Is stealing a baby bad?

Last night Matt and I went to our friends' Ake and Jaime's. Actually, Ake is their last name but since Matt and Ake are in the military and everyone is called by there last name, we have always just called Ake, Ake. His first name is Ernest, I believe. Although his wife calls him Gregory, which is his middle name, I have also heard his family refer to him as Ernie. I guess he pretty much answers to anything.

Getting back to my story…

Ake and Jaime were married in March 2007. Matt and I were their witnesses and I was their photographer. It was a nice quiet day down at the courthouse with just us 4.

About 2 months later, they found out they were going to have a baby. A baby that would be due January 20^th 2008.

All went well for the first 6 months. The baby was developing great and they were excited to finally find out that they were having a girl. After doing the nursery and hanging up wall letters spelling out the baby girls name they chose, all they had to do was pick up a few more things until they were ready to have her.

One night, Jaime decided to go to the hospital for an ingrown fingernail that had caused her finger to get infected. Upon arriving and checking on the baby, they realized that Jaime had extremely high blood pressure and protein in her urine. After doing some testing, they diagnosed her with preeclampsia. Everything was going well and they intended to transfer her to a high risk maternity ward, when the baby's heart rate just dropped. Within a few minutes they had done an emergency C-section and delivered their baby at only 27.5 weeks old. If it wasn't for the infected finger, Jaime and the baby both would have died within a few days.

The baby who fooled everyone in to believing it was a girl, actually turned out to be a boy. They named him Emerson. He was born on October 25^th, 2007 at 9:52 am, weighing 2.2 lbs and 14 inches long. He was immediately taken to another hospital where the NICU was.

This kid was a fighter from the beginning. Every time I talked with Jaime and read her blog, Emerson was doing better and better and was off breathing tubes and eating on his own. The NICU hadn't seen a baby do this well in a long time. They were able to bring him home on December 26^th, 2007.

Around the first of the year, Emerson made his first outing since coming home. He came to our house! This was the first time I met Emerson. I was in instant love!! This tiny little man that was tipping the scales at 4.5 lbs 18 inches long and fit perfectly in my hands. If Jaime and Ake didn't love him to much, I would have stolen him!




Today he is around 5 lbs and growing strong. Jaime and I have almost fully convinced Matt that Emerson needs a little friend to play with. Hopefully we will have one of our own soon so I don't have to steal Emerson away from his family that loves him so much.