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All the excitement of becoming a dad for the first time definitely has it's bouts with fear. The day after my son was born, he began having issues with his respiratory rate. They put him on oxygen and were monitoring him, but nothing changed. After hours of monitoring and a major increase in the oxygen level that they were giving him, the doctors in Midland (MI) decided that it was time to call to the neonatal unit in Saginaw (MI).
This is the point that I begin to really freak out. Roni is in her room at the hospital, not able to hold her new baby, and now finds out that things are getting worse with his condition. I'm doing all that I can to maintain some composure, but no matter how many times I tell her that everything is going to be fine, she can see in my eyes that I'm just as scared as she is. To make matters worse, since she had just had a C-section the day before, she couldn't get out of the hospital until the next day. So only I could follow the ambulance over to Saginaw to be with me son. Talk about a lose/lose situation. She just went through this traumatic event and now neither I, nor her brand new son can be there with her to comfort her.
When the team from Saginaw finally arrived to pick up Nolan, I really wssn't feeling good about the situation. There were at lest four doctors there from Midland and another three people there from Saginaw. No one could really give us any answers as to why his breathing was so rappid, but they felt that it was best for him to be in Saginaw where they had more complete facilities.
I've been through some tough situations in my life like losing my father to cancer in 2001. I struggled to watch my father and my family suffer through that. Now I sit there again, helpless and unable to do much of anything for my newborn son.
Nolan was a big kid from birth, weighing in at 9 lb 6 oz, so at least you can get a picture in your head as to what he may look like. When we arrived in Saginaw in was only about 15 minutes before they called me back and said that I could see him. As I wandered down the hallway, I looked into the rooms as I passed to see incubators with 2-4 lb babies in them, approaching their third month in the hospital. Parents sat at their side with a worn down look on their faces. You could see how tired they were and how much this time in the hospital (and not at home) had taken out of them. I turned the corner into Nolan's room to see my little man out of the incubator and laying out underneath one of the warming lamp beds. The doctor told me that they had already gotten him off of the oxygen and most of his levels had calmed down to normal. It was some of the sweetest words that I had ever heard. I went over to him and kissed him on the cheek for the first time since early that morning. He looked healthy, and in much better condition than his new neighbors in the neonatal unit. I knew he wasn't out of the woods just yet, but he was in such a better place than he had been only an hour before.
Seven days later Roni went to pick him up from the hospital in Saginaw and brought him directl to the baseball field. I'm the varsity baseball coach at one of our high schools here and we were playing in the district tournament that day. He showed up, everyone oohed and ahhed, and we went on to win the district title that day. All the boys had me take him for one of the team pictures (one of the pics I've added to my profile) after the game.
He's now home and doing well. Still some episodes with his breathing every now and then, but we're working on figuring out if there's something wrong, or if it's just him. But he's home, he's healthy, mom's healthy and I'm getting first hand experience at what fatherhood is really like.
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Posted by kiprf12 on 2007-06-28 11:12:50 | Rating: | Views: 207
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Congrats! very glad to hear he is doing better, as well as your wife.
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Posted by Giget1987
on 2007-06-28 14:14:27
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thanks for sharing with us. i am really glad to hear he and mom are home and healty. you are going to love fatherhood.
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Posted by jason
on 2007-06-28 15:28:18
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CONGRATS!!!
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Posted by heartmegz
on 2007-07-09 14:33:33
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