At around 8:30 the morning of December 20th we left, the 2 1/2 hour drive seemed to last a lifetime but we finally arrived at the hospital. I was so excited to finally be with my son but nervous at what the doctors may tell me. When we got into the NICU I was so relieved. He looked wonderful. He was awake and looked so happy. Even through the breathing tube and all the IVs he seemed just perfect. I just didn't understand how he could look so amazing but be so sick. The nurses talked to us about Davids night and said that for the most part he had a great night. But at one point during the night his breathing tube came out, they left it out to see how he did, but it only lasted a few minutes. He stopped breathing and almost fell into cardiac arrest. They ran into the same problem as the transport team did, his breathing tube would not go into his airway.
The doctors came out a short while later and explained to us that Davids chin was severely receded and that it was causing his tongue to press against his airway, almost closing it off entirely. They then started talking about a Tracheotomy. This would give David a permanent and secure airway so that issues like this would not occur again. I was not to sure about this at first, but after a few days spent with David, I was quickly convinced. He was constantly tugging at his tube, I felt terrible always pulling his hand away, but I was so afraid of the tube coming out.
Finally on December 30th, at 11 days old, the day had come. My husband was at work, so an aunt and uncle came down to keep me calm during the surgery. His time ended up getting changed and he didn't make it to the OR till 3:00 pm. My aunt and uncle left hours before. he was originally scheduled to go at 8:00 am and they were not able to stay. So there it was, David and I, waiting. I cried while holding his tiny body against mine, praying to god to keep him safe and bring him back to me.
I didn't want to let him go when the OR team came for him, but eventually the nurse talked me into placing him back in his bed. I gave him one last kiss and whispered "I will see you soon baby, Mommy loves you." and he was gone. I went to the waiting room and tried my best to rest, but I was to nervous. Eventually one of the NICU nurses came out to check on me and noticed I was very upset. She called the chaplain to come talk to me. He helped me out so much, more than he may ever know. Before I knew it 3 hours had gone by and the ENT surgeon came to talk to me. David did GREAT! Not an issue at all! Praise the LORD! She said that the incision was clean and nice, and the trache tube went in without a problem. She told me it would be about another 30 minutes for the nurses to settle him in, but then I could go see him!
I COULD SEE HIS FACE!! All of it, he was so handsome! He had a bit of swelling, and 4 bits of string taped to his chest, in case the trache came out, these would be used to hold the stoma open until they got a new trache in. After a week the strings would be removed because the site would be healed enough that we wouldnt have to worry about getting anouther trache tube in easily. I was not able to hold him but to kiss his cheeks was wonderful. Awwww the simple things. We now had a secure airway. No more worries about his tube falling out!
Our first surgery done and over. Little did we know it would be the first of many. But, for the time, things where good. We had a safe airway, a true breath of fresh air!
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| Our new airway! |
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