Introducing…
Micah Rae Johnson
February 2, 2015 at 7:36pm
5 lbs 4 oz – 18 inches
The past four weeks have been a blur and I sometimes can’t believe what has all happened, BUT I have never been so happy (and tired!).
Micah came 5 weeks early into this world and low and behold it always goes to show that even though I may have everything planned out – God always has something better in mind. Even though she came 5 weeks early, I am so thankful that she is healthy and growing.
Micah’s birth story begins the weekend before she was born. We had been having some work done to our house to prepare for her birth and it had just finished. The whole weekend before she was born I had a surge of energy to get things done around the house and a bunch of cleaning done. The night before, Superbowl Sunday, I had Drew put together the pack and play and some other baby things just because. We went to bed around 11pm that night and at 4:30am I felt a gush of water as I was sleeping. It was like nothing I had ever felt before and I knew that this wasn’t normal. I quickly jumped out of bed and woke my husband up. I screamed that I thought my water just broke. Drew’s reply (half awake) was, “You probably just peed your pants.” I remember saying that this was not normal and we needed to call labor and delivery. I called our OB and they said that it sounded like my water did break, but since I was 35 weeks, I needed to go to a different hospital. Our OB does not deliver babies under 36 weeks.
Of course I started to panic and throw a bunch of stuff together in a bag. We had planned to pack a hospital bag that weekend, but never got to it. Right before we walked out the door, I yelled, “Grab the carseat! You can’t take home a baby without one!” Thank goodness my husband got this purchased in time.
By now it was around 5 in the morning and we were on our way to a hospital that would be able to deliver a 35 week baby. The day before there was a large snow storm so a usual 40 minute drive took about an hour and a half because of the snow covered roads. That didn’t help my nerves either.
The whole way down I had no idea what was going to happen. Were we going to have a baby today? Were the doctors going to try and stop contractions and put me on bed rest until I was closer to my due date? A million things were running through my head. I can’t lie. I even thought about what if she wouldn’t make it and I would go through loss all over again.
By the time we got to the hospital I was continuing to release more water. We went into a triage room where we waited to be assessed. A nurse named Katie came in the room to assess what was going on with me. She confirmed that my water did break, I was having contractions and was only 1 cm dilated. While this was going on, she asked if this was my first pregnancy. I replied no, our son was stillborn at 28 weeks. She said how sorry she was and told me that her daughter was stillborn at 24 weeks. She asked me when he was stillborn and I told her August of 2013. She then asked what date in August. I told her the 13th. Her jaw dropped as she told me her daughter was stillborn August 13, 2012. Exactly one year before Jonah. In that moment, my nerves were calmed and I knew Jonah was in the room with me, his daddy and his sister. I knew that everything was going to be ok.
We were transferred to our room where I was going to deliver our baby. It really hadn’t set in yet, but this was they day that my baby was going to be born. The day I had long awaited for, but still I felt totally unprepared at the same time.
We waited for a long time and answered the same questions over and over again to nurses and doctors. I don’t know how many times I had to say that this wasn’t my first pregnancy and my first baby was stillborn at 28 weeks.
My contractions weren’t doing much so I was induced at 11:30am. The doctors told me that the risk of infection was a greater threat to the baby than being born at 35 weeks. The NICU doctor came in and went through a big speech on how some babies born at 35 weeks come earth side with no complications or needing intervention of the NICU doctors and some are in extra need of their assistance. They told me that at the most my baby could spend up to two weeks in the NICU. The doctors told me that at the time she was going to be born, they would decide if I got to hold her or not. She may need oxygen and need to be taken right away. Of course, having to go through the possible what ifs and what could happen scared me even more – but this may sound weird but I almost felt as though everything was going to be ok because I had prayed for it to for so long that God was going to take care of it for me. I could almost envision Jonah telling Him to make sure his sister was ok. That his mommy really needed her to be alright and to be able to hold her right after she was born. Jonah even probably told God to make sure she screamed and cried really loud because his mom needed to hear that sound. Just thinking about that moment makes me tear up and cry….
So, I was induced at 11:30am and I was 3cm dilated then. By 6pm I was 5 cm dilated and at 7pm was 10 and ready to push! It was a quick labor that’s for sure!
At 7:36pm Drew and I heard the most glorious sound we had ever heard! A cry! The entire room of doctors and nurses (around 8 of them) were in tears around us as we held our perfect little girl for the first time. She was perfect. She came out breathing on her own and perfectly pink. I had for so long waited for this moment and it was perfect. Drew and I became parents. We were already a mother and father, but we became parents to a child we would raise earth side.
Because she was premature, we stayed in the hospital for three and a half more days for doctors and nurses to keep a close eye on her. She never spent one minute in the NICU.
That Friday, we took our sweet girl home and have loved every minute since. Sometimes I think back on the past year and a half of my life and wonder how I ever made it to these moments. I have never been so happy in my entire life. My arms are full again and the ache has dulled. I know this is what I was made to do … I was made to be a mommy. A mommy to an angel and a mommy to Micah. There is no greater job than I could ever do.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8