Day 4
He was finally latching on by himself which made my stress
and emotions go down. Because he was
doing so well with eating they were able to unhook him from his IV, they still
had the tube in his hand in case he wasn’t getting enough fluid again and had
to hook him back up so they would flush his IV every couple of hours. He was still on his lights and hooked up to
all his other monitors and still had his Foley in.
Day 5
Every day he was seen by a group of pediatricians, a
neurosurgeon team, a neurologist, and spina bifida specialist, and because he
was born with clubbed feet an orthopedic surgeon team and a physical therapist.
It was really nice that they all would come to our room and just check on him
and go over things with me and answer all my questions, the frustrating part
was I never knew when they were coming so a lot of the time I would miss them
because I was out of the room. Every time I needed to pick him up to feed him I
would call my nurse to help me get him out of his bed because he was hooked up
to so many things I didn’t want to pull something out. I also didn’t have to change a single diaper
the whole time I was there because he had his Foley in and because he had to
lay on his side and had what they call a mud flap, that’s this flappy plastic
thing that keeps his poop from going into his incision on his back but because
of all those things the nurse would change all of his diapers as well but I
would always feel bad pushing the button to say he needs a diaper change or I
need help getting him in or out of his bed, but I was very grateful they were
there to help. They removed his IV completely this day and I was able to hold
him vertically. He still couldn’t lay on
his back and was still hooked up to all his monitors and still had his Foley
in.
Day 6
Our final day!!!! I was so excited to hear that we were
could be discharged today as long and everything still looked good. He was off his lights and holding his heat
all by himself, he had his Foley removed, they taught me how to catheterize him
for the first time I was really nervous about this I thought I would hurt him
and that I wouldn’t be able to get it in and it would take me a long time and
pee and everything would be everywhere I was very stressed out about his whole
processes. I was able to do it successfully
the very first time it was a great feeling knowing that I could do it!! We would catheterize him 2 times that day
four hours apart to measure how much we were emptying out of his bladder and if
everything looked good we could keep his Foley out and just do intermittent
catheters and because he was only letting out very little fluid we only have to
catheterize him once a day. He was also
off all of his monitors that day, so I was able to hold him without anyone’s
help that was also a great feeling! We
had to do a renal ultrasound, they would check his kidneys and his bladder, his
right kidney was a little bit swollen and had a little bit of fluid in it, but
everything looked really good no major issues.
We would have to come back and test his bladder and kidneys when he was
2 months old to see if he is having reflex or any other problems. So far so
good, it’s looking like we are going to be able to leave today and go home. I
had to pass off that I could do CPR and Choking. He had to have his Hep. B shot and then we
had to fit him for a car seat bed because he couldn’t sit in a normal car seat
because of his back. They also did his
hearing test that day which he passed and they had physical therapy come and
show me what to do with his feet and hips, how to help stretch him out until
they could get casts on his feet to correct his clubbed feet. We had seen all the doctors and everything
looked good. We were able to check out
at 2:00 P.M. that afternoon. We picked up his medicine and hit the road!! 4
hours later we pulled into our driveway for the first time in 3 weeks!!
Going through all this was hard at times and overwhelming
and sometimes you think how am I going to remember to do everything that he
needs, and take care of everything else going on in my life, but it really all
comes together. I have a wonderful
husband who helped me get through all my fears and struggles and sometimes I
still have overwhelming moments and he is always there telling me everything is
going to be ok and that we will get through this together. I’m so extremely blessed to have him by my
side helping me raise our now 3 children.
I know that we still have a lot to learn and to battle through but I
know that this was probably the hardest part and now our little Carter is here
and we love him so much just the way he is!
“I
don’t want my children to become what I want them to be,
I want them to become everything God created
them to be.”
-Jon
Gordon
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