Our New Addition: Jadon Michael Foster

As most of you know, Jadon was born November 3rd at 4:37 p.m. He weighed 6 lbs 15 ozs and was 20 inches long. My water broke at 1 a.m. and we were at the hospital by 3ish. They hooked me up to monitors and checked me. I was 3 cm and about 50% effaced. I decided to wait on the epidural and breathed through the contractions till about 7:30 a.m. I decided I didn’t need to be Wonder Woman anymore and asked for my epidural :-) At this point I was 4 cm and 60-70% effaced. For some reason I have a high tolerance for anesthesia so after the regular epidural and two hits of the “happy” button, the dr had to give me a super dose of something and boy did it work! I was able to sleep from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. which was wonderful given I had very little sleep before we headed into the hospital. When I woke up, I was 6 cm and my contractions were getting stronger. They did have to use a little Pitocin to augment my contractions because they started to peter out when they started the epidural. But I was only getting 6 cc at most and when they induce someone, they start you at 20 cc and eventually give you 40 cc. So I was getting almost nil. Anyway, they checked me at 3:30 p.m. and I was already at a 9-9 1/2! Crazy! My nurse contacted Dr. Holden and started prepping me for pushing. My epidural had begun to wear off but that was ok. I wasn’t in pain and could feel the contractions coming which was what we wanted for pushing. We practiced pushed around 4 p.m. and the dr arrived shortly after. I think I pushed through about 8 contractions and he was out! It was truly amazing :-) And I was in shock we had a boy! I really was convinced we were having a girl but I guess I was wrong! And so was Sarai :-) But he was beautiful and I was soooooo proud!

So now is when the excitement really began. Jadon cried some when he was born but didn't wail and they were concerned because his lower extremities weren't "pinking up" as quickly was they wanted. They called in their specialty pediatrician and she said she wanted to do a quick X-ray to see what was going on. She had listened to his lungs and heard some discrepancy between the two. She really didn't think it was a big deal. Maybe fluid or something simple. Needless to say, we were all surprised, including her, when we discovered the Diaphragmatic Hernia (DH for short). Within 4 hours of being born, Jadon was diagnosed and whisked off to Children's Memorial Hospital. It was crazy fast and really emotional but in hindsight, I'm sooooooooooo thankful they found the DH that fast and that he was taken to a great hospital with AMAZING staff! For those of you who don't know what a DH is, a diaphragmatic hernia is a hole, big or small, in the diaphragm, where bowels and sometimes organs can get up in to. The hole really isn't the issue in these situations but the extra pressure it places on the heart and the possibility that the lungs haven't developed normally. In Jadon's case, they think he has a very small hole where only his bowels have snuck up in to. This is why it wasn't found on my 20 week ultrasound. His heart is being strained a bit but that is completely expected and should quickly return to normal after surgery. They also anticipate little damage to the lungs. Basically, he won't be climbing Mt. Everest any time soon :-) They will do the surgery thorascopicly and are hoping to only have to suture up the hole without a patch. In larger holes they have to use a medical grade Gortex patch. Yes, the same thing in your boots and coats J But Dr. Kathy (his surgeon) does not think she will have to do this.

Since I was able to VBAC, Dr. Heiberger discharged me the next day and we headed down to Children's by 3 p.m. to spend some time with him before heading home to see Sarai. He was soooooooo beautiful! We asked to hold him that evening but his neonatologist asked if we could wait one more day just to make sure he was good and stable. I told him I would stand on my head if he said that would help :-) He said they would take pictures of me if I did :-) And every day since then, I have gotten to hold him! It is soooo wonderful! They even let me do skin to skin with him the first day and that was so emotionally good for me and great for him too. His "numbers" (heartrate, breathes per minute and oxygenation) were almost perfect :-) They do have him on oxygen and a ventilator but they are really there just as back up. He is getting 21% oxygen which is what we breath (so nothing more than we breath regularly) and he is doing what they call "breathing over the ventilator" which means he isn't really using it. Just there in case he needs it. All these things are amazing and I can't tell you how many times I have had a doctor or nurse tell me he is NOT the typical DH patient. They told us to stay away from the internet because nothing about DH patients apply to him. His neonatologist said on a scale from 0-10, Jadon is a 9! We are still looking at surgery on Monday. Not sure what time but should know this afternoon for sure and I will try to get on and let you all know when that is. After surgery, he has to breath on his own, eat on his own and make sure his bowels are working properly before they will release him. We are anticipating most of this will happen quickly given he is breathing on his own for the most part already and pooping even though his some of his bowels are in the wrong place. The big thing will be getting him to suckle and nurse after having the ventilator on him.

I honestly don’t know where to begin to say thank you to all of you. Your support and prayers have meant so so much to Mike, Sarai and I. It is hard to explain but we feel them! Every day since Tuesday, Jadon has been great. We like to hear that he has had ‘boring days” because it means he is stable and will be able to handle surgery well. We have a direct line to the NICU at Children’s and I can get updates anytime day or night. I often call right before bed and when we wake up in the morning. Right now he isn’t eating anything from me. They have him on electrolytes through his IV and a fatty substance as well. So I was able to rent a hospital grade pump and have been pumping since he was born. My milk has finally come in and we have begun storing milk for him at the hospital so they have it to give to him when he does begin eating after surgery. I know there is so much more I could tell you all but my mind is always swimming with facts and info :-)

If you guys have any questions, feel free to post them and I will answer them the best I can J Please continue to pray for a quick recovery (at best he will come home a week after surgery but it could be longer) and for peace for our family. Thank you all again and know that I love you all!