Jett's First Bath

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Alright, so I know this post is a little out of order, but I just couldn't wait for you all to see him! Jett had his very first bath tonight and with the help of his wonderful nurse, Erin...I was able to bathe him! Joel took some videos, so enjoy! I promise to catch up on the blogs...it's just been really busy!

Although Jett was born at 2 pounds 10 ounces, he lost a lot of weight and dropped down to 2 pounds 2 ounces. He was pretty scrawny, but he's bouncing back and is now up to 2 POUNDS 6 OUNCES!!!!

There are 5 quick videos...CLICK HERE!

Joel changed his diaper for the 2nd time!!

Jett's First Few Days

Lying in the recovery room was both a relief and a moment that I will never forget.

The medication was definitely working and I was on cloud nine that everything had gone fine and Jett was delivered without any difficulties...as far as I knew.

Joel and his parents were able to see Jett right away. They were elated! Jon and Rita both came back to my recovery room with tears in their eyes saying, "He's just so precious". I was so happy that he was here, but extremely anxious to see him. I came out of the surgery at 3:00pm. I was unable to see my son until 8:30pm. You can imagine my emotions. All I had to go on were the reports of others and according to most of them, he was doing alright. I also learned that they protect the mother from the truth while she's in recovery!

Jett was very sick. At delivery, he was born with a rash covering his little body. It could have been heat rash or a rash from his infection, but they were uncertain. Once in the NICU, the doctors assessed and treated him right away. Jett's left lung was collapsed due to a hole in it. This caused a Pneumothorax, which is a collection of air or gas in the space around the lungs and may result from chest trauma or lung disease. His "air bubbles" had moved to the center of his chest and were putting too much pressure on his heart. His blood pressure was all over the map, he had edema in his lower abdomen, and a crazy bacterial infection.

They inserted a chest tube, immediately started him on a breathing machine...called the "Jet Valve"...go figure! He was pumped full of medications for his heart and lungs, antibiotics for his infection, x-rays to monitor his PDA heart murmur, brain ultrasounds to check for brain bleeds, blood transfusions, anemia, jaundice, and fluids. This is the short list!

It's hard to put into words the emotions that I felt as I held my sick little boy's hand. I wanted it to be me, not him. I wanted to be the one being poked and prodded with all of the sticks and needles and wires. I didn't want him to have to fight so much in the first few days of his life! We were scared. They said that he was septic, which meant his blood was infected. His infection was caused by Pseudomonas, a bacteria that lives in the environment all around us.

The doctors' major concern was his PDA. A PDA is the patent ductus arteriosus (vessel outside of the heart that can make the baby's breathing and heart problems worse). There are a few ways to treat it, but they were leaning towards heart surgery to correct the problem.

Jett's Delivery

March 16th, delivery cont...

After Jenn arrived, the doctor went over a few more things with us before the surgery. He said that because my fever had spiked so quickly, Jett needed to come out as soon as possible. 

The nurses had to adjust and redo my IV (which was no fun at all) and we were off and on our way to the OR. I remember it being ice cold when the double doors opened. Because of the fever, I was already shivering, but now I was almost convulsing! 

They prepped me for the spinal and before I knew it, my toes were numb. Again, a really weird feeling! The anesthesiologist did her magic and we were soon underway.  Joel came in with tears in his eyes and told me he loved me. He tried to hold my hand for me even though I was shaking so bad. I asked the anesthesiologist to hold my other hand because I couldn't keep it on the table.