An Intro - part II

Read Part 1

After being delivered Anthony was immediately rushed to the NICU nurses in the room and they started clearing his lungs. After a brief check over they moved him across the hallway to the NICU. I followed and left my wife in the delivery room while they finished up.

Upon entering the NICU I was immediately given paperwork to sign before they could begin anything. I felt like I was signing his life away, which I was; giving them permissions to hook him up to this and that. At first things looked great, Anthony was more or less breathing completely on his own and was very responsive but later we learned that this is what they call the honeymoon period.

I was very proud, I was a father after all! The nurses continued their work while I watched it all go by. By the time they were done it looked like he was hooked up to one of everything.

At the time I wasn't worried, call it me being naive or just in denial.

After some time I left Anthony to the nurses and went to find my wife. I told her about how big and strong he was and all that had conspired. I could tell she was nervous she had seen him after all but our expectations were still high. It took her a day to come to terms with what had just happened and she made her first of many NICU visits to see him.

I on the other hand was busy showing him off to the family that had come down. Taking them in one by one and having to wash our hands over and over again. At the time I couldn't tell but they were all really worried, he was small, he was early, he just had so much equipment. On one such visit I witnessed what appeared to be a seizure, I told the nurse and they marked it down. I made the mistake of telling Kim this.

Days went by and the reality started setting in. We were getting doctor reports on a regular basis and learning new terminology. It was discovered Anthony had a grade 1 brain bleed. More tests ordered. Anthony was kept heavily sedated because the outside world was too much for him. He was to sensitive. Touching him had to be on his terms. if he tolerated it we could touch him firmly. If it started bothering him we had to stop. Next up it was discovered that Anthony had a Patent Ductus Arteriousus (PDA) but everyone was hopeful it was close on its own.

My wife came home, it was bitter sweet having to leave Anthony at the hospital but he was in good hands. Kim and I would visit him every day and call the hospital every night after his bath to see how he was doing. I remember having arguments on who would call, neither one of us wanted to because we were afraid of what the doctors would say.

Then the day came, July 4th. Anthony's PDA was not getting any better. It had been a month since he was born and he now weighed 2lbs. It was decided he needed to have surgery to fix the PDA and he would have to go to UCLA to have it done. So there we were following our little miracle in an ambulance to a new hospital.

UCLA was different, the NICU busier. It was scarier then the new norm we had gotten used to at our NICU. The nurses weren't just nurses but student too!

The surgery was scheduled for the next day. It was scary following Anthony on his stretcher to the underbelly of UCLA. We followed him as far as we could. The nurses came out to wheel him into the surgery room. It was there that this whole experience started to finally hit me. Kim and I stood and watched as they wheeled our 2lb. baby away. I stood strong Kim needed me to be strong or so I told myself.

What seemed like days past and then finally the doctor came upstairs to see us. I'll never forget his face, something had happen and it was bad. Well no not really, I guess the guy just has a sour face all the time. I guess that can happen to you if you have to perform surgeries on 2lb. kids. Anthony did well and made it through the surgery he was now on the mend.

Read Part 3