Day One

This blog has a billion purposes, but the main ones are to keep friends and family up to date and to help other families with special heart kiddos try to get a better view of how things happen(although every heart journey is different!). We found out at around 21weeks that Esa had Transposition of the great arteries. Basically his arteries are parallel, but should be crossed. While he was in utero he didn't need to use his lungs, so he was ok, but at birth his blood wouldn't be going to the right places, so his lungs would be getting lots of oxygenated blood and the rest of his body would not be getting sufficient oxygen. We knew he would need surgery at around 1 week to correct this and maybe a small surgery when he was born to put a hole between the chambers of his heart allowing his blood to mix a little before the major surgery. He also had Supraventricular  tachycardia (SVT), a super high heart rate, which I took heart medicine for to keep under control. No one was sure how that would effect him after he was born as they hadn't had any babies with both problems.

I'll start with the day I went into labor with Esa. I was heading out the door for an appointment in Salt Lake City (an hour from my house), but had been having contractions for a couple of hours and they were getting so I wasn't sure I should drive. I was only 37 weeks and 1 day, but I wasn't too worried because since week 34 I had been having contractions on and off, including one visit to the hospital where they gave me some meds to help stop the contractions at home. I couldn't find my keys, so I went to talk to Art, who had the day off and was watching the boys while I went to my appointment. He suggested we just all go, so he could drive me. So we headed off and I took some medicine to get rid of the contractions. They didn't stop and we ended up going to get checked to see if I was in labor instead of going to my appointment. Jude, who is almost 3 years old, was skipping his nap so we could go, so he was super tired and confused as to what was going on and so was Hyrum, 5. We called my sister, whose lives a half hour away, to come and get the kids while we figured everything out.

This could take a really long time to explain, but basically I had contractions for over 25 hours. They me under observation without admitting me saying that I was making super slow progress and since I was 37 weeks they wouldn't stop the contractions but at the same time wouldn't help me progress with the contractions either. We basically had a long date(dinner, dollar movie), coming back to check in every couple of hours until I was 5 cm dilated, at which time they finally admitted me. It was about 2 in the morning, 13 hours since the contractions has started. I had made really slow progress and had been planning on no epidural or pain meds, but was soo exhausted at that point that we decided to go ahead and get one. That way I could sleep and be awake and aware when Esa was born in order to at least see him, in case they needed to take him right away, which ended up being the case.

Labor took me forever, they finally broke my water, gave me pitocin and a few hours later, they rushed me into the OR so that they could pass him right to the NICU, through a little window (like a drivethru window) and get him ready to go to Primary Children's, right next door. We weren't able to really see him or anything after he was born, they just handed him off to the NICU team, but Art was able to take a picture as they were passing him. Esa was pretty blue when he was born which was to be expected.

They told us it would be about 30-45 minutes and they would update us on how he was doing, but it ended up being about 2 hours, so we were pretty nervous. They came in to let us know that they had to put him on a ventilator because he wasn't breathing on his own and that they were trying to get him stable enough to get him over to PCs. We were so scared and nervous, but we just kept telling each other that he was in the best hands possible. About an hour later they rushed us out of my room so that we could see him pass by on this big cart with lots of emergency equipment and his little warmer box in the middle. It was so hard, but again, we knew he was in the best hands.

We didn't hear anything for a long time, finally hearing that he had emergency surgery(which we knew was a possibility) to open up a hole in his heart that would help the blood to mix a little bit. He was pinking up and doing a lot better, still on a ventilator. They did an EKG and a bunch of other tests on him and he seemed to be doing pretty well other than that.

We got to see him for the first time around 6:30 in the evening for a few minutes before they changed nurses. Things were pretty hectic and they were still rushing around getting things in place and getting all of his tubes and wires organized, and getting him settled in. Art took me back to my room, we ate and then Art came back to sleep beside Esa while I stayed in my room to pump, sleep, and so that they could keep checking on me.

As a note for those moms who are in this same situation: The staff is amazing, both at the U of U and at PC's. If you need something or want something, just ask! Everyone is more than willing to help. There are lactation specialists who are so helpful and kind and they have pumps and all of the equipment you need right there. They also were super nice about getting Art food. He wouldn't have eaten if they didn't ask, or if I hadn't asked them.