What a weekend. Chock full of excitement. Not the good kind. Sam is having a rough time as he recovers from Friday's surgery. Though we're told what he's experiencing is par for the course (I might punch the next person that says that to me in the nose), it sucks. Horribly. He's been retaining a lot of fluids all over, including his lungs. Hence, his new nickname of Puff Baby. After administering diuretics, he started peeing up a storm and is looking like himself again, but still has fluid in his lungs. Diuretics are being increased to try to dry his lungs out.
The most terrifying incident occurred yesterday. Shortly after we arrived, he had a terrible desat. The saturation of oxygen in his blood should be between 85 and 95. I remarked to the nurse his color didn't look good. Then it got hairy. His levels steadily started falling and upping his oxygen a bit wasn't doing the trick as it usually does. The nurse decided to bag him, meaning administer breaths manually. That wasn't working either and the nurse feared his breathing tube had dislodged. They prepared to remove it and re-intubate. His numbers fell into the 50s. The respiratory therapist and another nurse were called over. Steve and I stood by, watching Sam turn blue. We thought he was going to die. His numbers dropped into the 30s. Our hearts were in our throats and we felt helpless. His chest did not rise and fall. Soon after, his numbers began to climb. It appeared there was in issue with tubing on the ventilator that required some fiddling to correct. Steve and I held onto each other and exhaled, still not believing what we had just witnessed.
When things settled down, the nurse raised the roof on spaceship and we were able to touch him. I cried at his bedside and told him he better never do that to us again. This being a parent business sure ain't for the faint of heart. If someone told me Sam would recover fully and never have a moment of distress again, but I had die, I would lay down my life for him without hesitation. I know Daddy would too. The love we feel for this little guy is just...It's just....I don't even know how to describe it.
We were at the hospital for 12 hours yesterday, too scared to leave him. The nurse on the night shift let us help change out his bedding. I changed a whole bunch of diapers, a bandaid on his boo boo and we rubbed him down with Aquaphor. I think she sensed we really needed some closeness to the boy and needed to feel like we could do a little something. Bless her.
When we finally made it home, I washed my face, ate about a dozen thin mint cookies that had been in the freezer (You must try this. Yum.), pumped and collapsed.
So, we just watch and wait and hope his lungs dry out soon and we can put this weekend behind us.
Funny story....A couple nurses told us there was another baby Samuel in the NICU not long ago and his bed was in the exact spot as our Sam's. He got well and went home, but his spirit must've stayed behind since that spot is where I had my vision of naming our boy Sam. Kinda freaky coincidence, no? The nurses did say the other Samuel's parents insisted he be called Samuel, NOT Sam. Snobs! :-P
I'm happy to report my cankles (why doesn't my spell check recognize cankles?) are gone! I'm unhappy to report that issue has been replaced by a very unfun new one. Apparently, my hormones are raging and causing extreme night sweats and occasional hot flashes. Awesome! This is supposedly quite normal after giving birth, but dang! I feel like I'm getting my ass kicked straight into menopause! Can a sista catch a break up in here??
The nurse practitioner in charge decided to try to feed Sam breast milk today through the tube to his tummy. Sam's personal nurse, Auntie Brigid, got everything set up and let me give it to him. Indirectly, but from Mommy's boob, nonetheless :)
After I finished pumping earlier, a drop fell on my hand and I licked it without thinking. It was really, really sweet. Don't know what I expected. I relayed this to Steve and watched his face scrunch up in disgust. LOL! Maybe I can get him to try it with a stack of Oreos like Ross did on Friends. Ha!
Oh crap! With all of yesterday's craziness, I forgot we did actually venture out on Saturday for a bit for a family dinner with the Smiths (Ollivette and E. Gary) and the Miles-Hances (Gary and Paul). Cherie even made a guest appearance! Yay! We're not comfortable being more than 10 minutes from the hospital, so having to travel the whole 90 seconds to the Smiths, made it easy. It was great to be with good friends, enjoying good food and conversation. Auntie Eija and Uncle Chris stopped by to drop off a scrumptious casserole, which is warming up for lunch right now. Time to eat, try for a nap and head back to the little guy, who is having a much better day today.
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