So, despite all our efforts, it looks like Aiden will be spending his first Christmas in the hospital. Last week, we had a follow up ultrasound (in Barrie). This afternoon, we met with his pediatrician to get the results. Unfortunately, because this was the first ultrasound that they'd done in Barrie, they had nothing to compare it to, and they hadn't yet gotten the scans that SickKids had done, we didn't get any results. She went on to do a regular check up, and when she measured his head, she found that it had grown 2.5 cms in the last three weeks (the norm is 1 cm per month), so she said she was going to call SickKids and see what their recommendation was, but she was pretty sure they'd want to see him in the next few days. She came back about 15 minutes later saying that the neurosurgeon wanted to see him tonight to do an MRI, and that we were to check in at the emergency department and they would page the on-call neurosurgeon to come see us right away. She said that we had time to go home and feed Aiden, and pack a bag and such, but to get there tonight. We went home and called my parents to let them know what was going on, packed up our bags and fed Aiden and had something to eat and then we left. We got to the hospital just after 7:00, and the doctor here was confused at how long it took us to get there because they were expecting us there around 5:30 or 6:00. The doctor did a quick check of him and said that he seems fine, he's got good reflexes and motor skills and etc, but they were going to do a CT scan and then admit him for the night. He asked if we thought he would sleep through the scan, and if we could get him to sleep. We got him to sleep not long after, and headed over to the CT scan room. The results weren't quite what we were hoping for. The water on his brain is about 10 times what it should be, and its not draining, so he needs to have a shunt put in, and the sooner it happens, the better. The neurosurgeon is going to try his best to make sure that it happens tomorrow. The procedure itself usually takes 45 minutes, but the whole time he'll be in the OR will be about an hour and a half to two hours. He'll have to fast for 8 hours before the surgery, and then another 4 hours after. He'll have to stay in the OR recovery area for 2 hours after the shunt is put in to make sure there's no immediate complications, and then he'll be moved up to the 5th floor to recover. Hopefully he'll be able to leave after two or three days, which seems to be the norm here. Now, we're hanging out in his ER room until a room upstairs opens up. We were told that we'll get one tonight, they're just waiting for a room to open up. (I'm not holding my breath, considering its already quarter after 12:00.) I'll write more tomorrow.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
email post.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
zzz...
sleep!
i miss you. =(
(Aiden has decided that ~midnight to ~4am is prime time for screaming bloody murder.)
i miss you. =(
(Aiden has decided that ~midnight to ~4am is prime time for screaming bloody murder.)
Monday, November 29, 2010
busy!
After nearly 50 days in the hospital, our little man is home!!!!!!!!! The doctor found no reason in keeping him there while he was working on feeding better when that could be done in the comfort of our own home with a home nurse, rather than in a hospital full of sick people. Tuesday, she started writing up the discharge papers and ordering all the supplies we would need. Wednesday, the supplies came in and we started learning how to use his feeding machine/pump, and I stayed overnight to see what a full night was like with him. Thursday, we left!!!
Friday morning, we headed down to SickKids to have his PICC line removed. When the doctor booked the appointment for us, she was nice enough to make it for 9:00, so we tried out best to get there for 9:00, but got there at 9:30. Luckily, IGT was dead, so they were able to start us right away. He had numbing cream put on his arm, and they told us that we could sit and wait, or walk around for half an hour and then they’d remove it. So, we sat and waited and fed him. They called us in, and had us put him on a stretcher-type gurney. Propped him up on some blankets, and then covered him with sterile dressing blankets. Injected him with a little bit more spots of freezing, of which he was NOT a fan, and then pulled it out. (They were going to take it out at RVH, but apparently there was a balloon at the end of it? So it had to be taken out at SickKids. We didn’t see any balloons.) After that, we finished feeding him, and then headed back to Barrie.
Got back to Barrie just before his next feed, but he was already starting to get hungry. While we were waiting for the bottle to warm up, I changed his diaper. He was MAD, and had his arms and legs kicking and flailing and he managed to pull out majority of his feeding tube, which made him madder. I ended up pulling out the rest of the tube, and then he settled down pretty well right away. We fed him what we could from the bottle, and then headed out to the Urgent Care clinic to see if they could put a new one in for us. (They couldn’t.) So, we had to go back to RVH, and sit in emergency. We registered, and headed to Minor Exam. The triage nurse told us that it wasn’t busy, so it would be quick. We sat and waited for about an hour before he started waking up, hungry. I made the mistake of asking if I could feed him. The nurse wasn’t sure of how the feeding tube thing all worked, so she said she’d ask the doctor and get back to me. A couple of minutes later, she said not to because we would be in “soon”. So, we distracted him for a bit, and eventually he fell asleep. He woke up later, having missed two feeds, and started crying and would not calm down. I went back into the room a couple of times asking how much longer it would be, because he had missed two feeds and needed to eat. They all assured me that it would be “very soon” because we were “next”.
They still hadn’t called us in after about four hours, and there was nothing we could do to calm him down or distract him. Finally, I went back into the nursing station, crying, asking how much longer it was going to be because he needed to eat, NOW. They made up the casting room for us, saying that we might have to move from this room, but at least now the doctor could come in and see us. A nurse came in, and I asked when I could feed him. At this point, he was starting to get lethargic and wasn’t even crying for food anymore. She said she was going to get the doctor immediately. She came back in a couple of minutes later saying that the doctor said we could feed him. I didn’t feel comfortable feeding him the formula that we had in the bag because it had been in there for more than a few hours, so I started breast feeding him and hoped for the best. He seemed to have gotten some milk, because he perked up right away and was a much happier baby. A little while later, my parents brought up some more formula for us and he sucked that back as well. The doctor finally came in, saying that he would have to call the pediatric on call doctor to put it in, because she was the only person who could. I asked how long that would take, because at this point, I was ready to take him back to SickKids. They said that they’d paged her, and she was caught up with a patient but would be down within an hour.
An hour passed, and the doctor still wasn’t down yet. I was going back and forth between the minor exam waiting area, and the emergency area to update my parents on what was going on. I came back into the minor exam area, and Jason was sitting in the hallway with all of our stuff. I nearly lost it. Not only were they lying about how much longer we were going to be (in no way is five hours, “soon”), they kicked us out of the room we were in while we were waiting for the doctor to come down. The only reason why I didn’t go back into that room and throw a fit? The on call doctor is our pediatrician, whom we have our first official appointment with tomorrow. I calmed down, and then I went back into the nurses station to ask if they knew how much longer the doctor would be. The nurse/clerk said she didn’t know, and she didn’t know where else I could go to have his tube put back in. I asked her to page the doctor again, because we had been there since 4:00pm, and we were continuously told that we were going to be “next”. She came back over to us a couple minutes later saying that the doctor had called back and she was “very busy with an unstable infant, so she will be down as soon as she can leave the infant”. Thank you for the guilt trip, lady. But you see my infant? He went through hell for the first month of his life, and because of that he can’t get sick. So, you see, sitting in your hospital for six plus hours to get this done? Really wears my patience thin, and this guilt trip? Not helping your case. Rest assured, if this ever happens again, I will be driving the hour to Toronto and making sure he goes to the best hospital where ANYONE can replace the tube, not just one person.
Finally, a nurse came over and got us, saying that the doctor was able to put the tube in. We were brought back into the original room that they’d put us in, and the doctor came in a couple minutes later. The doctor looks like she’s about 25, which kind of surprised both of us. And, I’m not sure about Jason, but I immediately liked her. She asked us a couple of questions about the little man, put the tube back in, had it x-rayed and then we talked about a few other things that she remembered from his chart. She said she would be contacting SickKids between then and our appointment tomorrow to get their opinion on weaning him off of an anti-convulsant, seeing as he’s only had the one seizure, and it was febrile. (The pediatrician that looked after him over the week wanted him to wean off of it, so he would be on it until he was three or four months old.) And she mentioned a couple other things that she wants to work on too, but I can’t remember what they were anymore.
Saturday, Sunday and today have all been pretty low key. We’ve mostly just worked on getting his feeding back on schedule, and catching up on some (much needed) sleep. Aiden had his first real bath today. He didn’t love it, but he didn’t hate it; he seemed to mostly be confused by it. Now, he’s sitting in his bouncy chair, watching the back of his eyelids.
Friday morning, we headed down to SickKids to have his PICC line removed. When the doctor booked the appointment for us, she was nice enough to make it for 9:00, so we tried out best to get there for 9:00, but got there at 9:30. Luckily, IGT was dead, so they were able to start us right away. He had numbing cream put on his arm, and they told us that we could sit and wait, or walk around for half an hour and then they’d remove it. So, we sat and waited and fed him. They called us in, and had us put him on a stretcher-type gurney. Propped him up on some blankets, and then covered him with sterile dressing blankets. Injected him with a little bit more spots of freezing, of which he was NOT a fan, and then pulled it out. (They were going to take it out at RVH, but apparently there was a balloon at the end of it? So it had to be taken out at SickKids. We didn’t see any balloons.) After that, we finished feeding him, and then headed back to Barrie.
Got back to Barrie just before his next feed, but he was already starting to get hungry. While we were waiting for the bottle to warm up, I changed his diaper. He was MAD, and had his arms and legs kicking and flailing and he managed to pull out majority of his feeding tube, which made him madder. I ended up pulling out the rest of the tube, and then he settled down pretty well right away. We fed him what we could from the bottle, and then headed out to the Urgent Care clinic to see if they could put a new one in for us. (They couldn’t.) So, we had to go back to RVH, and sit in emergency. We registered, and headed to Minor Exam. The triage nurse told us that it wasn’t busy, so it would be quick. We sat and waited for about an hour before he started waking up, hungry. I made the mistake of asking if I could feed him. The nurse wasn’t sure of how the feeding tube thing all worked, so she said she’d ask the doctor and get back to me. A couple of minutes later, she said not to because we would be in “soon”. So, we distracted him for a bit, and eventually he fell asleep. He woke up later, having missed two feeds, and started crying and would not calm down. I went back into the room a couple of times asking how much longer it would be, because he had missed two feeds and needed to eat. They all assured me that it would be “very soon” because we were “next”.
They still hadn’t called us in after about four hours, and there was nothing we could do to calm him down or distract him. Finally, I went back into the nursing station, crying, asking how much longer it was going to be because he needed to eat, NOW. They made up the casting room for us, saying that we might have to move from this room, but at least now the doctor could come in and see us. A nurse came in, and I asked when I could feed him. At this point, he was starting to get lethargic and wasn’t even crying for food anymore. She said she was going to get the doctor immediately. She came back in a couple of minutes later saying that the doctor said we could feed him. I didn’t feel comfortable feeding him the formula that we had in the bag because it had been in there for more than a few hours, so I started breast feeding him and hoped for the best. He seemed to have gotten some milk, because he perked up right away and was a much happier baby. A little while later, my parents brought up some more formula for us and he sucked that back as well. The doctor finally came in, saying that he would have to call the pediatric on call doctor to put it in, because she was the only person who could. I asked how long that would take, because at this point, I was ready to take him back to SickKids. They said that they’d paged her, and she was caught up with a patient but would be down within an hour.
An hour passed, and the doctor still wasn’t down yet. I was going back and forth between the minor exam waiting area, and the emergency area to update my parents on what was going on. I came back into the minor exam area, and Jason was sitting in the hallway with all of our stuff. I nearly lost it. Not only were they lying about how much longer we were going to be (in no way is five hours, “soon”), they kicked us out of the room we were in while we were waiting for the doctor to come down. The only reason why I didn’t go back into that room and throw a fit? The on call doctor is our pediatrician, whom we have our first official appointment with tomorrow. I calmed down, and then I went back into the nurses station to ask if they knew how much longer the doctor would be. The nurse/clerk said she didn’t know, and she didn’t know where else I could go to have his tube put back in. I asked her to page the doctor again, because we had been there since 4:00pm, and we were continuously told that we were going to be “next”. She came back over to us a couple minutes later saying that the doctor had called back and she was “very busy with an unstable infant, so she will be down as soon as she can leave the infant”. Thank you for the guilt trip, lady. But you see my infant? He went through hell for the first month of his life, and because of that he can’t get sick. So, you see, sitting in your hospital for six plus hours to get this done? Really wears my patience thin, and this guilt trip? Not helping your case. Rest assured, if this ever happens again, I will be driving the hour to Toronto and making sure he goes to the best hospital where ANYONE can replace the tube, not just one person.
Finally, a nurse came over and got us, saying that the doctor was able to put the tube in. We were brought back into the original room that they’d put us in, and the doctor came in a couple minutes later. The doctor looks like she’s about 25, which kind of surprised both of us. And, I’m not sure about Jason, but I immediately liked her. She asked us a couple of questions about the little man, put the tube back in, had it x-rayed and then we talked about a few other things that she remembered from his chart. She said she would be contacting SickKids between then and our appointment tomorrow to get their opinion on weaning him off of an anti-convulsant, seeing as he’s only had the one seizure, and it was febrile. (The pediatrician that looked after him over the week wanted him to wean off of it, so he would be on it until he was three or four months old.) And she mentioned a couple other things that she wants to work on too, but I can’t remember what they were anymore.
Saturday, Sunday and today have all been pretty low key. We’ve mostly just worked on getting his feeding back on schedule, and catching up on some (much needed) sleep. Aiden had his first real bath today. He didn’t love it, but he didn’t hate it; he seemed to mostly be confused by it. Now, he’s sitting in his bouncy chair, watching the back of his eyelids.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
whew!
It’s been a while, and right now I don’t have the energy to update on everything, so I leave you with bullet points.
- The PICC line insertion took longer than the hernia repair. It was supposed to take 30-60 minutes, but the little man has little veins, so it took longer. Two hours longer.
- We started breastfeeding. He LOVES it. (To the point of getting angry at us for not understanding the mechanics of it when we tried to feed him a bottle. He kept opening his mouth super-wide, and trying to latch onto Daddy’s shirt.)
- About a week-ish after being moved onto the general pediatric floor, he was moved out of the observation room (four patients) and into a private room.
- We were able to take the little man for a couple of walks around the 7C unit. (He slept through about 99.9% of them.)
- Yesterday, November 19th, the transfer coordinator came into the room saying that RVH had a bed, and they were looking at transferring him on Monday. Two minutes later, the nurse came in saying that we should pack everything up, because once transport was finalized, we would be on our way.
- Jason stayed in Toronto and cleaned/packed like a madman at the Ronald McDonald House, and tied up loose ends with them. My parents went down there after supper last night and picked him up.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Movin' on up!
Well, the little man is officially “too healthy” for the ICU.
This morning, his discharge papers were drawn up, and sometime this afternoon/evening he’ll be moved up to a room on the pediatrics ward floor.
Yaay!
This morning, his discharge papers were drawn up, and sometime this afternoon/evening he’ll be moved up to a room on the pediatrics ward floor.
Yaay!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
It's been a busy few days
Well, Aiden sure does keep us on our toes.
Wednesday morning, he had a seizure. It was completely unexpected, and had the doctors and nurses confused as to why it happened. So, since then he’s undergone just about every test known to man, with the results all coming back negative. Finally, it showed up that one of his IV’s had an infection in it. The next morning, after more results had come back, it was determined that it wasn’t the IV that had the infection in it, the infection was in his blood stream. Neurologists came in and looked him over and he had an EEG done, which came back clear. After that, the doctors did a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to make sure that it wasn’t meningitis-related and to make sure it wasn’t in his spinal fluid. Thankfully, that test came back negative.
Then, he had a CT scan done to make sure that the infection hadn’t spread to his brain, and to rule out a couple of other reasons for why it could have happened. The CT scan showed no infection in the brain, but did show some spots that had blood where they weren’t expecting to find it. They ordered an MRI to get a better picture of what was going on. Because of his condition, and how people react to anesthetics, the MRI technician and the anesthetist felt it would be for the best to re-intubate him, because they were afraid that once they anesthetized him, he would stop breathing. The MRI was done, and he slept for the rest of the night.
Yesterday morning, he woke up and realised that he had a tube down his throat. He was PISSED. He started crying, and got so upset that he started turning red, then purple and finally blue. We got him calmed down, bathed him, and then he spent the rest of the day sleeping. He woke up mid-afternoon and started grabbing for the tube, and was finally extubated last night around ten.
The MRI results showed what the CT scan had showed. There were spots of blood in the middle of his brain. At this point, the doctors don’t seem concerned and have explained that they are going to keep an eye on it because it could settle and go away on it’s own, which is what we’re hoping happens, or it could settle and block the drainage path for the other fluids to pass. If the latter happens, they will bring in the Neurologist again and it may require surgery to have it drained. But, they’ve stressed that it is not something we should be concerned with at the moment because it doesn’t seem to be affecting him in any way, and to concentrate on the fact that he’s happy, healthy and having great days.
Today, he’s been grumpy but otherwise rock solid. We were able to hold him for a few hours today, and it seems like that’s about the only thing that calms him down once he starts getting himself worked up. He’ll be completely weaned off the Morphine sometime over the night, and then tomorrow the plan is to have him moved upstairs, provided there’s a room available and he stays this stable.
Happy Halloween!
Wednesday morning, he had a seizure. It was completely unexpected, and had the doctors and nurses confused as to why it happened. So, since then he’s undergone just about every test known to man, with the results all coming back negative. Finally, it showed up that one of his IV’s had an infection in it. The next morning, after more results had come back, it was determined that it wasn’t the IV that had the infection in it, the infection was in his blood stream. Neurologists came in and looked him over and he had an EEG done, which came back clear. After that, the doctors did a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to make sure that it wasn’t meningitis-related and to make sure it wasn’t in his spinal fluid. Thankfully, that test came back negative.
Then, he had a CT scan done to make sure that the infection hadn’t spread to his brain, and to rule out a couple of other reasons for why it could have happened. The CT scan showed no infection in the brain, but did show some spots that had blood where they weren’t expecting to find it. They ordered an MRI to get a better picture of what was going on. Because of his condition, and how people react to anesthetics, the MRI technician and the anesthetist felt it would be for the best to re-intubate him, because they were afraid that once they anesthetized him, he would stop breathing. The MRI was done, and he slept for the rest of the night.
Yesterday morning, he woke up and realised that he had a tube down his throat. He was PISSED. He started crying, and got so upset that he started turning red, then purple and finally blue. We got him calmed down, bathed him, and then he spent the rest of the day sleeping. He woke up mid-afternoon and started grabbing for the tube, and was finally extubated last night around ten.
The MRI results showed what the CT scan had showed. There were spots of blood in the middle of his brain. At this point, the doctors don’t seem concerned and have explained that they are going to keep an eye on it because it could settle and go away on it’s own, which is what we’re hoping happens, or it could settle and block the drainage path for the other fluids to pass. If the latter happens, they will bring in the Neurologist again and it may require surgery to have it drained. But, they’ve stressed that it is not something we should be concerned with at the moment because it doesn’t seem to be affecting him in any way, and to concentrate on the fact that he’s happy, healthy and having great days.
Today, he’s been grumpy but otherwise rock solid. We were able to hold him for a few hours today, and it seems like that’s about the only thing that calms him down once he starts getting himself worked up. He’ll be completely weaned off the Morphine sometime over the night, and then tomorrow the plan is to have him moved upstairs, provided there’s a room available and he stays this stable.
Happy Halloween!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Fixed!
The little man had a big day yesterday. The surgeons finally deemed him fit to proceed with the surgery, so he went in at 2:30, and was out by 4:30. The surgery itself only took an hour, which surprised everyone. (We had been told to expect it to go until “around 6:00″, so when the surgeon came out that soon, we were expecting her to tell us that they’d been delayed and were just starting now, or that they’d encountered one of the problems that she’d mentioned earlier and it was going to take longer than originally anticipated.)
Everything went well, they didn’t encounter anything they weren’t expecting to see, and they were able to repair it using the existing diaphragm wall, rather than having to put in a patch of Gortex, so that was a huge relief. Not only are his chances of re-herniation a lot lower, but now there’s a much less risk of infection and we likely won’t have to come for quite as many follow up appointments.
He was put back on the oscillation ventilator after the surgery, because his carbon dioxide levels were coming back a little high. But, the doctors are talking about switching him back onto the conventional ventilator sometime this afternoon, provided his blood work continues coming back “perfect”.
The next step is starting him on some “real” food. So far, his diet has consisted of a bag of “hamster food” (some concoction of vitamins and minerals and etc.) and “hamster fat” (lipids), so here’s to hoping his body doesn’t reject the breast milk, because one of his requirements of being able to come home is “sufficiently eating and gaining weight”. And, here’s to hoping that he catches on the mechanics of feeding quickly because the fact that we have to replace his feeding tube, should he pull it out, creeps me right out.
They kept him sedated and muscle relaxed overnight, but stopped that this morning. So, he’s been slowly waking up. He’s still keeping his eyes closed, but he’s been moving and responding to touch for most of the day. He’s tried opening his eyes a couple of times, but it looks like he’s still a little too out of it. (Maybe tomorrow.) I stand corrected — Jason just came out of the room saying that he’s awake. Yay!
Other than that, he’s been doing well. He’s happy when he’s left alone and not messed with, and he likes blowing (spit) bubbles.
Everything went well, they didn’t encounter anything they weren’t expecting to see, and they were able to repair it using the existing diaphragm wall, rather than having to put in a patch of Gortex, so that was a huge relief. Not only are his chances of re-herniation a lot lower, but now there’s a much less risk of infection and we likely won’t have to come for quite as many follow up appointments.
He was put back on the oscillation ventilator after the surgery, because his carbon dioxide levels were coming back a little high. But, the doctors are talking about switching him back onto the conventional ventilator sometime this afternoon, provided his blood work continues coming back “perfect”.
The next step is starting him on some “real” food. So far, his diet has consisted of a bag of “hamster food” (some concoction of vitamins and minerals and etc.) and “hamster fat” (lipids), so here’s to hoping his body doesn’t reject the breast milk, because one of his requirements of being able to come home is “sufficiently eating and gaining weight”. And, here’s to hoping that he catches on the mechanics of feeding quickly because the fact that we have to replace his feeding tube, should he pull it out, creeps me right out.
They kept him sedated and muscle relaxed overnight, but stopped that this morning. So, he’s been slowly waking up. He’s still keeping his eyes closed, but he’s been moving and responding to touch for most of the day. He’s tried opening his eyes a couple of times, but it looks like he’s still a little too out of it. (Maybe tomorrow.) I stand corrected — Jason just came out of the room saying that he’s awake. Yay!
Other than that, he’s been doing well. He’s happy when he’s left alone and not messed with, and he likes blowing (spit) bubbles.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Welcome to the world, little man!
Aiden Joseph was welcomed into the world on Friday, October 8th, 2010 at 9:37pm via cesarean section after 24 hours of labour. He was too unstable to get “official” measurements, but he estimated to be 7lbs, 7oz and “20-ish” inches long.
At my 40 week appointment, I was showing no signs of being ready to go into labour on my own, and my ultrasound was showing that Aiden had “stopped growing”, so the doctor decided to book an induction for the next week. The next day, his office called back and let me know that it was scheduled for the next Thursday, October 7th, at 4:00pm. I arrived at the hospital early, got checked in and headed up to the labour and delivery floor. I got settled into a labour room, and waited. The doctor finally came in at 8:30 to start the process. After a couple of hours, I still wasn’t feeling anything so they moved me to another room to sleep for the night and they would start again the next morning.
I woke up around 3:00am because I was having constant contractions. I tried timing them, but they were too on top of each other to be able to distinguish them. I finally called the nurse, and was moved back into another (MUCH nicer) labour room. A doctor came in to check me, and break my water just after 5:00am, and I finally requested an epidural around 7:00am. Between doctor’s and nurses coming in to check on me, I spent majority of my day sleeping. Around 6:00pm, a doctor came in to check me again and said that if I wasn’t any further dilated, then he was going to strongly recommend a cesarean. He checked, and apologized. I was still just between 2 and 3 centimeters dilated. He said that the cesarean was a good idea at that point because neither of us were in distress, and once labour has hit the 24 hour mark it can cause distress to the mom or the baby, so they wanted him out before that started happening because his birth was going to be difficult anyway.
They brought me over to the operating room around 8:30 to get me prepped and to top up my epidural for the surgery. Jason decided to wait in the waiting room for me, as he figured he would pass out and be in the way, so my mom came in the room with me. The feeling of the cesarean was weird, because one of the doctors was telling me what they were doing, but all I could feel was pressure. Finally, he said that they were going to be pulling Aiden out, and I would feel a lot of pressure on my chest. It felt like they were rocking me, and then I heard a squawk of protest. They wrapped him in a blanket and quickly brought him up to my face so I could see him, then they brought him into the next room to start stabilizing him to be transferred to SickKids.
I was given Gravol after the surgery, so I don’t remember much after it. We asked if Jason could see him before being transferred. It took a couple of hours, but they finally brought both of us over to the room that he was in so we could see him. We got a couple of pictures, and then we were brought back to the recovery room. Not too long after that, they were ready to transfer him, so we were brought over to the hallway that they were going to go down so that we could say good-bye, and so that our parents could see him, but he was too unstable and the battery pack on the transfer unit was too short to be able to stop.
He was admitted to SickKids around 1:30 Saturday morning, and within 20-30 minutes of being here, the doctors had him stable and pink.
At my 40 week appointment, I was showing no signs of being ready to go into labour on my own, and my ultrasound was showing that Aiden had “stopped growing”, so the doctor decided to book an induction for the next week. The next day, his office called back and let me know that it was scheduled for the next Thursday, October 7th, at 4:00pm. I arrived at the hospital early, got checked in and headed up to the labour and delivery floor. I got settled into a labour room, and waited. The doctor finally came in at 8:30 to start the process. After a couple of hours, I still wasn’t feeling anything so they moved me to another room to sleep for the night and they would start again the next morning.
I woke up around 3:00am because I was having constant contractions. I tried timing them, but they were too on top of each other to be able to distinguish them. I finally called the nurse, and was moved back into another (MUCH nicer) labour room. A doctor came in to check me, and break my water just after 5:00am, and I finally requested an epidural around 7:00am. Between doctor’s and nurses coming in to check on me, I spent majority of my day sleeping. Around 6:00pm, a doctor came in to check me again and said that if I wasn’t any further dilated, then he was going to strongly recommend a cesarean. He checked, and apologized. I was still just between 2 and 3 centimeters dilated. He said that the cesarean was a good idea at that point because neither of us were in distress, and once labour has hit the 24 hour mark it can cause distress to the mom or the baby, so they wanted him out before that started happening because his birth was going to be difficult anyway.
They brought me over to the operating room around 8:30 to get me prepped and to top up my epidural for the surgery. Jason decided to wait in the waiting room for me, as he figured he would pass out and be in the way, so my mom came in the room with me. The feeling of the cesarean was weird, because one of the doctors was telling me what they were doing, but all I could feel was pressure. Finally, he said that they were going to be pulling Aiden out, and I would feel a lot of pressure on my chest. It felt like they were rocking me, and then I heard a squawk of protest. They wrapped him in a blanket and quickly brought him up to my face so I could see him, then they brought him into the next room to start stabilizing him to be transferred to SickKids.
I was given Gravol after the surgery, so I don’t remember much after it. We asked if Jason could see him before being transferred. It took a couple of hours, but they finally brought both of us over to the room that he was in so we could see him. We got a couple of pictures, and then we were brought back to the recovery room. Not too long after that, they were ready to transfer him, so we were brought over to the hallway that they were going to go down so that we could say good-bye, and so that our parents could see him, but he was too unstable and the battery pack on the transfer unit was too short to be able to stop.
He was admitted to SickKids around 1:30 Saturday morning, and within 20-30 minutes of being here, the doctors had him stable and pink.
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