Miller James (3 lbs 6 oz, 16 inches long)
Lucas Rolland (2 lbs 8 oz, 15 3/4 inches long)
Beautiful boys. We were very happy with their birth weights (they weighed more than the doctors thought they would at 29 weeks) and that they seemed to be doing pretty well. That feeling would be short lived though because the next day would be the beginning of Lucas's battles.
The next afternoon I was in my room eating lunch and the neonatal nurse practitioner came to my room to talk to me about Lucas. They had tried to put in a feeding tube and somehow during this his bowel had perforated and he had a lot of air in his abdomen. He needed to be transported to the Children's Hospital here in town for emergency surgery. My less than 24 hours old son had to have emergency surgery. And he only weighed a tiny 2 lbs. I was stunned and scared.
The Children's Hospital ambulance team came to get Lucas and they were so kind to me. I sat on the couch bawling my eyes out and one of the sweet girls sat with me and hugged me. She got my cell phone number and promised to call as soon as they got Luke stable in his new room. She fulfilled her promise and a little while later, called me.
Luke pulled through surgery like a champ. The following days would be difficult as we would learn what all was wrong with our little boy. The reason trying to put in a feeding tube caused problems is because he was born with a condition called esophageal atresia. Basically his esophagus and trachea did not form correctly and was an empty sac instead of connecting to his stomach. He also had a tracheoesophageal fistula (TE fistula) which is an abormal connection between the trachea and esophagus. Through chest x-rays we learned that his right lung did not develop fully and was about half the size of a normal lung for a baby of his age/size. All of these things are serious but there was hope that surgery or other means could fix them.
When Luke was about 2 weeks old, he was taken for a barium study to access whether his surgery was successful or not. During this procedure the tiny amount of barium they used aspirated into his left lung through the TE fistula causing it to harden and deflate. At this point, his left lung was basically the only lung functioning since the right lung was not fully developed. Over the next few days, his lung would deflate and burst. He was given several doses of surfactant and also give chest tubes in hopes to repair this lung. On Mother's Day I was told my sweet son only had a few days to live. I prayed and prayed for miracle.
He made it through the next 72 hours, despite the doctors expecting him not to, and we began to have hope. Soon the doctors began to talk about his next surgery to repair the TE fistula. On June 4, after 43 long days, I was finally able to hold Lucas for the first time. It was my birthday and the best birthday gift I've ever gotten. The next day he had surgery to repair the TE fistula. He pulled through this surgery like a champ too.
Over the next month Lucas had several ups and downs. He battled several infections, including MRSA, likely contracted during or right after surgery. He had persistent pulmonary hypertension which caused a lot of problems. He had chronic lung disease in his left lung from the barium insult. We also found out that he had a vessel between his heart and lung that was too small. His chromosomal testing came back perfect. The one thing the high risk OB was pretty certain of him having was a chromosomal abnormality.
On July 7, very early in the morning, my dad called us and told us to get to the hospital as soon as possible. He was staying with Lucas that night. We got there and things started getting bad. He kept crashing and it was getting harder and harder to get him stable each time. The doctors did everything they could for him and then placed my baby in my arms. We held him and kissed him and told him how much we love him. We told him that we would see him again someday and that we loved him so very much. I was holding him when he went from my arms to Jesus's arms.
That is probably as much of his story as I will ever share. There are things that I will most likely never feel like posting. It has been a traumatic thing to go through and some things are still hard for me to talk about even to Thomas. My prayer is that his life and story touches people and gives people faith. Faith and strength that a tiny 2 pound baby taught us.
When Luke was about 2 weeks old, he was taken for a barium study to access whether his surgery was successful or not. During this procedure the tiny amount of barium they used aspirated into his left lung through the TE fistula causing it to harden and deflate. At this point, his left lung was basically the only lung functioning since the right lung was not fully developed. Over the next few days, his lung would deflate and burst. He was given several doses of surfactant and also give chest tubes in hopes to repair this lung. On Mother's Day I was told my sweet son only had a few days to live. I prayed and prayed for miracle.
He made it through the next 72 hours, despite the doctors expecting him not to, and we began to have hope. Soon the doctors began to talk about his next surgery to repair the TE fistula. On June 4, after 43 long days, I was finally able to hold Lucas for the first time. It was my birthday and the best birthday gift I've ever gotten. The next day he had surgery to repair the TE fistula. He pulled through this surgery like a champ too.
Over the next month Lucas had several ups and downs. He battled several infections, including MRSA, likely contracted during or right after surgery. He had persistent pulmonary hypertension which caused a lot of problems. He had chronic lung disease in his left lung from the barium insult. We also found out that he had a vessel between his heart and lung that was too small. His chromosomal testing came back perfect. The one thing the high risk OB was pretty certain of him having was a chromosomal abnormality.
On July 7, very early in the morning, my dad called us and told us to get to the hospital as soon as possible. He was staying with Lucas that night. We got there and things started getting bad. He kept crashing and it was getting harder and harder to get him stable each time. The doctors did everything they could for him and then placed my baby in my arms. We held him and kissed him and told him how much we love him. We told him that we would see him again someday and that we loved him so very much. I was holding him when he went from my arms to Jesus's arms.
That is probably as much of his story as I will ever share. There are things that I will most likely never feel like posting. It has been a traumatic thing to go through and some things are still hard for me to talk about even to Thomas. My prayer is that his life and story touches people and gives people faith. Faith and strength that a tiny 2 pound baby taught us.
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