “Well, you did everything right. We’ll continue to monitor her and leave the IV in, but good job, Chris!” Then he turned to me and explained that I had lost so much blood that they had requested two units of blood to give me. As my L&D nurse’s shift came to an end, she came in my room to say goodbye. She said “I was hoping to see you before I left, but not like this!” What can I say? I like to make an impression.

I stabilized quicker than they thought, so Dr. O said they would keep the units on standby but let me see if I continued to improve. I spent the rest of the night in that room, and by mid-morning, I was back in my regular room.

It wasn’t until the day unfolded that I realized just how scary things had turned. As nurses came in the room to check on me throughout the day, they all commented, “You look so much better!” I had one nurse who hadn’t been there when all this happened, but apparently she heard about it. When she came in the room, she exclaimed, “So you’re the one who scared the crap out of everyone!”

I wasn’t real sure how to answer that. “Yes, that’s me!” Uh….not so much.

Friday was filled with naps and visitors, all of my favorite things! I napped off and on all day, and by Friday night, I started feeling a little more like myself. I had some good friends come visit (and bring me food!), and lo and behold, we were in for another adventure. As we were all visiting, and I was stuffing my face, we noticed the weather getting worse and worse. Suddenly it started storming and the electricity went out. The winds were so high and strong that the sirens began wailing. The hospital called a code gray, which meant we all had to move into the hallway.

What.a.night.

After about 15 minutes hanging in the hallway, we finally got to move back into our room. Our friends said goodbye, and it was back to being the three of us. I looked at the clock, looked at Marcus, and came to the realization that MJ wasn’t even 24 hours old yet. I had had enough adventure to last me for quite a while.

MJ had a much more exciting birthday than I’ve ever had. 

Fortunately for us, things calmed down for the rest of our hospital stay (which was extended to Sunday thanks to my early morning adventure). I was sent home with a plethora of medicine, but I was still home. Hallelujah!

Father/Son chat. MJ has a great daddy.

Here’s the funny thing: although I had a relatively healthy pregnancy, I worried every day that something would go wrong. I looked forward to my due date because I couldn’t wait to meet MJ, of course, but also because I thought it would be the end of my worrying. Why in the world did I think I would be less worried once MJ got here? It didn’t take me long to get overwhelmed with everything once we were home. Not only was I tasked with keeping a little baby alive, but my mood plummeted every single day once the sun went down. I constantly worried about MJ. I stressed over getting his clothes and items in order. I lamented the fact that he wouldn’t eat as much as I wanted to. When he cried because he was having trouble nursing, I cried too. I cried without knowing why I was crying. The only thing that brought me relief was reading my Bible. I found a devotional plan on YouVersion, and read it every night during nighttime feedings. I came across a verse that I’ve decided to pray over MJ. Although I picked out a verse when I first found out MJ was on his way, I realized that he could have more than one verse prayed over him.

I don’t pretend to know everything. I never have, so why start now? But I do feel a little more at peace. Our prayer as parents is that MJ would grow up to be someone who follows hard after God, who puts others first and recognizes their value, and who works hard at whatever opportunities he’s provided. We pray that he goes after his dreams, and that he makes dreams come true for others.

MJ, your mommy and daddy love you very much. You make us proud already, and we can’t wait to point you to the King.