Adam's Birth

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Adam is 1 day old.

The Birth: 4 Weeks Early

Lyn had been having a normal pregnancy up till that Thursday, even somewhat of an easy one. We had the baby shower the previous Saturday, but really weren't expecting anything to happen very soon. People kept saying she wasn't showing much.

That morning, Lyn prepared for work and was getting close to leaving when she started having severe pain about 6:30. About 10 minutes before seven I came out to the living room and found her unable to even walk. Our doctor told us he could be reached at any time, so we called the clinic. They said he was unavailable, but we could talk with the doctor on call. After waiting several minutes, we found out that it was between work shifts, so we would have to wait a half-hour until the new doctor started. When we finally got to speak with him, he told us to go to the hospital.

Breastfeeding at the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital around 8:00 and Dr. McCarrick commenced his examination. Lyn was dilated only 1.5 centimeters at this time. Since the pain was constant, the doctor thought there might be an abruption or tear between the placenta and the wall of the uterus. If an abruption was occurring, the baby's nutrient supply might be interrupted. If Adam's vital signs started dropping, they would have to take Lyn to the operating room and perform a Caesarean Section and take out Adam immediately.

Two monitors were strapped to Lyn's waist to measure pressure (such as what would be caused by contractions) and Adam's heart rate. A blood pressure cuff was added which left marks lasting for days afterwards. Lyn was given an epidural which stopped her pain. The epidural was administered intravenously, which meant a needle was inserted in her back. If she started having more pain there was a button she could press which gave her an epidural fluid "booster", however the button press was only effective once every 15 minutes. A biproduct of the epidural, is that the urge to urinate is suppressed. Therefore, a catheter was inserted in her bladder. A regular IV was added via a hole poked in the back of her hand. The number of tubes and wires attached or inserted into Lyn was growing, eventually reaching at least 8.

She started having contractions around 9:00, but things didn't change much for awhile. Eventually, Adam's heart rate, which had generally been around 130, went down to 60. This brought in several frantic people. They broke Lyn's water and inserted a heart rate monitor on Adam's head. Lyn was also provided an oxygen mask that was used some of the time. Adam's heart rate did return to normal, but Dr. McCarrick said that if another prolonged heart rate dip occurred, they would have to perform a Caesarean.

Lyn's dilation had progressed slowly early on, but more rapidly during the later stages. At 7:00 p.m. it was 10 centimeters and the doctor said it was time to start pushing. I served an extremely important role by counting "one .. two .. three .. four .. five .. six .. seven .. eight .. nine .. ten" each time it was time for her to push. I must have done this 700 times. Oh, yes, I also held Lyn's hand and helped hold her legs open. After awhile, I started seeing the wire attached to Adam's head start moving in and out of Lyn as she performed her pushes. Eventually, I saw a bunch of dark hair and then Adam's head started to peak out. The doctor asked if Lyn wanted to rest; Lyn's lengthy remark was "no, push". After just under 2 hours of pushing, Adam was out and let out a very endearing little cry, sounding somewhat like the bay of a lamb. I cut the ambilical cord and Dr. McCarrick yanked out the rest of the cord as he was anxious to see the attached placenta. He examined the placenta and saw no blood clots, which would indicate an abruption.

Lyn held the baby while I tried to snap some pictures, but the camera didn't work. It wouldn't advance the film. I didn't know if the film was loaded improperly, the batteries were dead, or the camera itself was malfunctioning. Lyn was taken to her room and I accompanied Adam to the nursery where he was examined and given his first bath. It was a very busy night and poor Adam had two nurses switched off him before the third nurse finally finished the examination.

I got a chance to change his diaper. Meconium is the special name for the baby's first type of poopoo. It is black in color and has a paste consistency. As I was cleaning some meconium off of Adam's butt some more started shooting out ... and then he started peeing. It's amazing to think that while there in the womb, they are in effect swallowing or consuming their own waste.

On Friday, I brought Adam from the nursery to Lyn's room. We walked around a little with me pushing Adam around in his bassinet. When we brought him back to the nursery, we noticed two of his identification bands had fallen off. This brought about a panicked expression from the nurse. She immediately unwrapped Adam, saying "please, let there be at least one band on this baby!". Fortunately, there was still one on his leg. Otherwise, we could have had an identification nightmare.

One time Lyn was sleeping with the baby positioned between her legs, which left the bassinet empty. With blankets over Adam and Lyn, the only thing that could be seen of Adam was a little bit of his face. The nurse came in and saw the empty bassinet and frantically kept repeating "Where's your baby? Where's your baby?" until Lyn showed her the hiding place. Another time, at 4 a.m., Lyn asked the nurse for some crackers, saying she was so hungry. Not only did the nurse bring back some crackers, but a sandwich as well. The nurses were very kind.

Adam is sleeping.

Going Home And Then Back To The Hospital

I went to pick up Lyn at the Hospital at 11:00 a.m.. They said Adam could be released as well. After only five hours at the house, I noticed Adam felt hot. We took his temperature and it was 101. We called the doctor and were told to bring Adam to the hospital. Since El Camino Hospital was a lot closer than Lucile Packard Children's Hospital where Adam was born, we decided to take him to El Camino, arriving at around 8:40 p.m.. (Less than two months before, I had been an emergency room patient here - $2765 bill. ) We spent 7 agonizing hours there. Poor Adam had several holes poked in him as tests were conducted. Blood tests were needed and the nurse tried one arm a few times before giving up and trying the other arm, where she wasn't very successful either. Eventually the blood was drawn while little Adam cried. Also, a chest x-ray was performed.

Adam's fever declined slightly, but the doctor eventually concluded that Adam needed to be admitted to the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Unfortunately, El Camino's was full. So, Adam needed to be transferred to the nearest available one, which was at Lucile Packard. A special team needed to be assembled for the transfer and that would take time. Until then, they told us they should do a lumbar punch (or spinal tap) and insert an IV. I understood how they would need the IV for Adam to receive not only antibiotics to fight infection (which is what they thought he had), but nutrients as well. I wondered, however, whether the lumbar punch was completely necessary and what were the risks as well. The nurse left to get the doctor for an explanation and we waited for another twenty minutes. Eventually, the doctor told us there was no real risk involved and they really needed it to further diagnose Adam's ailment. With the lumbar punch they would extract some spinal fluid from the lower back and analyze it. Adam's spinal column was not at risk, he said. So, we gave our consent.

The doctor left and we waited some more. A nurse came in when they were ready and told us that we should go out to the waiting room for these procedures as it would be hard for us watching it. But, when the doctor came in to start these procedures he didn't say anything. The nurse stopped him and told him she thought it would be better if the parents left. He thought about it and concurred and off we went.

A while later, while in the waiting room, we heard Adam screaming. Lyn stayed while I walked back and from the doorway looked upon a frightening scene. Adam was still screaming, louder than I had ever heard him before, while five nurses and doctors huddled around him. In the other half of the room, separated by a divider, more people were attending to an elderly gentleman who had been brought in. I couldn't tell what was happening, I was very scared by a bunch of people huddled around my screaming son. They were conversing and while I couldn't hear what they were saying, it seemed like they were trying to figure out how to do something. I was worried I might be losing my son right there.

I turned away not knowing what to do. I didn't think I could go back to the waiting room. What would I tell Lyn? The doctor saw me and explained the situation. The lumbar punch had gone well, he said, no problem at all. They were just trying to get the IV needle in and that would be finished soon. Later on, we would see how they were again unsuccessful with one arm and switched to the other arm -- a few more holes in Adam. While still with a sick feeling in my heart, I went back to Lyn knowing I could at least comfort her.

Adam at 5 days old.

Back At Lucile Packard Children's Hospital

We waited and waited. Finally, the team was assembled and the special ambulance arrived to take Adam. We followed the ambulance on its strange route to Lucile Packard. They chose a route that, at rush hour, might have been slightly, slightly shorter in time, but at 4 a.m. on Easter morning, was painfully longer than a straight shot up El Camino Real. A couple of times they signaled turns and then aborted them. Anyway, we were back again at Lucile Packard about 13 hours after we had left there with our seemingly healthy baby. Adam was admitted and taken to the NICU. All we could do was wait some more. We tried to get a couple of hours of sleep. I found a couch in the waiting room for Lyn and eventually found a couch in a main corridor for myself. I zipped up my jacket to try to get warm in the surprisingly cold corridor. I hoped I wouldn't get sick so that I would be able to see my son.

Results started coming back from the tests as negative for infection. Adam's temperature continued to gradually decrease. We visited him for awhile in the NICU. Adam was in the fourth of the four rooms which housed the infants. His room was divided in two with the other half being for the really sick infants. Adam's classification was comforting, but I looked at the babies in the other half and felt for them. I looked at the monitor which showed Adam's heart rate, oxygen saturation percentage, and breathing rate. Sensors with small wires attached, about the size of a nickle were stuck to Adam's chest. Sometimes they would become unstuck and an alarm would go off. Alarms going off is a quite common occurrence in the NICU. It's still scary to see your son's heart rate on the screen all of the sudden go to 0 and hear an alarm.

On Monday afternoon, Adam was moved to the well baby nursery. We continued making visits and Lyn continued breast feeding. On Wednesday morning, Lyn went to the hospital by herself and I got a wonderful surprise when she came back with Adam. He continued to sleep a lot, but he moved his arms and legs around quite a bit, differing from before when he would be limp in our hands. On Thursday, his eyes were open quite a bit and he was looking at his new world.

Epilogue

To my understanding the hospital considers a 35 week or less baby premature and a 36 week or more baby full-term. Premature babies are held for longer in the hospital before being released to the parents. If Adam's release time had been 5 hours later, his fever would have been noticed in the hospital and he would not have been released until he got better. This would have been much easier on Adam and his parents.

Adam was released 48 hours after Lyn was admitted to the hospital, which I think is normal hospital policy. However, if he had been released 48 hours after his birth, again the fever would have been detected in the hospital.

I Used to Have a Handle on Life, But It Broke!

Later, a doctor told us full term is really 40 weeks, or essentially 9 months and 1 week. If true, Adam, 4 weeks premature, would be a 36 week baby. The doctor who told us this is the same one I went to two days before I ended up in the emergency room. Her credibility is not very good, but, if true, this would explain why Adam was released so soon.

In Europe, the length of stay is much longer. For example, a friend told us that in Switzerland, a newborn is kept in the hospital a minimum of six days, while maternity leave is six months with pay.

It is unbelievable how expensive Adam's first few days were!

Weird! Why Fevers Are Good For Infants From Wal-Mart Connect on 2/10/2004 Is there anything that makes a new mom or dad fret more than when the baby runs a fever? Stop fretting and start cheering. Turns out, babies who get fevers early in life are less likely to develop allergies later, Reuters reports of new research from the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Mich. When researchers examined the medical records for 835 children, they realized that half the kids who did not have a fever during their first year of life did have an allergic sensitivity by age 7. Of those who had one fever, 46.7 percent were allergic or sensitive by age 7, but this number dropped to 31 percent among children who suffered two or more fevers during infancy, notes Reuters. This all goes back to the "hygiene hypothesis," which is widely recognized, but largely unproven. It holds that if children's immune systems don't have the opportunity to fight infections early in life, they go into overdrive later--and that can lead to allergic reactions. Allergies among children are on the increase in the United States, and doctors don't know why. This study, which was published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, is significant because the findings strengthen the hygiene hypothesis and could lead to preventative therapies for asthma and allergies.