Thursday, January 15, 2009

Happy Birthday Max

Tuesday 1:30pm - Mommy had her weekly doctors visit today - Dr. Strike checked her and said nothing was happening. She talked to Daddy - who is in MN on business & told him no need to hurry home, there would be no baby today....I'm supposed to come January 30.

9:00pm - I overheard mommy talking to daddy and telling him he didn't need to worry - I was staying put for awhile. I have a little surprise for them both :)

Michele called Aunt Di around 1:15 am to ask if she could come over - she thought she might be in labor. It took her about 1/2 hour to make the trek from Saranac to Fenwick where she lives. By the time she got here Mommy was in full labor & contractions were on top of each other. We drove an hour to Grand Rapids Spectrum Hospital (Downtown). It was really cold out -8 according to Aunt Di's car.

As soon as Mommy got to Labor & Delivery her water broke - and she was fully dilated. They quickly moved her into a delivery room & I was born within 15 minutes (at 3:13 am - weighing 6.7 1/2 oz & 18" long). Aunt Di got to cut the cord. Aunt Di left in such a hurry, she forgot a camera!!

I got to spend some time with mommy - I tried to keep my eyes open to look at her, but had to blink a lot because the lights were too bright. I showed her how I could blow spit bubbles.

The doctors quickly assessed Me - I must be pretty important because I have my own team of doctors & nurses - 4 in all! I scored 8 & 8 on my Apgar, I think that's good enough to get me on the honor roll! My doctor asked mommy what my name was - she said daddy wants Maximus J & the doctor thought that was a good name for a tough guy - a very manly name!

Mommy was finally able to reach Daddy a little before 4am & gave him the news. At that point he was in Escanaba in Michigan's UP (where cell phone service stinks!). He had been up since 4am the previous morning and was just getting ready to stop at a hotel from some much needed sleep. Given the exciting news he decided to keep right on driving the additional 5-6 hours to get to us.

The doctors took me up to the NICU & started the process of cleaning up Mom & finishing the birthing process. Unfortunately, the umbilical cord separated from the placenta and they could not get the placenta out safely. A couple of doctors tried to get it out, but did not have any luck and it is an extremely painful process. I kicked it way up in a corner, so it was hard to get to!!

Because I came so quickly, they had not had time to start an I.V. on Mommy. In order to get the placenta out, they needed to give her some pain medicine, but three different nurses tried to start IV's and couldn't. Apparently Mom's not quite as tough as me.

The Doctor decided that Mommy was losing too much blood, so they decided they needed to do something quickly. They took her to surgery & performed a D&C to remove the placenta. The Anesthesiologist finally had to start the IV. By the time she got out of surgery & back to recovery it was about 7:00am.

They would not let Grandma, Grandpa or Aunt Di come see me or get any news on me without a parent. Since Daddy was en route, and Mommy was unconscious in recovery they were stuck wondering for awhile. Grandpa & Grandma were really anxious to see me!

While in recovery, some irregularities were discovered with Mom's heart (the doctor told her it appeared as if she were having a heart attack). I think she was just trying to make me feel better about my own heart! They had to wait for a heart specialist to review her reports and compare them to tests her doctor had run in previous months. It turned out to be an "old" issue and nothing to be concerned about at this point.

My heart doctor gave Mommy an update regarding my condition: It is definitely Truncus Arteriosus, which included a large VSD (hole in the heart). He felt that it was something that will require surgery at Mott's Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor (part of U of M). I will be transported there and have surgery within 7-10 days. This is what the doctors had been suspecting all along, so there were no surprises! The doctor said I won't be able to play competitive sports ever and will have lots of surgeries in my life.

Mommy was finally able to come see me around 10:00am - she had to be wheeled into the NICU in her hospital bed because she was too weak to get up. Grandma got to see me for the first time. Grandpa had to go home & let the computer repair guy in, so he missed me!

After a brief visit Mommy was taken to her room (#4421) for some rest. Daddy was able to get to the hospital around 11:00am & finally able to see us! At that point he was exhausted as were all of us, so Grandma & Aunt Di left. After a visit, Daddy went home for some much needed rest.

The weather today was extremely cold - when Aunt Di picked up Mommy to take her to the hospital her car said the windchill was -8! When they left the hospital the roads were terrible - it had been snowing a very fine snow all morning. They saw 20+ slide offs on I96 & 2 rollover accidents! needless to say it was a very slow nerve racking drive! I'm glad Daddy made it safely - he drove 16 hours to get home.

Aunt Sue, Brianna, Matt, Grandma, Grandpa & Aunt Di all visited later that night. They all couldn't wait to buy some little boy clothes for me! I even got a camping outfit for this years family camping! I was also visited by some of Mom's co-workers earlier in the day.

Aunt Di & Aunt Sue think I have really long fingers & will be a great musician some day - Matt said he would introduce me to the guitar - I do have a rock star name, Maximus J, so that will work!

No comments:

Post a Comment