Welcome to the world, Jansen Elliot DuBois!

Jansen is a variant of John which means "God is gracious." Elliot means "Yahweh (God) is God." These are two things we have been learning and will continue to learn through this little boy. We have seen God's grace in much and we also have had to trust that God is God and is the one in control of this situation.

We went to the hospital and got there around 9pm on the 4th of May. We had to wait a while to get into a room and be assessed, talk to the dr., etc. They started the induction around midnight, saying that the gel they used usually took 2 applications so they would do the first and then we could sleep. The plan was to get up, shower, have breakfast and then they would do the second application to get things going. They did the first application and I went straight into labor. We both managed to get just a little bit of sleep on and off but by 3:30 in the morning sleep was no longer a possibility. Around 5 I called the midwife in to have her check my progress and to get access to gas and air. I was about 6 cm dilated and things moved quickly from there. In the meantime the midwife introduced us to the ICU team that would be present at the birth to take Jansen to ICU. She sent them away and said she'd call them when the baby was about to be born. About 5:50 she broke my water and I was immediately ready to push. The ICU team was frantically called back and Jansen was delivered at 6:05 am weighing 7lb, 8oz (3.4kg). He gave a good strong cry when he came out.  I got to hold him for about a minute and then he had to go to ICU. Ryan went with just briefly to see where he would be while I finished up delivery.
Once in ICU, Jansen was started on a prostaglandin drip to keep open the duct between his two heart atria to help with oxygenation of the blood.  He was still not doing so well with oxygen levels so they put him on a ventilator as well, and some medicine to keep his heart pumping strong. The transfer team was called over from Great Ormond Street and the ICU doctor came back to visit us to tell us that they were on their way over to take Jansen to ICU.
By this time I showered and Ryan and I went to visit Jansen on ICU.  The transfer team was there preparing him for his ambulance ride to GOSH.  It took about an hour and a half to get him transferred onto all of the mobile equipment from the ICU equipment of the hospital. The midwife said she was happy to discharge me right away since the birth was straightforward with no medication or complications (thank God!) so two hours after giving birth I was discharged and we rode in the ambulance with Jansen over to GOSH.

More in the next post...