Timothy's birthday Part 2

When a baby is born, he's given APGAR scores. At one point during our hospital stay, I asked Curtis if he had heard what Timothy's APGAR's were. He said that no, he didn't know, but the fact that our baby was turning gray probably didn't make for a good score.


After Timothy was born, he was quickly taken to the NICU where he could get the oxygen he needed. The neonatologist also wanted to really check him out, and assess his lungs with an x-ray. Even though Timothy weighed a healthy 7lbs 2 ozs, he was a preemie. I was 35 weeks and 5 days pregnant. The chest x-ray showed the doctor that Timothy had a lot of fluid on his lungs. All things considered, that's not too bad for a preemie! It could have been so much worse.
When a baby is put on oxygen, a tube is placed down the baby's throat and into the stomach to help release any built up air. When the NICU nurses did this, they realized that Timothy's stomach was not just full of air, there was also blood in his stomach. They were using a syringe to suck the blood out, and there was blood in Timothy's first diaper. This showed the docs that the blood had been in his system for longer than just the time since delivery. There were now two main concerns. First, we needed to "dry" Timothy up. Between the fluid on/in his lungs, and now the blood in his stomach, we just needed his body to get rid of all the fluid so that he could begin to nurse. The second concern was fairly obvious. Where was the blood coming from?

The doctors final conclusion was that the blood in Timothy's stomach was mine. We're not sure when he swallowed it, we're not sure where the blood was coming from. But Curtis and I are convinced that there was something going on with either Timothy or myself, and that if he hadn't been delivered, there would have been major problems. We are amazed, but not surprised, at God's protection over Timothy and myself!

I didn't see Timothy till I was on my way out of recovery. Unfortunately, I don't have many memories of that first meeting. Due to the stressful nature of the delivery, the anesthesiologist had given me some medicine to "help me relax". Don't get me wrong, I was really, really thankful for that! I needed something to help calm me down. But I am disappointed that I don't have all those precious memories of seeing my son for the first time.

The next time I saw Timothy was at midnight, 14 hours after his birth. I was also able to hold him during this time, but I wasn't able to nurse him till he had gotten rid of all his extra fluid.

Immediately following my delivery, I was somewhat thankful for the situation of having a baby in the NICU. I was able to rest, recover, process the events of the day, plan for the next few days, share news of his birth. But by the evening, I was ready to see and hold my baby! Normally, after a c-section, the nurses get you up 24 hours after delivery. I had the unique challenge of attempting to get up only 14 hours after surgery. Let me tell you, it was not an easy task! But it was totally worth all the effort.

By Wednesday morning, Timothy was doing well enough to start nursing. As with any baby, it's important to get them eating well and gaining weight. It was even more critical for Timothy to show that he could eat well and sustain his oxygen while eating. We were very thankful that he was able to do this, on the first try.

The NICU at our hospital had a visiting schedule. Curtis and I could only go to the NICU every three hours, and we could only stay for one hour. This schedule made for a very rough night on Wednesday. Curtis and I were waking up, getting me into a wheel chair, getting to the NICU, staying there for an hour, heading back to our room, and going to sleep. We were sleeping for about an hour and a half at a time.

By Thursday morning, I was at the breaking point. I was tired. We were unsure of when Timothy and I would be heading home. I didn't feel like we were getting straight answers from the doctors in the NICU, even though I knew they really couldn't give me any straight forward answers. It was at that point that God graciously allowed a wonderful nurse to come into our lives. She did everything she could to get Timothy out of the NICU and into my room! I was so thankful!!

Thursday afternoon, we discovered that Timothy had jaundice. Of course! Not long after he was able to come into my room, they had to take him back to the NICU/nursery to receive photo therapy. But again, the wonderful nurse jumped in, and brought Timothy back to our room using a Bili blanket.

Little did we know, the battle with jaundice had just begun!