NICU

Our First Family Photo, an extremely bittersweet moment

Hudson on the CPAP machine

Hudson moments after going to the NICU

Hudsons first moments in life were a little rough. When he was born he swallowed some liquid, and in the simplest terms pretty much a normal babies first breath officially closes off his heart and pushes all the oxygen and blood out and into the rest of his body and lungs. Since Hudson had swallowed some liquid there wasn't room for the blood to go throughout his body and oxygen wasn't going to his arms and legs. Let me tell you how scary those first few moments were! They took him over to the bed while im laying there deliverying the placenta and my baby wasn't crying. I was freaking out!! They kept telling me its all ok, some babies just have a hard time transitioning. Then they called in a NICU nurse to take a look at him and she started giving him oxygen. No one was really telling us anything that was going on, and I was to scared to ask how he was doing because I was fearing the worst. They then said they were going to take him to the NICU for observations, and that dad (tanner) could go with them. So there I was minutes after my baby was born and I hadn't got to hold him and now him and Tanner were leaving to the NICU. I still could barely ask what was going on. I was in shock. My baby is 41 weeks, full term why was he going to the NICU? I still hadn't been able to look in his beautiful eyes, or tell him I love him, we hadn't even gotten to weigh him yet! Then the dreaded news came, the NICU nurse called my nurse on the walkie talkie thingee and I could hear everything, She said they were admitting baby Danielson into the NICU. My nurse reassured me he would be fine, he just needs a little extra help adjusting to life on the outside.I was freaking out and blaming myself. Was it something I did? Was it because he was late? I was in charge of him 24/7 the last 41 weeks, I was responsible for his development and I felt like I messed up somewhere. NICU was for preemies and high risk babies, my baby wasn't either!! My doctor left the room, and my nurse left for a minute too, I was just sitting in the delivery room still with Rhonda and Tiff. ( my mom and tanners dad had gone to the NICU & my dad was in the waiting room with my sister). After what felt like forever, the nurse came back in and said they were moving me to my room upstairs and we could stop by the NICU so I could see my baby. Luckily the epidural had warn off enough so I could hobble (with lots of help) into a wheelchair. They took me too the NICU and I saw Tanner and our baby in a bed hooked up to just wires everywhere and I had no idea at this point what was wrong! I still couldn't say much either, I was in shock, worried, & sick. They said I could hold him for a minute. That was THE BEST moment of my life, holding my little bundle of joy. Of course I broke down and started crying which made tanner cry. He hadn't gotten to hold his son yet :( it took 2 days till he would be able to really hold him. Then all to fast they had to wheel me upstairs into my room and they had to admit Hudson into the NICU and run some tests. It was so hard going into the maternity ward without my baby. That night we went to see our Hudson, he was now on a CPAP machine, which honestly looks ALOT scarier then it is. It pretty much just sends pressure into the lungs with oxygen to help them expand. He also had IV's in his umbilical cord and in his hand, they pretty much gave him sugar water and some fats through IV's for his food the first day and half. He managed to punch himself in the forward with his IV in his wrist and left a red circle mark. Today its still there and he is 3 weeks old! im afraid it will never go away! They did a bunch of tests and ultrasounds and xrays on his lungs and heart. The worst was just the liquid in his lungs, but the second days xray showed it SO much clearer he was doing great progress. The next day (the 25th) they took him off his CPAP and onto just a regular nasal cannula. We were able to start helping on his cares. Every 3 hours in the NICU they do cares (diaper change, temperature, brush hair, feeding, ect.) The first couple days he ate through a feeding tube, which was originally in his mouth, but our little guy liked to pull on his cords (all the monitors and oxygen tubes were pulled out multiple times, and he even tugged at his IVs a few times which was scary!) so it was down his nose. But on the 26th the umbilical cord IV's came out and we FINALLY GOT TO HOLD HIM! daddys first time and mommys second time holding him :) We tried nursing that night, he did ok. But in the NICU they are very strict on what a baby has to do before they can come home, which is understandable for Preemie babies, but our little guy was practically 9 lbs and 41 weeks!! Basically he would have to nurse for atleast 15 continues minutes each feeding for so many feedings before they would take the feeding tube out, and as long as his feeding tube was in he had atlast 24 more hours before he could go home. The night of the 26th they took him off oxygen and he was breathing normal air. His tests all came back great, pretty much the only thing keeping from not coming home was eating. So we made the choice to supplement with bottled formula. It made sense cuz I was discharged that morning, and we wouldn't be able to make every feeding throughout the night. I kept pumping however cuz I really wanted to breastfeed when he came home. Luckily the NICU has family support rooms we were lucky enough to stay in 2 of the 3 extra nights Hudson was in the hospital. He had the MOST AWESOME nighttime nurse Laura, I love her! She was so willing to push Hudson (of course with caution) but because she new he was getting so healthy and strong. She was who suggested taking off the oxygen, and lowering his IV levels (which was another thing that had to lower before he could eat on his own). On the 28th things were looking so good, he was eating pretty much his full servings at each feeding, and our fingers were crossed he would be coming home soon. The next morning we had a meeting with the nurses and doctor to discuss his progress. The doctor said he was doing so great, he had only lost 2 oz and then gained them back (which is more then most newborn full term babies, they usually loose 5-10 oz and don't get back to their birth wait for 2 weeks) and his jaundice levels never went up that we could take him home that afternoon! BEST NEWS EVER!!! HUDSON WAS COMING HOME!!! So for the rest of the morning we watched some videos (purple crying and a car seat video) and we had a crash course in baby 101 from the discharge nurse, and we gave hudson his first little bath. Then it was time to go home with mommy and daddy and finally start our lives as a family!!

Those 5 days were the LONGEST of my life. It felt like a month. Though, at the same time it flew by. It was always bittersweet going to the NICU. Hudson was 9 lbs (3 times the size of most of the other babies there) and in comparison extremely healthy then some of the babies there. After seeing the other babies, and meeting some of the other parents I was very grateful for having such a healthy baby and only needing 5 days in the nicu. Hudsons little roomate was only 3 lbs, he was born a few days before Hudson, and his best case scenario would be coming home the beginning of March! I couldn't imagine having to wait that long. But Hudson is doing great now! he's had 2 doc check ups already and everything looks great. He has a little bit of colic/reflux but im reading and learning as much as I can about it to help our little guy out. But its not sever, thankfully he isn't crying hours upon hours every day. :D he is just the best little guy every!!! I love him soooo much!!