More Scares With Our Baby

I got to see my baby for just a minute right after he was born, then he was whisked off to the nursery and to see his awaiting family.

When I gave birth to Brandon eight years before, I was left alone in surgery while my best friend went with Brandon to see his daddy and family. I hated the feeling of being all alone while they were closing my incision. The doctor and nurses were talking to each other and no one was talking to me. I was scared and all alone.

Tyler knew his father's touch because he was screaming up a storm when his pediatrician was checking him over right after his birth. Roger reached over and started rubbing his little leg and talking to him...he stopped crying immediately.

I had told Roger this during my pregnancy and he remembered that while I was in surgery this time delivering Tyler. So, when Esther, my nurse got ready to take Tyler to the nursery...Roger told her that he was going to stay with me when she took Tyler to meet his new family. He did just that. Esther took care of the pictures, video and seeing that Tyler met his new family. She saw to it that everything got photographed and recorded for us. He was the hairiest baby that I have ever seen...plus had long sideburns that looked like Elvis.

That night after surgery, I spiked a fever of 104 and was in a great deal of pain, therefore, I was given some pain medicine and slept. Due to the fever that I was running, I was not allowed to see my baby that night or the next day. Roger would go back and forth between my room and the nursery to check on Tyler. He was allowed to just walk into the nursery to see when whenever he wanted to.

In the wee hours of Friday morning while I was going from being alert to sound asleep, Roger went to check on Tyler. When he approached the nursery window, he was his doctor and nurse surrounding him and it appeared that something was wrong. He rushed into the nursery to see what was wrong. They told him that Tyler's limbs were turning blue and he had spiked a fever as well. They began drawing blood on Tyler and trying to figure out what was wrong with him. His doctor said that his blood cultures would not be back for several days but he thought he knew what was wrong and would treat him likewise. He said that he felt that Tyler had Group B Strep and could be fatal if not treated appropriately. He immediately began Tyler on antibiotics that night.

Tyler was finally allowed to come to my room on Saturday morning before he had his nursery picture made. I dressed him in his University of South Carolina Gamecock onesie. I went to the nursery with Tyler for his pictures but he slept through the whole thing. So, his pictures are with him sound asleep. He was a beautiful baby and had a head full of black hair. He looked perfect and was absolutely gorgeous!

After his pictures were made, he went back to my room again. We loved spending time with him, holding him, loving on him, kissing him and just watching him! Our family and friends also came by to see Tyler and we made tons of pictures. Finally, things seemed to be moving in the right direction to spending time with our baby and getting to take him home with us.

On Sunday morning, Tyler's doctor came into see us and explained his findings. His condition was not improving in the manner that he had hoped for and he was not going to wait on the blood cultures to come back before starting an IV with stronger antibiotics in them. Tyler was in our room for a short while when the nurse came to take him back to the nursery because his doctor had ordered a spinal tap on him to rule out meningitis. I was sick to my stomach and just began crying thinking about what my baby was going to endure with the spinal tap. I had been present when my stepdaughter had a spinal tap years before and the pain that she endured was terrible.

I immediately began calling the church and Pastor Helms because we needed as many people praying for our baby as possible. We were able to get a message to Pastor Helms right before church started that morning.

When they were finished doing his spinal tap, they brought him back to us in my room. His doctor told us that he also heard a heart murmur that morning and had called for a pediatric cardiologist that will see Tyler on Monday morning. I just sat and held my baby tight and cried. I was so scared. I cried and cried! I prayed and prayed over my baby.

Dr. Westbrook allowed me to stay all day on Sunday to spend as much time with Tyler as I could but I had to be out of my room before midnight. We left the hospital around 7 o'clock going home empty handed. That is a terrible feeling to leave the hospital without your baby, but I had the assurance that my baby would be coming home in a couple of days.

Roger had a huge stork put in our yard announcing the birth of our baby boy. They made pictures of me and some of both of us...empty handed by the stork. My first night at home was very lonely because Brandon was at my mother's and Tyler was still in the hospital.

Monday, I got up and got ready for my friend's daughter to drive me to the hospital to see Tyler. The nurses in the nursery had made a picture of Brandon when he came to see his little brother on Saturday and put it in his crib saying...Meet My Brother.

The cardiologist came to see Tyler that morning and said that his heart murmur was completely gone and there was no reason for her to see him again. Praise The Lord!!!!!!

Sommer and Ryan had been in South Carolina and hadn't met their baby brother yet. Their mother and grandmother brought them to the hospital that afternoon to see Tyler for the first time. The nurses took the rocker into a supply room so that everyone could spend time with Tyler and no one would be excluded..including Roger's ex-wife and his former mother-in-law. Everyone was sweet and excited about our new arrival....they were all happy for us. Our relationship with his ex-wife was completely opposite from the one with my ex-husband. We made lots of pictures of this milestone too. They put a picture of Tyler's sister's in his crib as well saying....Meet My Sisters. How sweet is that? We thought it was great!

Finally, on Thursday...Tyler's actual due date, July 21st, he was discharged from the hospital. We spoke with his pediatrician who said that Tyler's blood cultures came back and were positive for Group B Strep. He was glad and we were very thankful that he took the initiative to start the antibiotics nearly a week earlier. They suspected that I was a carried of Group B Strep with no symptoms...Dr. Westbrook had treated me as well in the hospital for this condition.

We dressed Tyler in the St. Maarten onesie that we bought before we knew that we were pregnant...we thought it was very fitting for the celebration of his homecoming. Tyler would have a home health nurse come to the house once a day for 3 more days to administer his antibiotics. That was very hard to watch then stick those needles in his tiny little legs. I would home to dread that time of day for 3 long days but my baby would finally at home with us where he belongs.

Finally, home at last!!!! God is so good and He had His hand on Tyler and us the entire time. He knew what was going to happen and what we would be in need of...Dr. Westbrook, Tyler's pediatrician and his awesome nursing staff who watched Tyler very closely during his stay. They loved him and he was already spoiled before we got him home. I believe God orchestrated everyone who took part in my care and in Tyler's care the entire time we were in the hospital. We could not have gotten any better care than what we did there. God has truly blessed our family again!!!!

Pictures of our precious little man and his family who loves him very much.