Lets begin a week before his birth. Ali and I booked our trip to Iceland to have one last travel experience before our first child and to celebrate our 5th anniversary. Ali had seen the midwife a number of times throughout the pregnancy and was told everything was progressing well and there were no concerns regarding travel. Her family doctor also agreed. Our plane was scheduled to leave for August 3rd. Ali saw her midwife and doctor the week before on July 23rd and July 28th and she was told to "have a great trip". Our bags were somewhat packed and pushed to the side of our room.
On August 1st, Alison finished work at the Abilities Centre, came home and said she needed to lie down for a bit as she was experiencing some cramping (a symptom she read could be linked to the urinary tract infection she was on antibiotics for just 4 days ago). As Ali was entering the third trimester of her pregnancy she also read that Braxton Hicks contractions could begin. Another concern she read when she was resting was the chance of cramping being a sign of miscarriage. There were lots of possible explanations but never did the thought of labour starting this early cross our minds. The cramping became stronger, eventually turning into contractions. We called the midwife and she asked us to meet her at the hospital not knowing what was happening.
Ali and I in the front seats, Luke and Lydia in the back (guests for dinner that night), we quickly arrived at Lakeridge Health in Oshawa. Ali was already bleeding as we were walking in the hospital scrambling to find the Labour and delivery room. We were both thinking that this was going to be a miscarriage as we had not anticipated a 28 week gestation as a reality for the birth of our child. We were not prepared.
The medical staff wanted to transfer Ali to Sunnybrook because they are more prepared for early preterm births. However, the labour began so quickly that they didn't have time. I began to quickly text family about what was happening in between answering questions of Ali's medical history. Around roughly 2 hours after we arrived James was born at 9:56 pm weighing just 2lbs 8oz ounces.
A team of over 10 staff were in the birthing room working away like ants in a colony. In the midst of the stress I knew that something was wrong. James wasn't crying, and when he was born the doctor quickly handed him over to a team that began intubation attempts. In that moment, I lost all sense of time. All I remember is that he did start to breath after awhile with their support (Later on, I found out that it took 6 intubation attempts). They immediately dispatched for a Sick Kids transfer medic team to take James downtown and asked me "would you rather stay with your wife or go with your son down to Sick Kids?" I froze and didn't know how to respond.
I had some time to decide while the Sick Kids transfer was on their way. I went back and forth from James' incubator room to Ali's recovery room. As the medics arrived I decided that I would stay with Ali and that my dad and mom would drive us down to Sick Kids. Luke and Lydia drove my car down behind us.
It was incredibly hard to believe what had just happened as we traveled down to Sick Kids in the early hours of the morning on August 2nd in my dad's mustang. The lyrics of an All Sons and Daughters song kept running through my head, "It's Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise". Something so common and mundane as breathing now had a whole new meaning to us.
After giving birth just a few hours beforehand, Ali fell asleep in the waiting room along with Luke, Lydia and myself. And to think that in only a day and half Ali and I would have been on a flight to Iceland...