Jayce Thomas is HERE! 💙☀️ Birth-story:

My pregnancy with Jayce was an absolute joy and quite a happy, smooth experience on the whole. We all have some sort of birth plan in place right?… but speaking from experience,they never seem to go exactly according to plan. I was 36 weeks and had my induction scheduled for 38 weeks for a vaginal birth. For those of you that don’t know, I had a hemorrhage after having my daughter Lyla so since then, just as a precautionary, I get induced a bit early so as to make for a more controlled situation. I was feeling great, but tired, swollen and eager for my induction date. I had went for a routine ultrasound app. on Tues and baby boy was being lethargic and uncooperative. My doctor preferred to see more movement from him at this point but it may have just been that he was in a sleep cycle. I had some lolley pops and a big glass of apple juice and he then was fine and moving more from the sugar but my doctor wanted me to continue being monitored overnight just as a precautionary so they admitted me at the hospital that same day right from my app. I remember feeling starving because I could not eat anything except popsicles and they never tasted so good! That whole entire night I did not sleep a wink. I was up and down to the bathroom and watched the heart rate monitor non stop. It turned out baby boy’s fluid was a little low and he was still lethargic after further monitoring. His heart rate had continued to fluctuate with minor Braxton Hicks contractions. The next morning, my doctor who is the absolute best, told me I wasn’t going home without having baby boy. I called Rich to come in before my doctor got things started for me. We agreed I would need to be on pitocin as I was only 3cm dilated. I then got my epidural. My contractions soon began to ramp up and get more intense but baby boy was not tolerating them well and I was not dilating at a rate my doctor would have liked so at this point rather than do a vaginal with the pitocin, my doctor and I decided it was best for him to come out by csec rather than by a vaginal delivery and that he shouldn’t stay in any longer. I can remember being very nervous and in my head thinking this is not how I had planned for things to go whatsoever and began to cry but I got ahold of myself and told myself once baby boy was here and safe and well in my arms, this was all that mattered and I trusted my doctor, knew she knew best and that I was in good hands. I then looked at my husband Rich and said as long as you are with me and I can hold your hand, I can do this, lets go have our boy! I remember being wheeled down the hall to surgery and putting my arms up and saying hooray lets go have our boy! I was so nervous but excitement, adrenaline and good meds had taken over. It all seemed to go by so smoothly and quickly, Rich held my hand so tightly the whole time and next thing I knew, we heard the cries we so needed to hear and it was music to my ears, my heart and my soul. He was here! I was so overjoyed and couldn’t believe it at first and then began to cry tears of sheer happiness. He was here and wow I’m still here and in one piece, all is good and wow we did it!! Jayce cried a bit and then he was so calm and wide eyed and alert it was amazing. The doctors put him on my chest after Rich cut the umbilical cord and I felt the warmth of his little body and it was one of the most amazing feelings I ever felt in my entire life. It turned out the umbilical cord had been a bit tangled around the neck coming out and this is what was adding to little Jayce’s distress in there so all and all, I was so glad we made the decision we did and when we did for him to come out a little early. Because Jayce was a little early, he was needing a little extra TLC in the NICU. They monitored his blood sugar and temp and oxgygen levels and he did great! As hard and emotional as it was for us to come home sooner than Jayce, it was a blessing in disguise to be home healing, resting, catching up on sleep and getting stronger for his arrival home. We knew he would be in great hands getting the outstanding care he did and we would be more than ready for him to come home when he was ready. Rich and I went in every, single day for Jayce’s noon feeding and I would bring my pumped milk for him. He finally came home on Friday, August 6th and was welcomed by his two big sisters who absolutely adore and love him and his two dogs who are as gentle and calm as ever around him. Lyla goes into Mommy mode and becomes super protective of him and Saylor keeps trying to share her toys with him. It is super cute and warms our hearts. All is going great and we are learning and adjusting to having our newest addition as a family and soaking up all the snuggles, days in our pjs, unplugging and just being in the moment. Jayce truly is a blessing for our family and we are so in love and feeling grateful he is here! His name means “healer” and he is a big part of helping our hearts heal and he is our “SONshine” with each and every day! Jayce the Ace, we love you beyond any words could ever describe, sweet boy and thank you big brother Bryce for another hand-picked blessing! 💙💗💗💙🌈