At 11:00pm on Saturday June 25, 2011, Liam was sent to Cardinal Glennon NICU in St.Louis to get treated for Premature Lung Disease in the care of Level 4 Nurses which St.Clare did not have. The Transport Team came into my room and handed me Liam's transport blanket and asked if I would rub it on me to get my scent on it so that way Liam would feel comforted. When they started to take him away it felt like our hearts were breaking.. It was very difficult to watch them take our baby but it was what was best for him, he needed help. He arrived at Cardinal Glennon's NICU around midnight and was treated with two doses of Surfactant. He was then put on a ventilator and was closely watched over by the NICU Nurses and a doctor, Dr.Sadiq. Sunday after I was discharged from St.Clare, I rushed, with my mom, to Cardinal Glennon to see our son. It was difficult to see our sweet, beautiful baby boy with all of those tubes, wires, and IVs. After receiving the second dose of Surfactant he was starting to breathe over the ventilator but they said he was letting it do most of his breathing for him.. But after struggling the first couple of days of his life, he earned the right to take a break. Soon we were told that he was not exhailing his CO2 and that his blood gas tests were coming back with CO2 readings way too high! He should have been at about 35 but, he was at 70+.. After the team of nurses and doctors examined him over again they determined that there was no medical reason for the high readings, it was his breathing tube. So after removing that and reinserting a new one, his next blood gas test came back at 47, with the next one coming back even better. At about 7:00pm Sunday night, Kane and I got to hold our son for the first time, other than having holding him for just a split second after birth before the nurses rushed him to the special nursery at St.Clare! Over night that night, Liam was weaned from the ventilator and most of real awful tubes and wires were finally gone! Our little boy was breathing comfortably on his own! The nurse had told us that he had just a tad-bit of Jaundice so they had him basking under a special light wearing these funny cloth sunglasses. Later that day I did what they call 'Cuddle Care', where mommy and baby lay skin to skin (on chest) for about 30 minutes. Also today was the first day that we got to change Liam's poopy diaper! Tuesday when we came back to see our little man, the doctor said it was time to start bottle feeding him. He was being fed formula through a feeding tube every 3 hours, starting at 15ml and by the end of the night ending at 45ml, since Monday and Dr. Sadiq decided to bottle feed him two bottles a day and tube feed him the other 6 feedings starting on Tuesday, bumping his feedings up to 55ml. Tuesday we fed him his first bottle at 3:00pm. It was then on Thursday that they took the feeding tube out and decided to bottle feed him the rest of his feedings! He was given 2oz and had to drink at least 45ml at each feeding which is an ounce and a half. Dr.Sadiq then said as soon as he eats well for Kane and I, he can go home! When we arrived at Cardinal Glennon Friday, at Liam's noon feeding he took 65ml for me! When Dr.Sediq came in to do his routine check up on Liam, he was shocked by his feeding progress and we were told that Liam would be able to come home saturday! Kane and I were so happy to hear that our little boy would soon be coming home and our family could finally be together! In preparation of his homecoming, Kane and I did some last minute shopping and got his stuff ready to go. We woke up Saturday morning happy as can be until we called to check up on him.. The nurse that was taking care of him at the time had said his night feedings were bad and he spit up and that he may not get to come home with us today... Our hearts had shattered.. But the nurse said that if he did good at his next two feedings, then he would for sure be coming home today, so we still had hope. When we arrived at the hospital at noon for his noon feeding, Liam ate like a champ for us!! later on around one, Dr.Sediq came in to check on his noon feeding. When he heard how well he did, he was surprised. He looked at me and explained to me how important it is that he eats, sleeps, and gains weight, since when he got to Cardinal Glennon he weighed 5.8lbs and now only weight 5.4lbs.. And then, reluctantly, he gave me the news that our son would be coming home with us today!
