Brandt's Birth

Brandt's actual delivery was very smooth. Although the doctors moved my c-section earlier in hopes of not getting "bumped" for an emergency, we still had to wait through an emergency delivery and then a problem for the NICU staff. I was amazed at the coordinating to get the operating, anesthesiology, and NICU teams all available at the same time. But once they told us to "roll" I left for anesthesiology a little before 11:30 and they had him out by 11:49! I was the most awake for this surgery out of all 3 of my c-sections, and they held him up for me to see before they handed him away to the NICU staff. As a patient, I really appreciated the OBs talking to us throughout the process and letting us know how everything was going, plus they let me keep my glasses so I wasn't legally blind throughout!!

The stabilization room here is connected to the OR, and we could hearhis screaming a good part of the time. The doctors assured us that was a good sign for lung development, so it did our hearts good to hear that music . . . since he got to intensive care all of his nurses have already told us he has quite the temper and loudest set of lungs currently in the unit, but they are all happy to hear it as well. They said it will help any heart baby to have such a fighting spirit :-)

So they whisked him away, finished stitching me up, and then sent myself, Daddy and my Mom all back to recovery, where they brought him to us in an incubator. We could all touch, but not hold. He is gorgeous--sorry can't be objective. Even the pictures don't do justice to how soft and perfect and pink his skin was. We are all goners . . . they told us he had scored 9s on his Apgar and was breathing on his own. Had he not been diagnosed in utero, there would not have been much if any indication of the heart defect . . . absolutely mind boggling.