Declan's Here!

Declan's Finally Here! After having the induction pushed back to Thursday night, and Tammy being in labor all day long, Declan was born at about 8:30pm on Friday, November 14.  Tammy was fantastic. She waited as long as she could before requesting the epidural. However, once she received it her blood pressure dropped and she became very faint so they had to drop back on the dosage and give her something to bring her blood pressure back up. A bit scary but the nurse and doctors were able to quickly remedy the situation. Her dilatation was slow in progression until the membrane broke and then everything went quickly after that point. Once Tammy was an "9" or so, her parents and I quickly dressed in our "scrubs" and she was wheeled to the OR for delivery.   The OR was a bustle of activity, various sets of doctors and nurses scrambling around to get ready: a few nurses, a couple of OB's 2, anesthesiologists, a couple of pediatric cardiologists, and others I didn't recognize. The OB's wouldn't let Tammy start pushing until everybody was in place which; caused Tammy excruciating pain - it was difficult to for both of us to bare. Once Tammy was able to finally push, it was a matter of minutes and Declan was out!

I was a bit surprised and nervous because of how blue he looked coming out (due to both the birthing process and the HLHS) Declan had a very small cry and then stopped. The cardiologists grabbed Declan and took him to the next room. Probably 30 seconds or less passed, but it seemed like an eternity; and but then we heard Declan's cry. So then we all cried. He was then brought back in the room to us to finally hold him.  He was beautiful!  We cherished those moments holding him-not knowing when we would be able to do it again. About 3 minutes later we reluctantly gave him back to the cardiologist.  I walked him back to the ICU where they would be inserting an IV through his umbilical cord and preforming the echocardiogram to check his heart.  We wouldn't be able to see him for a few hours.

Tammy was once again wheeled back to her room, where she commenced to throw up and my crippling migraine began. We were quite the pair.  Luckily we rested until a bit after midnight. One of the cardiologist returned to give us the updates we were anxiously waiting for.  Declan's condition was pretty much what they expected - as seen from his pre-birth ultrasounds. His left ventricle is severely underdeveloped, along with the aorta, mitral valve, etc. Pretty much the "standard" variety of HLHS. He was receiving prostaglandin to keep his PDA open so the right side of the heart pumps blood both to the lungs and the rest of the body. The Cardiologist said he was breathing on his own, which sometimes the prostaglandin can hinder. Additionally, the oxygen saturation levels were good, around the mid 90's. So a good looking HLHS baby!

After receiving the okay to venture down to the NICU, I wheeled Tammy down to see Declan. The NICU was a new experience for me, so I wasn't familiar with the strategically placed baby stations, each hold a sweet baby fighting its own struggles. Some babies small, other smaller, each baby hiding his or her own story of survival. We located Declan and found him resting peacefully. He looked MUCH better. His color was closer to a pinkish hue, although his head was still on the blue side - but a big improvement.  The first thing we noticed was the various lines into Declan: an IV through the umbilical cord,  and leads for his heart rate, temperature, and blood saturation.  But it didn't matter, he was here and he was as healthy as we could expect!  Although unable to hold him, we touched and kissed him until our weariness from the day forced us to bed.

We returned this morning to see him and found his color had improved from yesterday. He was cleaner and a little more of the infant "puffiness" had left. We spoke to one of the attending doctors who gave us a bit more detail about is oxygen saturation levels. They usually want the mid to high 80's or so, but Declan's was getting to the upper 90's which is higher than they would like. Because the right side of the heart pumps blood to both the lungs and rest of the body in its current state, a sat level too high means that too much flood is being pumped to his lungs and not enough to the rest of the body (tissues and organs).  As a result, medication is given to reduce the saturation to an acceptable level. He is currently being monitored to see how that level of medication works. We hope it works because if it does not, they may have to sedate him until his first surgery (the Norwood) is performed. Declan would basically be put under so they could manually control his breathing and get the correct oxygen saturation to the rest of his body. (I hope I described the explanation correctly from the doctor.) We love Declan so much already. I feel like we've been through so much with him already and know he is a fighter! One of my favorite moments of the day was watching Acadia and Britta meet him for the first time in the NICU.  Wide-eyed and nervous, they lovingly watched him and gently stroked him. They will both be fantastic sisters! Will keep you posted when we find out when Declan's first surgery will be performed, we think Wednesday, if his body cooperates, but will let you know! Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!