Surgery didn't go quite as planned. He had more blockage than they originally thought. The surgeon did clear all of the blockage, but when they took him off bypass his left ventricle wasn't functioning. He opened him back up and tweaked a few things and was able to get some function back. Because of this, he thought it was worth it to put him on ECMO (life support for heart and lungs). They are hoping this rests his heart enough for him to regain full function. We have a 3-5 day window and then there is nothing more they can do. We didn't get to see him until almost midnight yesterday so it was a long, long day for everyone involved. This morning they put him on dialysis to help rest his kidneys. They would not be taking these steps if they thought he couldn't recover. The doctor said it's 50/50.
Our God is bigger than this. William is His sweet little boy. We've just been blessed to call him ours on earth. Please continue praying for our family. We need strength to help him be strong on his journey.
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Pre-op appointment
Hi everyone! Today we had the pre-op appointment for William. We met with the surgeon's nurse, anesthesiologist, had a chest X-ray, blood work and EKG done. It was a busy day!
The nurse clarified a lot about tomorrow's surgery. The doctor will open his chest (2-3 inch incision) and he will be put on bypass. The surgery will start at 8:00am and last about 6 hours which includes about an hour of anesthesia prep. We will be at the hospital at 6:30am to get him prepped. He is the first and only surgery for Dr. Mill tomorrow.
He will be fixing two areas of narrowing. One is the aortic valve and the other is at the top of the aortic curve. They will use donated tissue to fix these areas. The pulmonary artery also had blockage, but they believe he will grow out of that so there is no need to fix it. The nurse says it is not common for babies to have this much blockage, but it is something they have seen and have fixed.
One of the biggest concerns is his blood pressure. Since his heart is beating twice as hard (literally) as it should, they are worried that once they open the valve his body won't know what to do with a normal blood flow. Depending on his reaction will depend on his time in the PICU. They are thinking he will be there for about 3-4 days for any normal reaction. During this time he will be under sedation and have a feeding tube. He will have a lot of IVs and monitoring devices hooked up to him.
Today went as good as could be expected. Hopefully tomorrow will be the same! Thank you for the continued prayers. I'll keep you posted as much as I can!
"When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer."
-Corrie Ten Boom
The nurse clarified a lot about tomorrow's surgery. The doctor will open his chest (2-3 inch incision) and he will be put on bypass. The surgery will start at 8:00am and last about 6 hours which includes about an hour of anesthesia prep. We will be at the hospital at 6:30am to get him prepped. He is the first and only surgery for Dr. Mill tomorrow.
He will be fixing two areas of narrowing. One is the aortic valve and the other is at the top of the aortic curve. They will use donated tissue to fix these areas. The pulmonary artery also had blockage, but they believe he will grow out of that so there is no need to fix it. The nurse says it is not common for babies to have this much blockage, but it is something they have seen and have fixed.
One of the biggest concerns is his blood pressure. Since his heart is beating twice as hard (literally) as it should, they are worried that once they open the valve his body won't know what to do with a normal blood flow. Depending on his reaction will depend on his time in the PICU. They are thinking he will be there for about 3-4 days for any normal reaction. During this time he will be under sedation and have a feeding tube. He will have a lot of IVs and monitoring devices hooked up to him.
Today went as good as could be expected. Hopefully tomorrow will be the same! Thank you for the continued prayers. I'll keep you posted as much as I can!
"When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer."
-Corrie Ten Boom
Saturday, July 5, 2014
A woman who fears The Lord is to be praised
11 days until surgery
Until then....
We carry on with our normal lives. Just because we receive devastating news doesn't mean the world stops. We might wish it could...but it won't. We have to balance our normal lives with the huge elephant still standing in the room.
From the outside, William seems fine. His hands and feet get clammy and I panic at the mere sight of him breathing too heavy or quickly. Other than that, he's a normal little three month old! He is starting to kick his feet, smile and move his hands all around. He coo's and babbles and is very alert.
We've gotten a lot of the logistics figured out and I am SO thankful for family that has offered to help. Our support system is amazing and we couldn't do it with them. A lot of details are still up in the air so we are having to be very flexible and patient right now.
Emotionally, I keep reminding myself that I am strong and will remain strong for my boys. I keep going back to Proverbs 31 and trying to match up to what a wife of noble character is.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.
26 She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
27 She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.
29 "Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.”
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
31 Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.
I've always been drawn to that passage, but now it impacts me more than it ever has.
Thank you all again for the continued thoughts, prayers, cards and everything else. We are blessed to have so many prayer chains going across the country!!
Until then....
We carry on with our normal lives. Just because we receive devastating news doesn't mean the world stops. We might wish it could...but it won't. We have to balance our normal lives with the huge elephant still standing in the room.
From the outside, William seems fine. His hands and feet get clammy and I panic at the mere sight of him breathing too heavy or quickly. Other than that, he's a normal little three month old! He is starting to kick his feet, smile and move his hands all around. He coo's and babbles and is very alert.
We've gotten a lot of the logistics figured out and I am SO thankful for family that has offered to help. Our support system is amazing and we couldn't do it with them. A lot of details are still up in the air so we are having to be very flexible and patient right now.
Emotionally, I keep reminding myself that I am strong and will remain strong for my boys. I keep going back to Proverbs 31 and trying to match up to what a wife of noble character is.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.
26 She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
27 She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.
29 "Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.”
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
31 Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.
I've always been drawn to that passage, but now it impacts me more than it ever has.
Thank you all again for the continued thoughts, prayers, cards and everything else. We are blessed to have so many prayer chains going across the country!!
Thursday, June 26, 2014
July 16, 2014
July 16, 2014
We have a date! His heart surgery will be on July 16 8:00am at UNC Children's Hospital. We will have preop appointments and meet the surgeon earlier that week. Not much more information has been provided, but we know that he will be in ICU for a little while and we still expect a hospital stay of 2 weeks to a month for recovery.
Thank you for your continued support and prayers.
We have a date! His heart surgery will be on July 16 8:00am at UNC Children's Hospital. We will have preop appointments and meet the surgeon earlier that week. Not much more information has been provided, but we know that he will be in ICU for a little while and we still expect a hospital stay of 2 weeks to a month for recovery.
Thank you for your continued support and prayers.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Hurry up and wait!
Hi everyone! I wish I was coming to you with a surgery update...but no such luck! However, today we had a follow up appointment with Williams normal pediatrician. He has been with us since William was born and Jacks pediatrician before that. Can I just say that he is amazing? He is a very down to earth guy and knows when to put on his 'parent hat' to keep me from panicking. He said it could take a little while for the cardiologists to determine an approach since it's such a big hospital. If we don't hear by Friday he said he will put in a call for us.
And now we hurry up and wait!
Until then...he has put William on an iron supplement to strengthen his blood supply for surgery. We were told he will need a blood transfusion so that's a little scary!! {par for the course during this type of surgery} He is also having me add a formula powder to his breast milk to help plump him up before surgery. Anything we can do to make him stronger we will do! His incision sights from the cath are healing great and he said overall he looks good.
Emotionally, I haven't cracked yet. I'm pretty proud of that, but I know at some point I will lose it. Logistically, we have a lot to figure out. Jack is only 20 months old and to leave him for any amount of time breaks my heart. For him, I try to stay strong to keep his little life as normal as possible. I'm so lucky and blessed to have family close by that can help us through this journey.
William has an amazing group of doctors behind him...and we have a lot of positive thoughts and prayers pushing him along thanks to all of you! It truly means the world to us!
And now we hurry up and wait!
Until then...he has put William on an iron supplement to strengthen his blood supply for surgery. We were told he will need a blood transfusion so that's a little scary!! {par for the course during this type of surgery} He is also having me add a formula powder to his breast milk to help plump him up before surgery. Anything we can do to make him stronger we will do! His incision sights from the cath are healing great and he said overall he looks good.
Emotionally, I haven't cracked yet. I'm pretty proud of that, but I know at some point I will lose it. Logistically, we have a lot to figure out. Jack is only 20 months old and to leave him for any amount of time breaks my heart. For him, I try to stay strong to keep his little life as normal as possible. I'm so lucky and blessed to have family close by that can help us through this journey.
William has an amazing group of doctors behind him...and we have a lot of positive thoughts and prayers pushing him along thanks to all of you! It truly means the world to us!
Sunday, June 22, 2014
A small elephant is still an elephant
{A quote that my parents keep saying is "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time..." We are so frightened by the elephant in the room and we don't even know how big or small it is. Either way, it's still an elephant and it's still huge compared to anything else}
Since this whole ordeal began, we have had so many people reaching out to us. Thank you for that. We appreciate the thoughts and prayers more than you will ever know!! I want to keep you all informed as best as I can so I decided to start up this blog again. I firmly believe that God blessed us with this little boy and we are determined to be the best parents that we can be for him.
Let's start from the beginning. William went in for his two month checkup and the pediatrician detected a heart murmur. Because of his age, he referred us to a pediatric cardiologist to rule out any major issues. At the appointment with the cardiologist, they performed an echocardiogram to determine where the murmur was coming from. Originally it was thought that he had 'VSD'.
Needless to say, his appointment didn't go as we had originally thought. The echo showed signs of valve narrowing, diagnosed as aortic stenosis. We were told that these tests can be inconclusive and sometimes exaggerate blockage, so the cardiologist referred us to UNC Children's Hospital at Chapel Hill (an hour away from us).
One week later we had a cardiac catheterization performed. We arrived at the hospital at 9:00am unsure of what exactly would happen. We had doctors come speak with us and signed a number of consent forms. At 12:30pm the anesthesiologist came in to get William. He wasn't allowed to eat after 5am because it was supposed to start at 9:00am...you can imagine my patience at that point. At 3:30pm the testing was complete. Because he was so little they had some concern that he may need to stay overnight. His vitals were stable until 6:00pm so they were getting discharge paperwork ready for us. And then his heart rate jumped and oxygen levels dropped. That's when they decided to keep us overnight on the pediatric cardiology floor to monitor him (aka the CICC). Luckily, we had an uneventful night (other than not sleeping a wink) and were discharged the next morning.
Rewind a little bit...once William came out of anesthesia, the cardiologist showed us the results. The blockage was far worse than the echocardiogram showed. Remember how I said the echo usually exaggerates blockage? Well Williams was worse than they expected. Not only does he have narrowing, he has multiple areas of narrowing above and below his heart. Finding one spot is normal for this diagnosis and can be fixed pretty routinely. In his case, it is far more complicated due to the multiple areas and his age/weight. Imagine an hour glass. The part that is squeezed in the middle is like Williams valve...only it's supposed to be the same width from top to bottom. Yes, I know what you're thinking...and that is why the cardiologists are calling this 'moderate to severe' blockage. This is causing his heart to work twice as hard as normal. The blood is having to pump extra hard and fast to keep up. It is not something that can fix itself, nor is it something that can be completely fixed with surgery.
He has a team of pediatric cardiologists as well as two pediatric heart surgeons working on his case. On Monday, they will all meet and discuss what approach they will take to repair his little heart. It isn't just one opinion...it's an entire team working together. We couldn't ask for anything else to help solve this problem. We've been told to expect open heart surgery in which his heart will be put on bypass. We've also been told to expect and prepare for an extended stay of one month in the hospital. This will include time in the pediatric ICU (PICU) as well as on the pediatric cardiac floor (CICC).
And now...we wait. As much as I don't want it to be an elephant, it is. And even a small elephant is still an elephant.
Since this whole ordeal began, we have had so many people reaching out to us. Thank you for that. We appreciate the thoughts and prayers more than you will ever know!! I want to keep you all informed as best as I can so I decided to start up this blog again. I firmly believe that God blessed us with this little boy and we are determined to be the best parents that we can be for him.
Let's start from the beginning. William went in for his two month checkup and the pediatrician detected a heart murmur. Because of his age, he referred us to a pediatric cardiologist to rule out any major issues. At the appointment with the cardiologist, they performed an echocardiogram to determine where the murmur was coming from. Originally it was thought that he had 'VSD'.
Needless to say, his appointment didn't go as we had originally thought. The echo showed signs of valve narrowing, diagnosed as aortic stenosis. We were told that these tests can be inconclusive and sometimes exaggerate blockage, so the cardiologist referred us to UNC Children's Hospital at Chapel Hill (an hour away from us).
One week later we had a cardiac catheterization performed. We arrived at the hospital at 9:00am unsure of what exactly would happen. We had doctors come speak with us and signed a number of consent forms. At 12:30pm the anesthesiologist came in to get William. He wasn't allowed to eat after 5am because it was supposed to start at 9:00am...you can imagine my patience at that point. At 3:30pm the testing was complete. Because he was so little they had some concern that he may need to stay overnight. His vitals were stable until 6:00pm so they were getting discharge paperwork ready for us. And then his heart rate jumped and oxygen levels dropped. That's when they decided to keep us overnight on the pediatric cardiology floor to monitor him (aka the CICC). Luckily, we had an uneventful night (other than not sleeping a wink) and were discharged the next morning.
Rewind a little bit...once William came out of anesthesia, the cardiologist showed us the results. The blockage was far worse than the echocardiogram showed. Remember how I said the echo usually exaggerates blockage? Well Williams was worse than they expected. Not only does he have narrowing, he has multiple areas of narrowing above and below his heart. Finding one spot is normal for this diagnosis and can be fixed pretty routinely. In his case, it is far more complicated due to the multiple areas and his age/weight. Imagine an hour glass. The part that is squeezed in the middle is like Williams valve...only it's supposed to be the same width from top to bottom. Yes, I know what you're thinking...and that is why the cardiologists are calling this 'moderate to severe' blockage. This is causing his heart to work twice as hard as normal. The blood is having to pump extra hard and fast to keep up. It is not something that can fix itself, nor is it something that can be completely fixed with surgery.
He has a team of pediatric cardiologists as well as two pediatric heart surgeons working on his case. On Monday, they will all meet and discuss what approach they will take to repair his little heart. It isn't just one opinion...it's an entire team working together. We couldn't ask for anything else to help solve this problem. We've been told to expect open heart surgery in which his heart will be put on bypass. We've also been told to expect and prepare for an extended stay of one month in the hospital. This will include time in the pediatric ICU (PICU) as well as on the pediatric cardiac floor (CICC).
And now...we wait. As much as I don't want it to be an elephant, it is. And even a small elephant is still an elephant.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
D-Day (delivery day)
Friday 8am
Today I had my routine 38 week check up. The doctor checked to see if I was dilated and I was! 3 cm. He asked if I wanted him to strip my membrane, so of course I said yes...I wanted this baby out of me! I hoped it would jump start labor. The doctor did say I was measuring small so he wanted me to get an ultrasound...of course, the next appt wasn't until 1:40pm. So I headed out to run errands.
1:40pm
Back to the hospital we went. The ultrasound took about an hour. The technician measured everything possible to make sure baby was okay. Unfortunately, since it was Friday and so late in the day my doctor had already left so we didn't get any results. We hoped for the best and assumed nothing too bad was going on since they let us go.
4:00pm
I had already made plans to go to San Marcos for dinner with 2 of my best friends. Even though I was 3 cm dilated, the doctor said it could take another week for anything to really progress. So...off to San Marcos I went! Jen and I rode together down there and when we got to Nicole's we went to paint pottery. I had never painted pottery before so I was super excited! I ended up painting a small plate with surf boards on it to put in Jack's room. While painting, I had a few contractions but nothing out of the ordinary. We joked that we had to finish our painting because I could have the baby at any point!
7:00pm
We shut down the pottery place...we were just having too much fun :) We headed back to Nicole's for dinner. She made a delicious taco soup! I must say, in hindsight it was a fabulous last meal!! The three of us (well mine was just juice...) sipped on our skinny girl drinks and chatted the night away. Around 8:30pm I noticed my contractions were getting to be about 15 minutes apart. The doctor said if I have more than 6 contractions in an hour to call...but I was only having 4 an hour so we kept on chatting! At 9:45pm Jen and Nicole figured it was time for me to get home just in case it was more than we thought. We joked about me having the baby...ha...but who really thought!! I drove so of course I was going to drive home. We didn't even make it out of the neighborhood when I looked at Jen and told her I was having another contraction. About 5 minutes later...another one. We both freaked out when we realized how frequent they were coming! Since we had to drive back by the hospital on the way home, Jen and I thought I should call the hospital to see if they thought I should come in. Wouldn't THAT have been an adventure!! When I called and let them know what was going on they told me I have to have contractions every 3-4 minutes for 2 hours. Ok...no big deal. But boy were these contractions getting closer and stronger! (I knew I needed one last girls night...haha I guess Jack wanted to crash the party!)
10:30 pm
I finally made it home and the contractions hadn't subsided. I took a shower, drank water, laid down...did everything I was supposed to in order to ensure it wasn't false labor. It had only been an hour at this point but I was hurting! I had Jon call L&D and let them know my contractions were coming about every 2-3 minutes. She told him to make sure I ate something and head to the hospital...which is 45 minutes from the house! Not to mention the fact that this would be our 3rd time there in one day!! I was in so much pain that I couldn't focus enough to eat so we got in the car and left. I called my mom to let her know that she needed to be prepared...they were going to plan to be on the first flight out if it was real labor.
12:30am
When we arrived to the hospital I couldn't hardly walk inside. The contractions were coming faster and stronger and I would have been double over in pain...but that even hurt too bad! When we got up to L&D they had the doctor check me. He chatted with me for what seemed to be forever and waited to check me in between contractions. I'll never forget the way he told the nurse the next part..."She is 8cm dilated...can you check behind me please?". The nurse obliged and was shocked at how far along I was. The first thing out of my mouth was "Does this mean I can't get an epidural?!". They immediately put me into a delivery room. They put in an IV (which served no purpose other than to give me fluids...it would take an hour for my labs to come back to see what meds I could get). The baby's heart rate was a little low during contractions so they told me they needed to break my water. The next thing I know there are 2 nurses, a baby nurse, a resident OB and a supervising OB in the room. It was probably around 1:00am. They gave me oxygen due to the baby's lowering heart rate. Other than that...I had nothing...nada...no epidural that I had planned for...no tylenol...no motrin...just oxygen and an uncomfortable IV. I had the urge to push and so it began. The light came down from the ceiling and I knew I was in for it. I will spare you the details, but let me tell you...it was the hardest hour of my life! At 2:19am baby Jack Cooper Swanson was pushed out into this world; weighing 7lbs 4oz and 18 inches long. It only took an hour of pushing. When he came out he wasn't breathing/crying so they took him to the warmer to get the life knocked into him! They called in a pediatrician in to help get things going and about 2 minutes later he turned pink and cried. It was the sweetest sound I could have heard. It was the scariest few hours of my life, but we survived them and he is the most precious baby boy.
Unfortunately the hospital was busier than ever these last 4 days...not sure what sparked the baby boom! They didn't have a recovery room for me to move into so we had to make my delivery room comfortable for what turned out to be the next 14 hours! All I wanted was a new room...new scenery...and to get away from the place I just delivered naturally...YIKES! I still can't believe I had a baby naturally!
11:00am
My parents finally arrived to the hospital. It was nice to have the break in the day where I could just sleep. Up to that point we hadn't slept at all, so we had been up for over 24 hours. What a crazy, crazy day. We had so many people calling and texting...it was so nice to share this with everyone!
4:00pm
We finally got the word that we would be moved into our own room! Yippee!! After getting settled in, a few friends stopped by to see us. Baby Jack is so lucky to have so many people love on him. We wrapped up the day...Jon went home to get some sleep and my mom stayed at the hospital with me. I am still running on zero sleep, but just this morning the Corpsman told me I was the happiest mom on the floor with the lowest blood pressure! I figured that was a good sign :)
What a day we had! But we all survived and the love we have is amazing for each other. I am surrounded by my sweet, precious baby boy, my amazing husband who held my hand the entire way, my parents, and amazing friends. Baby Jack makes this all complete and I wouldn't have it any other way!!
*I am still at the hospital, so I will upload pictures to this once I get home!!*
Today I had my routine 38 week check up. The doctor checked to see if I was dilated and I was! 3 cm. He asked if I wanted him to strip my membrane, so of course I said yes...I wanted this baby out of me! I hoped it would jump start labor. The doctor did say I was measuring small so he wanted me to get an ultrasound...of course, the next appt wasn't until 1:40pm. So I headed out to run errands.
1:40pm
Back to the hospital we went. The ultrasound took about an hour. The technician measured everything possible to make sure baby was okay. Unfortunately, since it was Friday and so late in the day my doctor had already left so we didn't get any results. We hoped for the best and assumed nothing too bad was going on since they let us go.
4:00pm
I had already made plans to go to San Marcos for dinner with 2 of my best friends. Even though I was 3 cm dilated, the doctor said it could take another week for anything to really progress. So...off to San Marcos I went! Jen and I rode together down there and when we got to Nicole's we went to paint pottery. I had never painted pottery before so I was super excited! I ended up painting a small plate with surf boards on it to put in Jack's room. While painting, I had a few contractions but nothing out of the ordinary. We joked that we had to finish our painting because I could have the baby at any point!
7:00pm
We shut down the pottery place...we were just having too much fun :) We headed back to Nicole's for dinner. She made a delicious taco soup! I must say, in hindsight it was a fabulous last meal!! The three of us (well mine was just juice...) sipped on our skinny girl drinks and chatted the night away. Around 8:30pm I noticed my contractions were getting to be about 15 minutes apart. The doctor said if I have more than 6 contractions in an hour to call...but I was only having 4 an hour so we kept on chatting! At 9:45pm Jen and Nicole figured it was time for me to get home just in case it was more than we thought. We joked about me having the baby...ha...but who really thought!! I drove so of course I was going to drive home. We didn't even make it out of the neighborhood when I looked at Jen and told her I was having another contraction. About 5 minutes later...another one. We both freaked out when we realized how frequent they were coming! Since we had to drive back by the hospital on the way home, Jen and I thought I should call the hospital to see if they thought I should come in. Wouldn't THAT have been an adventure!! When I called and let them know what was going on they told me I have to have contractions every 3-4 minutes for 2 hours. Ok...no big deal. But boy were these contractions getting closer and stronger! (I knew I needed one last girls night...haha I guess Jack wanted to crash the party!)
10:30 pm
I finally made it home and the contractions hadn't subsided. I took a shower, drank water, laid down...did everything I was supposed to in order to ensure it wasn't false labor. It had only been an hour at this point but I was hurting! I had Jon call L&D and let them know my contractions were coming about every 2-3 minutes. She told him to make sure I ate something and head to the hospital...which is 45 minutes from the house! Not to mention the fact that this would be our 3rd time there in one day!! I was in so much pain that I couldn't focus enough to eat so we got in the car and left. I called my mom to let her know that she needed to be prepared...they were going to plan to be on the first flight out if it was real labor.
12:30am
When we arrived to the hospital I couldn't hardly walk inside. The contractions were coming faster and stronger and I would have been double over in pain...but that even hurt too bad! When we got up to L&D they had the doctor check me. He chatted with me for what seemed to be forever and waited to check me in between contractions. I'll never forget the way he told the nurse the next part..."She is 8cm dilated...can you check behind me please?". The nurse obliged and was shocked at how far along I was. The first thing out of my mouth was "Does this mean I can't get an epidural?!". They immediately put me into a delivery room. They put in an IV (which served no purpose other than to give me fluids...it would take an hour for my labs to come back to see what meds I could get). The baby's heart rate was a little low during contractions so they told me they needed to break my water. The next thing I know there are 2 nurses, a baby nurse, a resident OB and a supervising OB in the room. It was probably around 1:00am. They gave me oxygen due to the baby's lowering heart rate. Other than that...I had nothing...nada...no epidural that I had planned for...no tylenol...no motrin...just oxygen and an uncomfortable IV. I had the urge to push and so it began. The light came down from the ceiling and I knew I was in for it. I will spare you the details, but let me tell you...it was the hardest hour of my life! At 2:19am baby Jack Cooper Swanson was pushed out into this world; weighing 7lbs 4oz and 18 inches long. It only took an hour of pushing. When he came out he wasn't breathing/crying so they took him to the warmer to get the life knocked into him! They called in a pediatrician in to help get things going and about 2 minutes later he turned pink and cried. It was the sweetest sound I could have heard. It was the scariest few hours of my life, but we survived them and he is the most precious baby boy.
Unfortunately the hospital was busier than ever these last 4 days...not sure what sparked the baby boom! They didn't have a recovery room for me to move into so we had to make my delivery room comfortable for what turned out to be the next 14 hours! All I wanted was a new room...new scenery...and to get away from the place I just delivered naturally...YIKES! I still can't believe I had a baby naturally!
11:00am
My parents finally arrived to the hospital. It was nice to have the break in the day where I could just sleep. Up to that point we hadn't slept at all, so we had been up for over 24 hours. What a crazy, crazy day. We had so many people calling and texting...it was so nice to share this with everyone!
4:00pm
We finally got the word that we would be moved into our own room! Yippee!! After getting settled in, a few friends stopped by to see us. Baby Jack is so lucky to have so many people love on him. We wrapped up the day...Jon went home to get some sleep and my mom stayed at the hospital with me. I am still running on zero sleep, but just this morning the Corpsman told me I was the happiest mom on the floor with the lowest blood pressure! I figured that was a good sign :)
What a day we had! But we all survived and the love we have is amazing for each other. I am surrounded by my sweet, precious baby boy, my amazing husband who held my hand the entire way, my parents, and amazing friends. Baby Jack makes this all complete and I wouldn't have it any other way!!
*I am still at the hospital, so I will upload pictures to this once I get home!!*
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