You expect your delivery, especially the first one, to be
textbook. The baby’s born, dad cuts the
cord, baby’s nose is suctioned and he cries, and he’s then placed on mom’s
chest and everything is perfect. We didn’t
quite have that experience with Mr. Miles.
He did cry immediately and the doctor quelled our suspense by shouting “it’s
a boy”. But then the nurses brought the baby over to a side neonatal area and
started working on him. While it was all a bit surreal, we knew immediately
that something was wrong. We soon learned that while his Apgar Score was 9 and
then 8 (10 is the best), he was having trouble keeping his oxygen levels up and
would need to be transported to the NICU. Rob and I each got to hold him for a
couple of minutes before he was whisked away.
It was eerily quiet and uncertainty and fear were starting
to set in. Somehow I was calmer that Rob (probably the drugs), but also we knew
that he was in good hands…and we only came to realize this more and more as the
week unfolded. The nurses and doctors in the NICU were absolutely amazing,
keeping us informed and him improving at every turn. While the doctors prepared us for the worst
case scenario, after a couple of days it became clear that worst case scenario
was thankfully out of the picture. Miles aspirated on some amniotic fluid and
that led to an infection. He was on antibiotics until his CRP levels (which indicate
inflammation, a sign of infection) were reading below 5. It was one of the longest weeks of our lives
but again, the amazing care Miles received – along with our love and support
and the good thoughts and prayers of our family and friends – helped him to quickly
recover and thrive.
During our morning 6am feeding today, I heard the good news
that our score was below 5 and we were going home! I couldn’t wait to get back
to our Ronald McDonald house room (where we are so grateful to have stayed
while Miles was in the NICU) to tell Rob the good news. And this afternoon, we
brought home our healthy baby boy!
1 comment:
Rob told me you guys were going to reinstate the blog in honor of MIles' arrival! Yay!
I'm sorry you had to go through such a harrowing experience the first week of Miles' arrival, but glad he is doing well now.
Great seeing all three of you before your departure. Good luck with the move and settling in!
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