(Right After Birth)
Last Thursday as I was finishing putting grades into the computer after 6th period, I got a little surprise...My water broke. I quickly made a phone call to Patty and she rushed down to the other gym to get me and take me home. Luckily Matt was off work that day. And so it began. Phone calls were made and friends and family began to arrive awaiting the arrival of Owen.
Under the Oxygen Hood
Owen arrived at 6:32 am on Friday, October 30th weighing 8 pounds 5 ounces, 21 1/4 inches long. After he arrived into this world he was quickly rushed off to the NICU. He had taken too big of a first breath and it caused fluid to get into his lungs and rupture. 10 % of his lungs had collapsed. The doctors put him on oxygen to help him breathe and to repair his lungs. Luckily the oxygen hood repaired his lungs and he did not have to have a tube put in his lungs. But, this is only the beginning...
After his lungs had been repaired we waited for all of the antiboictics to work so that we could take out the IV and began to feed him (and so that we could hold him). We were finally able to hold Owen on Halloween night, but he was still in NICU.
Sunbathing under the blue lights
On Sunday, Matt and I walked down to visit the little guy and he was under the blue lights sunbathing. His bilirubin count had gone a little high and he was in the beginning stages of Jaundice. So he stayed under the lights all day long. He was only allowed to be taken out of the lights to be fed for 30 minutes. Then back to the lights he went. We were hoping to be able to take him home on Sunday since this was the day that I was going to be discharged from the hospital. I did not want to go home without the little man. As tears began to build in my eyes, Owen's NICU nurse arranged for me to be discharged from the hospital and to be able to stay in my same room for the night without nursing care. So at 11:59 pm I was discharged from the hospital. That night Matt and I went down to see him every 3 hours to feed him and to check on him.
Ready to go home
Monday morning...we got a phone call in the room we were staying, from the nurse in the NICU saying that Owen was ready to eat. When we got down there he had been disconnected from all of the tubes and machines and was in a little bassinet ready to be rolled down to our room. We quickly took him down and were able to have a few moments of alone time together.
When the results of his test came back the doctor reviewed them. He was free to go home. His bilirubin count had dropped.
First Bath at Home
Well, today we went to meet the peditrician for the first time. She checked everything about him. Eyes, ears, nose, arms, hips, lungs, and heart all sounded good, but she felt he was a little yellow. So his bilirubin counts were checked again. They have gone up. So we are now feeding every two hours in hopes that we can get them flushed out of his system. We go back to the doctor on Friday. Hopefully all will be well and our week long roller coaster ride will be over.
First Night Home
He is a mover and a bundle of love! We love all of his dark brown crazy hair and those grey eyes.
And this pretty much sums up the last 5 days...
