Wednesday June 28, 2006 Mike awoke to his wife saying (as she rushed to the bathroom) "Honey! My water just broke." Mike flew out of the bed and scurried about for a while. After a few quick showers and a call to the doctor's office we headed off to O'Bleness Hospital in Athens. At 36weeks 5days we were safe to deliver locally. Dr Clark arrived on the scene to direct a well coordinated C-section that resulted in the arrival of our beautiful daughters. Addison Shea arrived first due to her location in her mom's belly at 10:52am weighing 5lbs 4oz and stretching to 19 1/4 inches. Lily Irene was more content with her former locale and gave Dr Clark a challenge in figuring out how to pull her to this world when she kept presenting him with arms and legs in varying order. Lily weighed 6lbs 8oz. Apparently Addison who's water actually broke was ready to join us and see if she could fair better in the nutrition department with her sister around in this world.
Shortly after delivery and while I was still quite on the table having God only knows what done to me on the other side of that BLESSED drape...Dr Clark returned to tell us the measurements of the girls and that Lily had a problem. Dr Wallace the pediatrician discovered Lily has a cleft palate that effects her soft palate. The rest of the story is a little fuzzy for me...drugs and shock have a way of doing that for you. But basically Dr Wallace confirmed the diagnosis and informed us that the best way to handle this situation with a newborn was to send her to a special children's hospital in Columbus, OH where they could check her out, she could see a plastic surgeon about the surgery necessary to fix the defect, and they could make sure she wasn't going to have problems feeding...the primary concern with cleft palates. Easy decision for us and since Addison did not have a need to be rushed off, we decided that Mike would go with Lily. Fortunately before Lily was wisked away, some very sage and non-drugged people came up with the bright idea to 1) allow me to hold Lily 2) allow me to pump colostrum for Lily to have before she left and 3) allow me to feed Lily from a bottle before she left which she did very well...by the way.
Mike and Lily have been gone for 3 days now. It seems like an eternity. Phone calls cannot do justice for the experiences we both are missing in our daughters lives.
Mike patiently parents in a hospital in a distant city while back in Athens Addison has been patiently learning and teaching me about breastfeeding. After the initial day of her being awake and latching on early to her then sleeping 12 hours and despite desperate attempts by me she wouldn't wake enough to feed. In the wee hours of Thursday she did manage to nurse for a while thanks to the capable help of the nurse Stephanie. Thursday morning Dr Clark agreed to let me leave O'Bleness a day early and a day after my section if I wanted to go up to Columbus to be with Mike and Lily. Dr Wallace also agreed to release Addison. After brief consideration, I decided to stay in Athens at O'Bleness because, honestly, should a person who's just had their midsection sliced be travelling with a 1 day old? But Friday I was ready to take off from the hospital early in the morning and catch a ride with our neighbor Kay to Columbus. But Dr Wallace and Addison had other plans. As I'm dressing to leave the hospital a nurse informs me that the pediatrician has noticed Addison is slightly jaundiced and is waiting for Dr Wallace to arrive to assess her. Now dressed, I walked down to the nursery and watch as Dr Wallace exams another baby then Addison. She sees me...but not my foot tapping impatiently I don't believe... and comes out to tell me that she is concerned and needs to figure out how they treat Addison at the hospital and have me nurse every 2 hours despite the fact that I've been discharged from the hospital. When she arrives at my room to let me know what is going to happen it is good news. I can take Addison home with a bili-blanket. This is a special pad that emits blue light that breaks down bilirubin so it can be excreted. But I still need to nurse every 2 hours and come back in the morning for follow up blood work to check to see that her levels do not continue to climb. Several nurses and Dr Wallace also say exposing Addison to sunlight will also help her condition.
Every 2 hours I'm thinking. Geez, I have a difficult time getting her to nurse every 4 hours. Luckily a little time under the biliblanket and in the sunny window in our bedroom and Addison was a much perkier baby. In fact, she woke me up every hour over night to feed. We got a call from Dr Reagan, also in Dr Wallace's practice, today to say her level this morning was 12 where as it was 11 yesterday morning. This is fantastic news. We are staying far away from dangerous levels. Addison continues to feed well and often. We were rather concerned today that she hadn't had significant "output"...peeing and pooping...so perhaps the input isn't great...but then this evening we discovered a very soaked diaper. Seems that Addison and I are on the road to success.
Up in Columbus...well maybe Mike will have the opportunity to convey his experience in Columbus. From my perspective it has sucked. The concern was that Lily wouldn't feed well, but every report I've heard says she is eating great. However she's lost more weight percent than Addison the baby with an inexperienced breastfeeding mom. Each day we hope will bring Mike and Lily home...so far the kind souls at Children's Hospital have been reluctant to say Lily will survive small town living once released from their capable hands, so they keep her and her dad far, far away from the women who love them.
Here are some pictures:
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