It started out like just like any other hump day...I was kicking it (literally) in Mommy's belly, just waiting for some breakfast to be served. I gave Mommy a few kicks to remind her that I was starving...well some of you know how Mommy gets when she is hungry. I was about to throw a fit...and if she wasn't going to feed my more than just that bite of a cookie, I was ready to come out and feed myself.
Just as soon as Mommy took a bite of her morning oatmeal...in walks Dr. Karen Callen (Mommy's Obstetrician) screaming, "Stop! Don't eat anything...we are going to deliver you today!" At first I thought Dr. Callen was calling my bluff, but the surprised look on Mommy and Daddy's faces told me Dr. Callen was serious. Mommy said to Dr. Callen, "When the nurse said not to eat I thought we were going to do another test." Daddy put his laptop bag down and took a seat...guess he wasn't going to work today...yippee!!! Snowday!!!
Dr. Callen explain to Mommy and Daddy that all the bed rest in the hospital wasn't doing much good and it was time for me to make a grand entrance. Apparently the monitor was showing my heart rate was dipping dangerously during the night (down to 60 BPM from the average of 145 BPM) and it happened a bunch of times. (You can see the dip on the chart)
Dr. Callen was afraid that I would go into distress because the diastolic flow to Mommy's placenta was low and there were restrictions to the flow seen in the last ultrasound. Add to this the placental abruption and bleeding episode which put Mommy in the hospital for a few days at the beginning of May and drop in amniotic fluid a couple of weeks ago and what do you get....MY SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!
I guess, Dr. Callen spent a lot of time planning and wanted to make sure a lot of people could attend my birthday so she told Mommy and Daddy that it would be best to have my party today, when everyone was around and could make it, rather then keeping the date a secret and risk letting me decide when I was ready to come out. Then all those special people on the Neonatal Team would have to rush to try and make the party....so it would be less risky to have a controlled party then mayhem. Dr. Callen had already send out the Evite (sorry if you didn't get one...she didn't have your email) and my Birthday Party would begin at 3:30pm.
It looked like Mommy and Daddy were a bit caught off guard...kind of like deer in the headlights! There were a collective calm...I think you call it shock...then they started to make a flurry of calls...probably to see if the Taco Truck guy could come by the hospital and cater my party.
Well the next few hours came and went in a heart beat...I am not sure what happened...I took a nap to rest up because I could tell it was going to be a long rager of a night....you know kind, where you wake up shaking in the fetal position, covered in meconium not knowing where you are or what you did.
The last thing I remember was seeing Daddy trying to play doctor with Mommy....isn't that how this whole thing started?
Then this doctor came in and gave Mommy an epidural and the last thing I remember was this sign
After that things were a bit of a blur....one minute I was nice and warm just floating around without a care the world....then the next minute bright lights, I hear a snap (of my umbilical cord) and I am being handed off like a football and thrown into a plastic bag.
In the video is Dr. Callen handing me off to Dr. David Lee (neonatologist). That's Patty on the left, one of the NICU nurses.
There was so much activity no one said, "Happy Birthday" when my birthday happened...so I cried.
Then Dr. Lee was nice enough to give me a hit of pure oxygen....
....and I got to do my first funnel...not exactly sure what "Surfactant" is but WOW...man does that stuff open up the airways!
Well the party kept going for about while and I got to meet a lot of cool people from the Neonatal Team and the dance party moved to the next venue....NICU.
No comments:
Post a Comment