Unto this world, a child is bornMy wife delivered my youngest son yesterday at 5:17 in the morning. Keaton James Leffler, 3lbs 10oz, 17 inches. Delivered at exactly 36 weeks.

Here's the thing, children are considered preemie any time before 37 weeks. Most preemie children born at 36 weeks are in the 5-6 lb range. My wife suffered from severe preeclampsia and moderate liver problems. My son was born completely healthy (Thank you God) but had absolutely no fat reserves to keep him warm or keep his blood sugar up. The doctors and nurses kept him in a warming tray for the body heat and gave him dextrose solution through an IV to keep him healthy. Unfortunately, his situation was too much for the hospital in Redmond (where I live) to keep him going and monitor him effectively so they transferred him to the NICU in Bend (half hour away) to stay until he can gain some weight and do well under his own power.

My wife had extremely low blood platelet counts (61k for those who know what that means) and had to stay at the hospital in Redmond for observation and MgSO4 (Magnesium Sulfate) treatment to help with blood pressure and preeclampsia issues. This meant that my son was sent to Bend while my wife had to stay in Redmond. This was really hard on her since she was only able to hold him for less than half an hour. It made for a hard time for me as well since I now had three places I needed to be: with my wife, with my son, and with my other children. Luckily both my In-Laws and parents live in Redmond and were able to split up the babysitting duties.

The doctor was going to keep my wife for observation for at least another day, which meant another day that she couldn't hold and see her new baby. I was able to use Skype on my phone to help her see him a little bit, but it's nowhere near good enough. Very early in the morning there were 4 different mothers in labor that came to the birthing center (at the hospital in Redmond) in the span of 5 minutes. I believe this lead the doctor to discharge my wife since she knew that my wife would get better just the same while at home. We were able to go to Bend and spend some time with my son and feed him a couple times and hold him for a while.

My son is healthy and fine, just extremely small. He looks just like his brother when he was born, but half the size and with less of the old man smoosh face. I can't stop thanking God for answering prayers for a healthy child. I know there have been a lot of people praying for my wife and my son, and will continue to do so. We had no idea there was anything wrong until my son was already out, but he came out healthy. He might be spending the next couple weeks in the NICU while he gains his strength and size. For those of you who are willing to pray for my family, please pray for my wife who doesn't have a baby to hold, and for my son who is healthy but very tiny. Thanks.

I will post some pictures when I get them off of my camera.

tl:dr

I have a new son; he's in the NICU.

Unto this world, a child is bornMy wife delivered my youngest son yesterday at 5:17 in the morning. Keaton James Leffler, 3lbs 10oz, 17 inches. Delivered at exactly 36 weeks.

Here's the thing, children are considered preemie any time before 37 weeks. Most preemie children born at 36 weeks are in the 5-6 lb range. My wife suffered from severe preeclampsia and moderate liver problems. My son was born completely healthy (Thank you God) but had absolutely no fat reserves to keep him warm or keep his blood sugar up. The doctors and nurses kept him in a warming tray for the body heat and gave him dextrose solution through an IV to keep him healthy. Unfortunately, his situation was too much for the hospital in Redmond (where I live) to keep him going and monitor him effectively so they transferred him to the NICU in Bend (half hour away) to stay until he can gain some weight and do well under his own power.

My wife had extremely low blood platelet counts (61k for those who know what that means) and had to stay at the hospital in Redmond for observation and MgSO4 (Magnesium Sulfate) treatment to help with blood pressure and preeclampsia issues. This meant that my son was sent to Bend while my wife had to stay in Redmond. This was really hard on her since she was only able to hold him for less than half an hour. It made for a hard time for me as well since I now had three places I needed to be: with my wife, with my son, and with my other children. Luckily both my In-Laws and parents live in Redmond and were able to split up the babysitting duties.

The doctor was going to keep my wife for observation for at least another day, which meant another day that she couldn't hold and see her new baby. I was able to use Skype on my phone to help her see him a little bit, but it's nowhere near good enough. Very early in the morning there were 4 different mothers in labor that came to the birthing center (at the hospital in Redmond) in the span of 5 minutes. I believe this lead the doctor to discharge my wife since she knew that my wife would get better just the same while at home. We were able to go to Bend and spend some time with my son and feed him a couple times and hold him for a while.

My son is healthy and fine, just extremely small. He looks just like his brother when he was born, but half the size and with less of the old man smoosh face. I can't stop thanking God for answering prayers for a healthy child. I know there have been a lot of people praying for my wife and my son, and will continue to do so. We had no idea there was anything wrong until my son was already out, but he came out healthy. He might be spending the next couple weeks in the NICU while he gains his strength and size. For those of you who are willing to pray for my family, please pray for my wife who doesn't have a baby to hold, and for my son who is healthy but very tiny. Thanks.

I will post some pictures when I get them off of my camera.

tl:dr

I have a new son; he's in the NICU.