Asher’s Birth and Surgery Update

Shane has updated some more pictures below, and I thought I would get on and write a little bit more about the last day and a half. 

Yesterday morning, March 21, Shane and I arrived at the hospital at 6:30 a.m. for my scheduled c-section.  We hadn’t had the best night sleep the night before because James had thrown up about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday night, and he was up most of the night not feeling well (but no more throwing up at least!).  We arrived and went through all of the pre-surgery details until it was time to go to the operating room at 8:30.  They always have me go in first to get my spinal and get prepped, and they bring in Shane after.  The spinal is one of my least favorite parts, but I had an amazing nurse who talked to me to distract me while it was going in.  I had several pretty intense minutes of nausea after I was able to lie down, but the anesthesiologist was able to finally get it under control so that by the time Shane came in, I was calm and feeling really good.  Shane and I made baby weight predictions, and I said 9 1/2, so I was pretty close!  Shane effectively distracted me while they did the first part of the c-section, and before long, we heard the cries of our new little Asher!  Shane told me he had Davis’s face, but I wasn’t able to see him as they had to take him straight over to the resuscitation room (standard procedure for all heart babies).  Shane followed him over there, then came back to show me some pictures and tell me his length and weight.  He did look like a mini Davis! 

The rest of my c-section went well, then I waited in recovery for an hour or so while Shane and my mom and dad went back and forth between me and baby Asher.  The nurse was great and let my parents come in early even though they were supposed to wait until I was out of recovery, so then I didn’t really have to be alone.   I was so glad that Shane’s mom Christie could be with the boys so I didn’t have to be alone.  After what seemed like forever (another hour about), they brought Asher by for me to hold.  He was just perfect!  I only got to be with him for a few minutes before they had to rush him away, but I was so glad to have those few minutes.

The rest of the day for me was mainly spent trying to recover from the C-section so that I could get back over to see Asher.  I spent the day in my room trying to get to the point that I could sit in a wheelchair and go over to see him.  I had some troubles with intense nausea moments, but they only lasted a few minutes, and I was able to keep it down each time.  My mom and dad were there to help keep me company while Shane spent a lot of time going back and forth to the NICU to give me frequent updates.  He would take pictures of everything to share with me when he got back too.

Christie, Shane’s mom, brought the boys up in the afternoon to see me and to meet their little brother.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t take James with us since he had been sick, so he hasn’t been able to meet little Asher yet, but Davis and Landon went over with Shane and Grandma Malan to meet their new baby brother.  They were so excited, as the pictures showed that Shane put up yesterday. 

By about 7:00 last night, I was finally able to sit up in the wheel chair for Shane to push me over to the NICU.  He went nice and slow just in case my nausea came back!  I was hoping to maybe try and breastfeed him, but he was sound asleep.  It was so great to just hold him and see him again.  There’s nothing like holding a new little baby! 

Our night’s sleep last night, while restless with lots of visits throughout the night, waking up to pump, and the sound of my leg compression machine going on and off, we felt like it was a much better night sleep than the night before with James! 

Today, I have felt much better, being able to get up and walk around, and finally eat some real food for breakfast this morning.  We spent some more time over with baby Asher, and he was sound asleep again.  A couple of his IV's had “blown,” so they keep having to find new ones.  They measured his oxygen levels in his extremities, and it was a little lower than they like, so they put air in his nose, like oxygen, that helps push in the oxygen that he is already breathing.  The medicine he is on to keep his valve in his heart open makes him a bit more irritable, but he usually just kind of fusses as he is sleeping and then calms down.  As I was holding him, his critical levels alarm started going off, and his breathing had stopped for more than 20 seconds.  The nurse came in and we rubbed his belly, back, legs, etc. to get him moving again.  The medicine he is on can cause some sleep apnea like that, but she said he hasn’t done it too much.  I was able to then hold him sleeping on my chest for awhile, and although there were lots of wires and cords, it was still so wonderful to be able to sit there with him.

While we were in there, the nurse told us that she just saw orders come in to have Asher’s surgery tomorrow, Saturday.  When we first found out about Asher’s HLHS, we thought his surgery would be on day 2 or 3, but then with the weekend and timing of things, they had said maybe Monday, on day four.  Things with Asher aren’t going badly, but they seem to want to try to get him in sooner rather than later.  It was kind of a jolt to realize that now, he will have his surgery tomorrow, but we also feel like the timing is right.  Dr. Iguidbashian, Asher’s heart surgeon, came in.  He was so calm as he told us about the baby’s surgery tomorrow.  He said his heart and signs are looking just right for surgery.  His tricuspid valve has little to no regurgitation (good), his lung pressure has gone down (good), and he said the right side of his heart was “one of the best he’s seen.”   Although we are anxious for tomorrow and everything that will happen, we are relieved in a way to get started on getting his heart working as it should.  The surgery will last 6-8 hours, so it is going to be a long day.  I will still be in the hospital until Sunday, and then may or may not stay up here with him in his room. 

For those of you who don’t know, HLHS is Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.  Basically Asher has no left side of his heart, the side that pumps blood to the body, so his first (Norwood procedure) and subsequent two surgeries (one this summer and one when he’s around 3), will get the right side of his heart to pump to the body, and will use other veins and things to route the blood to the lungs. 

I had to leave the room for a minute after we talked to the surgeon, but when I came back, Asher had woken up and the nurse was feeding him a bottle.  I was able to hold the bottle to finish his feeding, and saw his eyes open for the first time since just after he was born yesterday.  We are trying to cherish every minute with him today before he goes into surgery and then in recovery for several days!

Shane uploaded these pictures below.  (Keep in mind – the first four were taken less than 12 hours after my c-section!  I don’t love the pictures of me, but I’ll leave them since Shane put them in :)

                 

Holding Asher for the first time since earlier that morning.

Pictures of this morning’s visit: