Baby Steps

Drew William's entrance into the world has been a little more eventful than we could ever have imagined. God has blessed us with a beautiful son and we have faith that He will guide us through the journey back to a healthy baby boy. This website is dedicated to updating friends and family on Drew's progress...his baby steps.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Something's Not Right

Friday, October 27

I woke up at 6 am and he didn't seem interested in nursing. No big deal, I'll get some more sleep. I woke up again at 6:45 am, his cheek was cool to the touch and I couldn't tell if he was breathing. I got him out of the bassinette and he was limp, took a startled breath, but then stopped again. The nurses were in the room in seconds and took him to resucitate him. He came around quickly and was moved to the NICU.

In the NICU, he had a few more apnea spells, but seemed to be doing better with a little oxygen. I went to the room to rest and shower and Ryan stayed with Drew. After a while, things appeared to be going well and we breathed a sigh of relief. Our guardian angel had worked yet another miracle on our son.

Around 11:00 am, the neonatalogist decided to get a CT scan in order to try and identify the problem and as they were prepping Drew, he had a severe apnea spell. He was immediately put on a ventilator and taken to CT. The news was not good - something was seriously wrong. The doctors couldn't tell if it was a tumor or hemorrage, but either way, Drew needed more help than was available in Hattiesburg. The life flight team was called to transfer Drew to Oschner Children's Hospital in New Orleans and, unfortunately, weather was going to delay the transfer, so we sat and waited for what felt like an eternity.

In the meantime, our Priest, Father Tommy, came to the hospital, baptised Drew and prayed for him. Friends helped us gather our belongings, I was discharged and we waited some more. The transport team finally arrived around 4:00, loaded Drew and we got on the road to New Orleans.

Upon arrival, Drew was immediately taken for another CT, then directly to surgery. Ryan and I pulled up to the hospital as they were prepping Drew. He had a large Spontaneous Intra-Cranial Hemorrhage and the Pediatric Neurosurgeon was preparing him for a Posterior Fossa Craniotomy and Parial evacuation of the hemorrhage. It was 8:15 pm and the nurse advised us to check in to the hotel and check back in an hour.

What is happening? Where did our beautiful, perfect little boy go? Where did this come from? I racked my brain to think of anything that I could have done to cause this in utero. We were both in shock.

The nurse called the room just before 11:00 pm to let us know Drew was out of surgery and we could so see him in the PICU. The Neurosurgeon told us he got as much of the hemorrhage out that he could without damaging Drew's brain.Drew was so still. The nurse told us it would be morning before the anesthesia would wear off, so we chose to try and sleep.

How do you sleep when your 2 day old son has just had brain surgery?

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