Leo Christopher Henshaw

On November 4th at 9:00 AM, two weeks after I was released from the hospital, my water broke. I was 34 weeks along, but not worried at all, because honestly, I thought I was going to have the little guy WAY earlier. And besides, I had Lilly at 34 weeks. Gus rushed me to the hospital, and after a quick evaluation in Triage, I was sent up to Labor and Delivery. We waited around for my mom to pick up Lilly from preschool and come to the hospital. Gus and I had promised Lilly throughout my pregnancy that we would let her watch Leo's birth, that is if the doctor would let her. She deserved to be there after everything she went through to get her little brother here. She had waited just as long as we had and she was ecstatic. It helped our decision knowing that she is not phased by many things.

After an hour or so, my contractions came on hard and I begged for an epidural. But after I got the epidural I could still feel the pain on my left side. The nurses had me try different positions to distribute the medicine, but it didn't help. So they gave me more medicine through my IV, but that didn't help either. I was glad that Gus, my mom, and Lilly were there to distract me. The doctor came in right after my epidural to remove my cervix stitches. Thanks to the epidural I didn't feel it.

We sat around for another hour and watched my contractions come and go. I was in so much pain but so excited for this rollercoaster ride to be over, and of course to meet my little Leo. Finally my favorite doctor in the world came in to check on me. She checked on me and told me that they actually may have missed a stitch on my cervix! Sure enough, she got out her scissors and took out that stitch. She said I was at an 8 now and that hopefully getting that stitch out would let my labor progress. About 2 minutes after she left I felt a lot of pain and pressure. I told my mom and Gus that I thought I might be ready to push, but I was only an 8. The nurse ran and got the doctor and she came back in laughing telling me there is no way I was ready. She checked me and sure enough I was ready to push! The doctor and nurses scrambled to get ready. My mom held my leg, Gus stood back so he wouldn't see blood, and Lilly stood behind the doctor ready to help catch that baby!

I started pushing and I felt everything on my left side. But thankfully I only had to push twice before my sweet baby boy was born. They rushed him to the side of the room where a team of nurses were there to help him breath. I was a nervous wreck watching them as they roughed him up trying to get him to pink-up and cry. He was breathing on his own but not crying and pretty lathargic. But this was to be expected because he was a 34 weaker. I had to remind myself that Lilly did the exact same thing  and she is just fine now.They finally let me hold him for a minute and then took him down to the NICU. 

That night after I was settled in my room, Gus wheeled me down to the NICU to see Leo. We weren't able to hold him because he was in an isolette and was having a hard time keeping his temperature under control. But we were able to stick our hands in and touch his tiny hands and feet. The nurse showed us a big deep cut on the top of his head that was in a "X" pattern. She told us that she didnt know what had caused it but it happened during the birth. When I saw that X on the top of his head, I knew exactly what it was. It looked identical to the lone stitch that my doctor removed minutes before he was born. I guess my cervical stitches were doing their job a little too well.

I went home on the 6th without my sweet baby boy. I was sad to leave him behind, but I knew it could have been much worse. It brought back a lot of memories I had of leaving the hospital without my twin boys. But I knew this time was different. He was doing amazingly well and eating like a champ. The nurses said he would be able to go home a lot sooner than anyone thought. Children are not allowed in the NICU and Lilly was sad that she wasnt able to see or hold her brother. One of the sweet nurses unhooked him from all the monitors and brought him out to a window so that Lilly could see him. It made her so happy.

Over the next two days we made lots of trips to the hospital to see our Leo. We were able to hold him and feed him. I was in love. 

On November 8th we were able to bring our little Leo home. Throughout my pregnancy I never bought anything for Leo. I didn't want to have to bring everything back if something were to happen to him. I didn't want to make that mistake again. So we had to borrow a car seat from a friend because we had not bought one yet. As Gus and I walked into our apartment and Lilly came running to see her new baby brother, I had an overwhelming feeling of gratitude. We finally had another child, a sibling for Lilly, and he was finally here. Healthy and safe.

Leo Christopher Henshaw

November 4 - 5:00 pm

6 lbs 8 oz - 19.5 in 

The X on his head from that naughty stitch!