Baby Evan

Evan Donald was born by planned c section October 7th, around noon. He cried but was in respiratory distress with dusky color, grunting, and retracting when breathing. A neonatologist was summoned and he was taken to the NICU. He was on Cpap and prophylactic antibiotics. It is thought that he has fluid in his lungs, possibly due to an infection (hence antibiotics), immaturity of the lungs (which can sometimes happen even in term babies) or most likely due to amniotic fluid not leaving the lungs during birth (this can happen with c section babies). I was able to hold him briefly before he went to the NICU.

I was doing okay until I was told it might be many hours until I could see and hold him again. At that point I became sad and tearful. As a former NICU mom, I deliberately chose to give birth at a hospital that has a NICU, neonatologists, all kinds of specialists and specialized equipment "just in case", but I didn't expect to need all of that again.  I was expecting a routine c section birth and to have my baby with me right away and I was disappointed and sad that things went differently. They made an exception for me and allowed me to go see Evan in the NICU on my gurney after recovery. Then it was many hours before I was able to go again due to my nausea and vomiting and inability to sit up in a wheelchair.  I was finally able to hold him again the next morning.

Day 2 was a better day. He's come off the Cpap and is on nasal cannula. After a couple of not-so-great attempts, he was able to latch on and nurse. He seems to be nursing about every other try. We try every 3 hours and he seems to nurse every 6 hours. He is still on IV nutrition but weight has dropped from 6 lbs 9 oz to 6 lbs 4 oz.  Of course, the decrease in weight is normal for a newborn, but the NICU has more rigorous standards for weight maintenance and gain than they have on the floor.

We're expecting a brief NICU stay, although I don't exactly know what that means. Initially I was told it could be just a few hours. Now it's been a couple days and I'm hearing that it could be a couple more.

My mood goes up and down. This is not as big or scary of a deal as Nathan's NICU stay 7 years ago. Evan's life is not in danger. I am grateful that these issues are fairly minor and are expected to resolve completely.  Yesterday, I got on the elevator with the parents of a 27 week preemie who has been in the NICU a month now. The mom asked me if I was stressed. I told her that this is my second time around as a NICU mom and that I'm not as stressed as the first time because this is a term baby who will have a short stay. All true. But there is some sadness and disappointment about not having my baby with me and about not going home yet-- if everything had been fine with Evan, we could have gone home today. I'm sad about being away from my big kids, and I'm sad for Cianna who misses me and who can't meet her little brother yet because siblings under 6 can't be in the NICU. I know that this stay will be short, even if I can't be sure how short, and I'm grateful that we are here where Evan can get the care that he needs, and where the nurses have taken excellent care of us both. But I can't wait to spring the little guy out of baby jail and take him home to his family!