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February 21st, 2018 I found out we had been blessed by a new life forming inside of me.
On June 10th, 2018 we were thrilled to find out that on our approaching due date of October 23rd we would be welcoming a baby boy.
The pregnancy itself was a wonderful and enlightening experience that was without complications or much discomfort. I started to feel the baby kicking and moving inside of me at about 15 weeks and he was persistent in reminding me of his presence and strength everyday since.
On July 20th and at 27 weeks along an extremely unfortunate and unexpected thing happened - I started having contractions. Being so early and not so intense, I assumed these were Braxton Hicks contractions as there was no blood or other symptoms present. I tried to take some steps to figure out if that was the case. Over about a 2 hour period, I guzzled a ton of water (thinking maybe I was dehydrated), I tried some exercises to help things change positions (which will usually calm Braxton Hicks contractions), I tried timing the contractions and lastly I laid down for a bit (as changing positions usually subsides these contractions).
When I got up from laying down I checked for blood again and this time there was some present. I followed suggestions and began to call my OBGYN for next steps but as I was doing so my water broke. At this point there was no doubt that I was going into labor. I called the ambulance.
They showed up within minutes and on the way to the hospital the contractions were intensifying. 5 minutes apart, 4 minutes apart, 2 minutes apart, and by the time we arrived at the hospital they were 1 minute apart. I was immediately put on a hospital bed and told to push.
After a few pushes, an arm was out but baby boy was stuck and we were moved into the OR for an emergency c-section.
Bodhi Léon Lemal was born on 7/20/2018 at 12:06pm, weighing 2 lbs 12.8 oz and measuring 14.5 inches.
Bodhi was not breathing when he was taken from my womb. For 45 minutes there was a pattern of him being resuscitated, the staff calling his death, and Bodhi fighting back to stay in this world with us.
They were able to stabilize him and as soon as I woke from the anesthesia they received my blessing to move him to the NICU at University of Minnesota Mesonic Children's Hospital. After a few hours of recovery and waiting for an ambulance, I followed him there.
Until his final breath on July 22nd, 2018 we and the amazing NICU staff did everything possible to interpret what the best course of action was. Ultimately, the lack of oxygen had caused too much damage to his organs. Baby Bodhi had, had enough and let us know that it was time to let him go.
We made the difficult decision to take him off of support and on July 22nd at 10:02am he took his last breath.