Ethan's Arrival Story

Hi Everyone!

Well, as most of you know by now, Ethan Allan was born on Tuesday, December 30th, 2008, at 12.36pm via c-section. He was 8 # 4 oz and 21" long.

I had wished that I would have been able to update this sooner or at the very least call everyone and say, "Hey! He's here!" but other things popped up unexpectedly that delayed this.

Basically, Ethan was born on Tuesday around noon. I did not get him completely until late Friday afternoon/early evening. In the interim, I was only able to see/hold him for maybe 45-60 minutes total in that time frame.

While in the operating room, everything was going smoothly, except for some difficulty with getting the spinal administered. There is nothing quite like the sensation of needle crunching around on bone, let me tell you…. Afterwards, I felt nothing… no pain, no pressure… the only way I knew that anyone was doing something was that I was moving around up and down at least 6 inches on the table! Then they said to Rob, “Stand up, Father,” and I watched him, then heard “Mom…” on the other side of my head and turned to look at my darling little angel. Everything felt really surreal.

Then I was overcome with this incredible sensation that I could not swallow and I felt really nauseous. I heard my doctor tell me to breathe and not hyperventilate, but I could not do anything. Rob told me that my eyes rolled into the back of my head and saw that blood was pouring out of my incision site. I did pull through without issue, so all is well on that front! It was just a little unnerving to have that happen and to hear about it later.

I saw my son then before he was whisked off to the nursery with Rob. I spent some time in recovery and was anxious to get to my room and my son and my husband and begin bonding and to be able to see the little man who was moving and grooving inside me for nine months on the outside of my body. My recovery was going well, despite the fact that my blood sugar was high at 200! I know that I received a glucose drip throughout the delivery, but I am pretty certain they weren't regulating it properly and I don't believe that I received any insulin to bring my sugar levels under control.

These high blood sugars in me created low blood sugars in Ethan. So low, in fact, that he had to have an IV inserted into his tiny, little arm. I had no idea what was going on until my nurse called the nursery asking them to bring my son to me and then a nurse came up empty handed to tell me what was going on and why he wasn't there. I was distraught and started crying, so my nurse asked if we could stop in to see him and we got the okay. I was able to hold Ethan in my arms for the most wonderful 5 minutes of my life. It was over too soon.

I fully expected to have Ethan in the room with me the next day, but his blood sugars were still too low.

Then came the NEXT blow... He tested positive for MRSA (a staph infection) and he had to remain not only in the NICU, but in isolation. I am super happy to report that it was a false positive, but we initially had to wait for 2 negatives to come back on subsequent tests, each one a day apart and a 12-hour culture. I was able to spend about 30-45 minutes in his room holding him and feeding him.

Then I got a fever and I was in isolation in my room. I could not leave at all and therefore could not go see my son. My fever finally went away and I looked forward to FINALLY getting my son when I was told that a THIRD negative MRSA test was required. They also still hadn't cleared me from isolation, too. It is a very difficult thing to deal with knowing that you are trapped in one room and just down the hall is your son, trapped alone in another room... and that the little one you have carried for nine months - never apart from - was just down the hall and I could not go to even see him.

I am SO grateful to both my husband and my Mother for getting super tough and loco on the hospital staff in trying to get answers and to get my son in my arms. They have no idea what this meant to me!! This was the WORST hospital experience of my life. Doctors who were supposed to come and inform us on Ethan's status and what was happening NEVER BOTHERED TO SHOW UP. We could not get straight answers from anyone and I felt so helpless.

Finally, it was decided (through the insistance from my husband and my Mom on behalf of a hysterical new mommy~!) that Ethan could be in isolation with me in my room.

Did the trouble stop there? Oh no.

We were told then that they had run more blood work and tests on Ethan and were concerned about his sodium and potassium levels. He had to get an ultrasound to check out his adrenal glands (everything was a-okay there!) and they have to keep drawing blood out of him because his test results were coming back incorrect. My poor little baby was being used as a pincushion and it was so agonizing for me to witness.

The problem then stemmed from the fact that they were taking blood from the heel, so they had no option but to take blood from his already bruised arms. I helped to hold him down and comfort him while the blood tech first tried one arm unsuccessfully and then finally got blood from the other arms. I felt so much anguish for him! It was a horrible ordeal to go through and to witness and I am so glad that Rob had left the room before that really happened. It was SO hard to watch.

Is it over? Nope.

The test was STILL reading low, so it was ordered that MORE blood was going to be drawn and then they were going to do an EKG. We were able to finally talk to one NICU Pediatrician on call who actually communicated wonderfully with us. The poor man was basically thrown into the middle of things because the last on call pediatrician who was supposed to come to talk to us never bothered to show up at all. The on-call doctor said that he was not going to put Ethan through yet another blood draw and would go off the results of the EKG, which relayed that everything was fine with my son.

We finally arrived at home on Saturday, January 3rd, in the late afternoon.

My grievances? I believe that the dosage of glucose I received during surgery (and without insulin to regulate the levels) caused Ethan's low blood sugar. The on call pediatrician said that the potassium and sodium levels issue was probably caused by the IV fluids that Ethan received as a result of the low blood sugar issue. And the MRSA test? Well, the NICUO submitted a contaminated sample initially that caused so much stress, anxiety, and grief for us all.

We have been through a lot getting this perfect little man into the world and settled... but he was worth every bit of it. I just feel so horrible for everything that he was put through.