To make a long story short, labor lasted exactly 90 minutes from first contraction to baby born. I decided against an epidural and did this the old fashioned way (not that I had much of a choice because it all happened so fast). Chris and I walked a couple of laps around the hospital floor and we barely made it back to our room before my body started pushing. Luckily, a team of nurses and residents were very nearby and four pushes later, Jett entered this world.
He immediately got passed to the neonatologist team who helped clear his mucous and make sure he was stable enough to stay in the room with us for a little while. Then Chris and I got to hold him and be with him for almost an hour before they took him down to the NICU.
The next four days in the NICU were long and miserable. Jett was huge compared to the preemie babies, but he still had troubles of his own. He was hooked up to several monitors: heart rate, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation levels, although he didn't really need any of those things. While in the NICU, he had a whole slew of tests--both typical and more specialized to his case. He had the regular newborn hearing test, 2 ultrasounds, a VCUG (where they filled his bladder with dye), echocardiogram (all fluid around his heart is now gone), circumcision (we wanted this, and it was also VERY highly recommended to prevent UTIs which could be serious for him), and a slew of bloodwork every 12 hours. He was also put on antibiotics, which we are continuing at home, as well as hooked up to an IV for a special one-time dose of antibiotics.
After 4 days, Jett was cleared to come home (just one day after me). We are now running around Boston visiting different doctors--pediatrician, urologist, nephrologist, and getting visited by nurses--but at least he is home. He has 5 appointments this next week with another ultrasound and VCUG. We are looking at an MRI and functional kidney scan in a few weeks and definite surgery in a couple of months, if not sooner.
I feel like this journey has been hard so far, but I know that it is only the beginning. In a way, I was almost jealous of the preemie babies when we left the hospital. When preemies leave, they have tackled most of their big hurtles and with some extra catching up and monitoring, most preemies do okay in life. That is not the case for Jett. He is okay for now, but is facing a long life of surgeries, medicine, continuous monitoring/testing, and a possibility of transplants. It seems like our road has only begun.
However, as I held my sweet boy on Thanksgiving day, I was completely overwhelmed by how grateful I am to actually hold him in my arms. The other day, one of the doctors said that looking at his prenatal ultrasounds and scans, it was "surprising" that he was able to come home as quickly as he did. Based on what they saw beforehand, they thought he would have a much longer hospital stay and would not have left the hospital without intervention.
Jett is truly our miracle baby. We are so grateful for all of the support, love, and prayers offered on his behalf and ours as a family. I will probably do periodic updates on this blog, but will share more on our regular blog. Although I respect and understand other people's decision to post pictures of their kids on facebook, Chris and I have decided to somewhat limit our children's online exposure and let them make that choice for themselves when they are 30 and see a computer for the first time. ;) I will be making my regular blog private very soon and if you are interested in following along over there, send me your email info. Otherwise, enjoy these small snippets of Jett! And thank you again for your concern during this difficult time in our lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment