This day will be a day Adrienne and I will forever remember. An amazingly beautiful yet terrifying day. I’m not sure I can even think of the words that would come close to describing the emotions that were flowing through all of us yesterday.

The Thursday before we had decided to induce labor because it wasn’t looking like her cervix was going to be opening anytime soon, and the baby being 4 days late already, he really needed to get out of there! We arrived at the hospital at Monday morning at 5AM. Neither of us had slept the night before because of the anticipation of what would happen the next day. Early in the day they decided to give her (drug escapes me now) which is just a gel tablet placed inside to help the cervix to open. While waiting for this drug  to work they drew some blood to make sure everything was looking a-okay. Unfortunately they weren’t. Adrienne had an abnormally low amount of platelets in her blood, and on top of that her blood pressure was starting to rise. During the course of the day they ran 3-4 more blood test which all revealed her platelets sinking lower and lower. At this point our doctor had told us that she indeed had preclampsyia and could become a serious problem if her platelets kept dropping. Since the platelets were so low they decided upon not allowing us to induce with pitocen, and also not allowing the use of a epidural.

Considering the size of the baby and not being able to use an epidural, or any other drugs because of her high blood pressure, the only other option was a c-section, and the doctor made it clear that it had to happen now. My subconscious must have known something because that uneasy feeling I felt on the way to the hospital that morning was now justified.  Adrienne had been poked and prodded, wires everywhere, machines all over the place, and now had to go into surgery to make sure our son was able to get out there and take his first breath!

I wasn’t able to join her in the surgery room, which was horrible, because I couldn’t imagine how scared she was in there, and her parents and myself were stuck in her labor room waiting for the word. The word came, about an hour after she left the room and we immediately ran up to the nursery to make sure everything was well. And indeed it was.

The moment I saw him was surreal to say the least.  I kept telling myself, “This is your son, this is your son!” but my brain never replied back. I couldn’t stop staring, i couldn’t take myself out of the moment, and it lasted forever.

I was still worried about Adrienne’s condition and left my son in the nursery to see how she was doing. She was in an immense amount of pain as anyone can imagine, and it was horrible not being able to do anything about it. And through all of this pain, she still managed to smile for the rest of us.  At this moment she is now anemic, but making a speedy recovery. Her blood pressure is getting better and her platelet count is almost back to average. The doctor is letting us go home tomorrow (wednesday) after they take out the staples and glue the incision, OUCH!

There are so many things I’m feeling right now, and so much I wish I was able to say and express because I’ve never felt as alive as I do now in this very moment. I want to say thanks to all of our family and friends who supported us through the ridiculously long 9 months of anticipation. I know that all of you will still help and support us through Avin’s life and that is more than we could ever ask for. We love you all!

Avin Koan Keller, born June 2, 2008 at 3:46pm. 9 Ibs!!!!!!!