After delivery, my boys were transferred immediately to the NICU and taken under complete oberservation, given their small size and how early they were. Here is what we remember about those first days in the NICU.
Will
Will is doing great in the first hours of being in the NICU. He began breathing on about 20% oxygen. He is on a ventilator. He is enjoying life and kicking up a storm.
Drew
Drew on the otherhand has experienced some problems. During the first 2 days in the NICU he had to have 3 blood transfusions, he had to be resuscitated at about 6-6:30am on Jan 20th with low heartrate. His blood pressure has been unstable. The doctors want a blood pressure reading to stay on average around 20-30 and Drew's kept falling to around the 10's. He had an ultrasound on his brain at 8am on Jan 20th to determine if there was bleeding in the brain. The scan came back as a grade 2 brain bleed on both sides of his brain. Preemie brain bleeds range from grade 1 to 4. Grades 1 and 2 are considered minor and usually don't cause long term damage. Grades 3 and 4 are more severe and usually lead to more damage. Then Drew took a turn for the worse and about 11am on January 20, 2012, we were immediately called into his room. Dr. Nading told us about the problems Drew had been experiencing and told us it was not good and that there really was nothing more they could do. We were given the option to hold Drew for the first time outside of the incubator. We choose to do that. After we held him again, his blood pressure and heartrate began to decline again. But luckily they were able to get it back to normal range again but it was still low. They gave us the option to unhook him and take him off of everything or to try some medicine one more time. I choose to try the medicine and see what would happen. Selfishly, I wanted Drew to get better and I would regret it if I didn't do anything about it. Unfortunately it didn't work and Drew's blood pressure and heartrate would not stay within normal range. The doctors did all they could and unhooked Drew and laid him in my arms. My baby boy, Drew, died in my arms at 12:38pm on January 20, 2012.
As a new and first time mom, it was very difficult to make that decision. We put our faith and trust in the Lord and know and have a peace that our baby Drew is in heaven and playing at Jesus's feet. Boy, are we so jealous! My husband had a great idea to sing Happy Birthday to Drew and it was so moving. We were surrounded by our parents, pastors, my Obgyn, the staff and nurses of the NICU staff and the amazing doctors of the NICU staff. There was not a dry eye in that room. After we had our time with Drew, we got him ready to be taken away. We bathed him, dressed him, changed him, and said our final goodbyes.
Even though we had a short time with Drew, we never took that for granted. He was loved by so many that he had never met. We began to grieve for our son, Drew, who has gone on to be with his heavenly father but knew we had to be strong for our other son, Will, who is still fighting for his life.
"We do not grieve as those who have no hope." 1 Thessalonians 4:13
The story continues........
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