sincerely, KENNAN: ezra: his birth story (part 2)

ez was in the NICU @ IMC for 3 days... the longest 3 days of my life. i guess i should be grateful that he was not in there any longer but when your child does not need to be in the NICU, its a different story.

what i forget to mention in my last post was that by the time the transport team got to american fork hospital (around 3 hours after he was born) ezra seemed to be turning a corner. his breathing was less labored and is o2 stats were looking better. the doctors all met and decided that as a "precautionary measure" he still needed to be transported. i begged and pleaded that they just wait a bit longer to see how he did but since the transport team was already there, i think they felt the should send him. listen, i am glad he was there in case did things did take a turn for the worse but also really mad that they didn't hear me out and wait a bit. the worst part is that because i had a c-section i could not be released until saturday, at the earliest. trevan would have to be at IMC with ezzie and i would have to be alone, with not baby.

as soon as they got to IMC ezra was doing well enough that he did not have to be on C-PAP anymore and 12 hours after that he was on room air. good thing they transferred him, right? i was even more upset when the pediatrician i had asked for (dr. glade, my pediatrician growing up) came to see me shortly after ezra left and told me that he would not have sent him that soon. good times. the next day we talked to the nurse practitioner at the NICU and she told me that ezra would possibly be able to be released on friday (he was born on wednesday) depending on how he did, how much he could eat, and how he tolerated food. i was sending up whatever breast milk i could get with trevan and when that wasn't enough they fed him formula. all through out thursday ez just kept getting better and better. that night, trevan told me that the doctors said ezra would be released in the morning and that he needed to remember to bring his car seat. i had never been so happy. i was going to meet my baby. i didn't sleep all night.

that morning as trevan arrived the big jerks told trevan they had decided that in order for ezra to be released he needed to eat 50 cc's in one feeding. ummm, FYI 50 cc's is a ridiculous amount of food for a 48 hour old baby. previously, ez had been eating around 25 cc's and they expected him to double that. trevan tried and tried to get him to eat that much but every time he got past 35 cc's he would puke. can someone explain to me how force feeding a newborn is healthy? really, i was so close to seeing my baby and then they go can pull a stunt like this on me? i was irate. i called sobbing and yelling at trevan all day long to try to get him to change their mind. trevan was so sweet in trying to deal with me but i knew that there was nothing we could do and it would be another few days until ezra could eat that much, therefore he would not be released. the doctor told us that since ezra had been "so sick" he needed to make sure he could eat. so sick? umm, he was fine and never needed to be there in the first place.

as trevan was getting to leave on friday night he fed ezra one last time and as he was talking to the nurse, little mr. ez downed his bottle... all 50 cc's. both trevan and the nurse were shocked but they knew what that meant, ezra could meet his mommie! when trevan called to tell me i nearly screamed. really, it was the best surprise ever. i called my mom as soon as i heard and had my kids there to meet their brother with me. ezra was released 2 hours later and at 10pm on friday night, 64 hours after he was born, i got to meet my son.

the best part is that i still technically had 2 more days in the hospital. i got to stay and have ez be my "visitor". i had help with nursing from the lactation specialist (ez is my first nurser). american fork hospital was great to us and the nurses were so cute and let ez have a little isolette to sleep in and brought him all sorts of goodies from the nursery. it was so nice to just have trev, me and ez for a moment. we all went home together on sunday morning and if you would of seen us leaving the hospital you never would have known how long and hard the previous 5 days were. i am so glad that the ending was sweet.