Henry Steven Gibson

We welcomed little Henry three weeks before his due date, just hours after my parents had driven down. We had spent the day cleaning and getting ready for their arrival, and I also fit in a swim and a nap. I had no idea that I would go into labour that night, in fact I was mentally preparing to go overdue. But to my pleasant surprise, my water broke that night, and after 7 hours of labour, Henry was born! He weighed 8lb 3oz, and was 20" long. He is named Henry after my maternal grandpa and great grandpa.

 

About 40 minutes after his birth, the nurse noticed that he was working hard to breathe and checked his blood sugar. It was extremely low, so they took him to NICU for IV dextrose and more monitoring. He stayed there for the rest of the day and the following night, and I went back and forth from my room on the postpartum unit (where my meals were) and his room in the NICU. Fortunately, I was still able to hold and feed him. The kids came in to see him and were just in love with him and so gentle. Ross picked his shirt out specifically for Henry's birthday.

He is much more fair than either Ross or Madeleine were at birth, and he has far less hair!

We were all very happy to be back at home after two days in hospital. He has no shortage of loving arms to hold him.

He did have some jaundice though, so he had to spend a couple of days sleeping on a "biliblanket" sent to us by the hospital. Then he got oral thrush, but I noticed it early, and got the prescription he needed and he is already improving. So far, he is a very settled baby - sleeping well, feeding well, and only really squawks and squeaks when he's hungry. He does cry a bit more if his diaper is being changed, or we're trying to put clothes on him.  We are all so thankful for him, and very glad he came early!