He weighed 6lbs 11oz, and was 21.5" long.
This was the way I saw Wade after he was born. My first thought was "these sorts of things happen to other people, not me."
Not even a minute after Wade was born his umbilical cord just fell off (avulsion). He was wisked away from us right away. All we saw were eight nurses and doctors surrounding him, lots of chaos, and no one telling us what was happening. Mike and I were left in shock. To top it off we were told that he needed to stay in the NICU. His stay was supposed to be no longer than 24 hours to watch him and make sure he didn't have too much blood loss.
In that time the doctors and nurses noticed he had labored breathing. So after tests and a chest x-ray they diagnosed him as having pneumonia. Apparently he developed pnuemonia in utero from something in the amniotic fluid.
He was given oxygen, placed in an incubator, then was hooked up to monitors, IV, etc.
At two days old he was put on a ventilator to help him breath. His body just got tired from trying to breath so hard that he wasn't able to get enough oxygen. He was on the ventilator for longer than expected (5 days) which allowed the doctors some more time to clear out his lungs before he was breathing on his own.
(7 days old)
My mom and I walked in the NICU, not expecting much, and found Wade's ventilator was removed. YEAH!! We were getting more and more worried the longer he stayed on the ventilator. So this was such a nice surprise and a needed sign that his health was moving in the right direction.
Eventually we were able to hold him and slowly able to feed him once he wasn't hooked up to the ventilator and IVs. He still had a nasal tube to get a little more oxygen. Compared to everything he was hooked up to before, a nasal cannula made him look healthy. Other than his pneumonia he was totally healthy and normal.
After all the x-rays, ventilator, IVs, monitors, tests, and the many more ups and downs through it all Wade came home on May 2, 2008 after an 18 day stay in the NICU. We're glad to have him home and healthy.
This was a difficult time for Mike & I, and for our families, but I can say we saw so many blessing all throughout this ordeal. We saw how families and friends bind together to ease each other's burdens and the strength that lies deep inside all of us. We were and are still so grateful for all of the support and love we received from everyone. If you didn't know about this, don't feel like you were left out. We didn't tell too many people, just family mainly. We kept thinking he would be out in a day or two.
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