Post by bananapancakes on Apr 23, 2014 7:03:56 GMT -5
Baby Lachlan was born by emergency c-section at 11:49pm on Monday, April 14th. Earlier that evening I noticed that he wasn't moving around in my belly nearly as much as usual so I called my midwife and she had me come to the hospital for monitoring. We got to the hospital at about 9:30 and when I was hooked up to the monitors, we discovered that his heart rate was not great. They also did an ultrasound and saw that my amniotic fluid level was very low. His heart rate was falling quickly so I was rushed into the OR for a c-section under general anaesthetic. Lachlan was born with no vital signs and an apgar score of 1. He was covered in meconium and had aspirated a great deal of it which caused him to stop breathing. They think he was without oxygen for about 3 minutes.
The team from Sick Kids was helicoptered in and they were able to stabilize him before transporting him to Toronto. My H was able to go with him but I had to stay at our local hospital for 36 hours post c-section. Because of the lack of oxygen to his brain, they did a 72 hour cooling treatment to help preserve brain function and since then, they have been running many tests. So far, everything has come back with good results. Thankfully, they haven't found any indications of permanent damage.
Right now they are working on "normalizing" him. Since he was cooled for 72 hours, all of his organ systems need some time to start functioning normally again. Our priority right now is working on feeding. He's a sleepy boy and would often rather sleep than eat.
He keeps making great progress and we are cautiously optimistic that we will be transferred to a less specialized hospital, closer to home in the next couple of days.
Our friends had a very similar delivery with their first son (aspirated meconium, no vitals, emergency C-section), he was also in a cooling bed and the NICU for a few weeks. He's now a very happy healthy five year old. Fingers crossed for the same for you guys.
bananapancakes - I have been thinking of you all the time. I am so happy the results have come back positively…I will pray that feeding starts improving - I know it is stressful, remember you are doing your best!!!
Oh BP, what an ordeal you guys have been through. I'm so glad that the news regarding Lachlan has been wholly positive. He's such an adorable little guy!
Wow, what a scary experience. Thank goodness for your instinct to call the MW when you felt fewer movements from the baby! I'm so glad you have a great medical team and I hope baby Lachlan (love his name) continues to fight and recover from his big entrance into the world. Hugs.
Goodness, what a beginning! I'm glad you were proactive with calling your midwife, and you discovered that he was in distress. Best of luck for a quick recovery. He's a beautiful boy!
Banana, I was just thinking of you this morning. It's so good to hear this update! Sorry to hear Lachlan had a rough entry into the world. That sounds so very scary. I'm glad to hear things are looking up now. Tons of hugs and good wishes to you and your boy!
You've been on my mind so I'm so happy to see this update! Hoping for continued news and a transfer to the other hospital soon. I love his name and his picture is just precious.
Post by picksthemusic on Apr 23, 2014 8:44:23 GMT -5
This is almost the same as my delivery with DD (she presented better than your little guy though) - super scary. Just wanted to let you know that you are strong enough to go through this, and I pray for a speedy recovery for both of you. Please know that I am here for you to vent to/talk to/whatever when you need to, because not everyone knows what it's like to be the mama in those situations. Huge hugs and congratulations.
Post by luv2rn4fun on Apr 23, 2014 11:40:06 GMT -5
Thank you for the update! What an amazing story...so glad you listened to your gut instinct and got to the hospital when you did. So happy that Baby Lachlan is recovering so well and will pray that he starts feeding better so he can get stronger and home with you soon! You are in my thoughts and prayers.