Meet my son

Langston Jett-Edward Johnson

At 26 weeks and 3 days, my son, Langston, was born. It was March 17, 2012 at 4:42 pm.  He weighed 1 pound and 14 ounces and was 13 inches long.  He was immediately intubated with a breathing tube, and wheeled away to Vanderbilt's Stahlman NICU. He was in Bed 1 in Room 1 of the NICU.  Sometime during the night, we aren't sure when, our son was extubated. This means that his breathing tube was removed.  This happened because our son was breathing on his own. We were excited about this milestone, because we were told that he had a 50% chance of surviving. Boy, did our little guy show them.  He survived his first night, but his parents barely.  The first night  was completely overwhelming and unnerving for the hubby and me. We panicked if the phone rang, and the hubby left my room often throughout the night to visit our son at Stahlman. 

Leading up to his birth:
After being moved to the labor and delivery monitoring room, my bleeding increased profusely.  It was determined that I may have an infection, and was then put on antibiotics.  The doctors ordered an ultrasound to determine if baby was head down, and if so, I was having a vaginal delivery!  SAY WHAT!!  I wasn't ready to deliver my son.  It was too soon, it was just too soon, I thought.  But yet again, God's plans are not our own. 

After determining that our sweet boy was head's down, the doctors decided that I was in labor (DUH, MY WHOLE BODY HURTS AND I'M BLEEDING LIKE CRAZY, OF COURSE I'M IN LABOR!!!). The allowed labor to take it's course and I was given an epidural around noon.  I proceeded to dilate, and was given Pitocin to speed up the process.  At 4:38, my husband sent a text to my mother-in-law to let them know I was dilated to 5 and at 4:42 my son entered this world. 

Now before I gave birth to Langston, I was delirious.....not just from the pain, but from the events of the day as well.  Between my mother "coaching" me through the pain, the thoughts of us losing our son, and the sheer fact that I was about to have a baby, I was a basket case.  There are reports of me singing gospel songs as well me screaming at my mother.  I remember some of these things, but not all.  I'm told that this to be expected. 

Being in the hospital, and hearing healthy full term babies being wheeled to their parents' rooms was hard for me.  I kept questioning God, and wondering why I was going through this. I was already so angry with God for all the previous events, and then I realized that being upset with God meant nothing.  He knew what He was doing when he decided that Langston was to be born on that day.  I just had to work through my emotions to discover that.....

The NICU Rollercoaster is up next..........