May 6, 2019- Welcome, Joshua Brenten!

After 34 days for Joshua and I in the hospital, our doctors decided that for him to stay in my tummy any longer could increase the risk of infection for him or me. So on May 6, 2019, labor was induced and we waited for him to arrive. He decided he was not quite in agreement with coming quite yet and they had to turn the pitocin pretty high. He was my 5th born and my toughest labor by far. I made it through, by the grace of God and with only one dose of IV pain meds.

After about 9 hours, though, he all of a sudden decided wanted to arrive in 20 minutes. My doctor, who had been with me all day, had gone into an emergency c- section with another patient. They had to get the NICU team there in a hurry because they had to be there for his birth since he was arriving early and actually, get another doctor to come in and deliver him because everything happened so fast in the last 20 minutes.

Joshua Brenten arrived at 8:33 pm. He was 5 lbs and 4 ounces. He only weighed a pound less than Rachel who was born 4 weeks to the day further along (38.5 weeks). He was also 17.8 inches long. This was 0.3 inches longer than Bethany and almost as long as his 18 inch sisters. So we were thrilled that though early, he was a good size! Even better, he came out breathing completely on his own and never needed any extra support to help him breathe. He was also maintaining his temperature on his own pretty well. Because of all these parameters going so well, Brent and I were able to have two of our greatest memories of his birth.

 We knew from shortly after I was admitted to the hospital that when Joshua was born he would go very quickly from labor and delivery to the NICU. One of our favorite memories with each of the girls was Brent cutting their cord and us getting to hold each of them right after each was born. We had no idea if we would get to do either of those things with Joshua or if he would have to go immediately to the NICU. Because he was doing so well at birth, with his weight, breathing and temperature, Brent was able to cut his cord and give him his belly button and I was able to hold him just after that for about 3 to 4 minutes. We are so thankful to have those memories with him right after he was born, even though he came 5.5 weeks early!

Brent headed straight down to the NICU with Joshua and the NICU team right after I held him while the nurses and doctors finished up with me. They sent me back to my room about 10:30 pm and around 11:30 pm, Brent was able to take me down in a wheelchair to see Joshua in the NICU. And so our NICU journey began.

This is the first picture we have of Joshua in the NICU. He does have a feeding tube, at least for now and a central line because they had trouble getting an IV started right after birth.
He is perfect in every way and will just need a little extra time to grow, put on weight and learn how to eat himself.
Brent and I picked his name even before we were married for if we ever had a son. We didn't think we were going to ever use his name , but God had other plans to surprise us! Joshua literally means "Jesus saves." We are so thankful for God's Faithfulness to our Joshua and how God has worked in saving his life and protecting him already.
"Have not I commanded you, be strong and of a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed for the Lord, your 
God, is with you wherever you may go"
Joshua 1:9