Saturday, January 29, 2011

Brady's Birth Story Part 3

You can read part 1 and 2 of Brady's birth story here and here. I left off with having pretty much my perfect labor and birth.

Brady arrived beautiful, healthy, and perfect. You know how some babies have a squished look because they spend hours and hours in the birth canal? Not Brady, he really looked just perfect as soon as he came out. I am a little biased though, what do you think?
The rest of the day we had many visitors and phone calls. We sang Brady happy birthday and had cake. My Mom was able to come in from Texas that evening and she loved meeting him. That day he slept and ate, and was a great baby. We had so many visitors and were so excited that we did not sleep. So everyone was very tired when Brady decided to be up all that night.

Breast feeding was going well, I was sore, but Brady's latch was great. He just could not seem to get enough. He seemed starving constantly and my colostrum was not enough for him. The next day he did really well and slept, but with more visitors, we once again did not get any sleep. We decided to stay the night at the hospital one more night so that I could make sure I had the hang of everything. This was the night when it started to go down hill for me. Brady would not sleep, and I could not sleep with him on me. (I would have terrible nightmares of him falling off of me, or me rolling on him. Even though he never really slept in bed with us, and slept in his own room at 2 months, I had these nightmares until he was over 6 months old.) At like 5 in the morning I caved and asked the nurses for a pacifier. With a pacifier and being tightly swaddled with two warm blankets we got some sleep. 

When the nurses changed over, they took his temperature, and he had a little fever. She thought two warm blankets was too much for him,  and that is what caused the slight fever. We let him cool down some, and he was fine. He had his pku test the next morning, and we all headed home. It was so great to be home. My mother-in-law made us dinner, and I had  a slight emotional breakdown due to stress and lack of sleep, but other than that, the night went so well. I was able to catch up on some sleep, and I felt confident that next morning, that we could indeed handle this.
I remember getting on the computer the next morning, Tuesday July 1st, (to put him on the waiting list for the school I want him to go to, crazy I know, but it is that competitive), and holding him and feeling such bliss. That afternoon he was fussy and felt hot to me and once again he had a slight fever. We had to see his pediatrician for his first check up that afternoon, so we called and went in a little early. Our doctor thought maybe he was getting hot, because it was summer and we do not have AC. She suggested to keep him cool, but to call her cell phone if we had any questions or anything.

Later that evening around 7 or so he felt really hot to me and I was trying to cool him down, but he had a 101.5 degree fever. While I put cool washcloths on him Jeremy called our pediatrician. She told us to head to the hospital ER and to be prepared to stay for a few days. We were terrified, and I prayed the entire way. Fevers in infants can be very dangerous, and cause brain damage so we were quite scared. By the time we got there his fever had come down some but they still needed to do some tests. That was the worst part. They did xrays, a catheter to get urine, blood work, a spinal tap, and put in an IV. Of course we both cried the whole time. It was one of the hardest things to hold your 3 day old infant while he gets a spinal tap. They had a difficult time getting his IV in and tried so many times that I had to leave. They told Jeremy if they could not get it that last time, they would have the nicu nurses come in and do it in his head. Thankfully they finally got it. 
I refused to take pictures of Brady being back in the hospital. Thankfully my mom and mother-in-law took a few.

We stayed the night in the pediatrics unit, where they gave us enough room for Brady, myself and Jeremy to sleep. The told us we would have to be there for at least two days until tests started coming back. In the meantime they set him up on fluids and antibiotics. Everyday they would come by and take blood, and give us no real answers. They thought that he seemed slightly dehydrated, and his sodium levels showed that. He also weighed only 6 pounds 12 ounces when we were readmitted to the hospital, and was born at 7 pounds 12 ounces. My milk finally came in and I was able to nurse and get Brady rehydrated. By Friday morning, the 4th, my mom had to go back to Texas, and I felt bad because the whole time she was here we spent in the hospital. It was so nice having her here to help out though. Also on that Friday we were discharged and so happy to go home. It was a very joyous celebration for our family to watch fireworks from our backyard that night.

To this day we have no real answers. The conclusion was that he had a possible infection and the antibiotics cleared it up. The crazy thing is that since then, he has not ever really been sick. He has had common colds, but nothing serious. Other than his first week of life he has not had any antibiotics. And even when he gets a little cough or cold it is like it is no big deal to him, while his wimp Mom is dying. Nothing is going to slow him down! I have a new respect for parents of truly sick children. You feel helpless, and it is quite devastating. I am so thankful for a healthy child!

Brady is such an amazing boy, and I feel so blessed that God is letting us raise him. I loved having him, and I love watching him grow up. Sorry if all of this bored you. but it means so much to me, and they are memories that are forever with me, now we can look back and read them too.        

1 comment:

  1. ahh, spinal tap?! poor lil man! glad his fever didn't cause any long term issues.

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