At my appointment the Dr. asked me if I was having contractions and I stated yes but that I didn't know if they were braxton hicks or if they weren't. She stated that she'd hook me up to the fetal heart monitor for 20 minutes to see if they were real contractions. After 20 minutes she came to talk to me and stated that I needed to get over to Mercy Hospital to labor and delivery as soon as possible. No contractions were seen but the baby's heart rate would go from 150 bpm and drop down to 90bpm and last for almost a minute before coming back up. After having an ultrasound they found that I had no amniotic fluid left around the baby and therefore he was compressing on the umbilical cord and that yes he was still breech. So Dr. Berger decided that I needed to have an emergency C-section as soon as my husband arrived. And, as soon as Shawn got there and got changed into his scrubs, I was wheeled in and Oliver was born. He was wisked away quickly to the NICU at Mercy and Shawn followed him. After I was taken to my postpartum room I was waiting around to hear how my son was when my husband came in and stated that there was a possibility that they would have to transfer him to the University of Iowa. He was given a quick baptism at the Mercy hospital which Shawn and my parents were able to participate in but I was still recovering and still hadn't seen even what he looked like. The flight nurses did bring Oliver down to my room before they flew him to Iowa City so that I could touch him and blow him a kiss goodbye. Shawn and his parents drove down to Iowa City then Thursday night and spent the night with him at the hospital and my mom stayed with me in Dubuque since I was still recovering.
This is Oliver in his NICU room at UIHC The doctors first thought that Oliver had and enlarged heart and was anemic and required blood and platelet transfusions. After doing an ultrasound of his heart they found that it was functioning normally just was enlarged. They kept asking Shawn if I was sick throughout the pregnancy or more tired than normal which I wasn't either of those. They started him on a few antibiotics and kept him on a morphine drip to sedate him so the ventilator would do all the work for him and he could conserve his energy. He then had to be put on a dopamine drip because his blood pressure dropped due to the morphine. He had to be on a special ventilator called an oscilator that shakes him and acts like a diaphragm and breathes for him even if he initiates a breath for himself.
Friday they still did not know what was causing Oliver's condition and had run a lot of labs and done many ultrasounds on many parts of him body still giving us no diagnosis other than that he had pulmonary hypertension requiring him to be on the ventilator and that the top right part of his lung is collapsed. Friday I was still in Dubuque as they would not discharge me yet although they were really trying to get me down to Iowa City as much as they could. I can't say enough about the wonderful care at Mercy and the great nurses.
Saturday I finally arrived at UIHC to see my baby Oliver and have our family all together.
It has been a whirlwind since I came. Both my parents and Shawn's parents stayed all weekend here with us and my sister surprised us with a visit as well on Saturday.
Today, Monday, Shawn and I are here with Oliver as we wouldn't want to be anywhere else than here. He's making a lot of progress and they're taking him off the dopamine today because he is able to keep his BP up on his own. They're going to try him on a different type of ventilator today that will not shake him therefore he will not require as much sedation and can hopefully wake up a bit. He is still on stress precautions which means we can touch him but only slightly and no stroking him or holding him yet. We have to speak in a whisper and he has to wear ear muffs and eye shield so that he has as little stimulation as possible. I can't wait to be able to hold him as I haven't been able to yet but the nurses have let me change his diaper today and yesterday when he is more sedated and today I got to take his temperature. It's the small things that melt your heart. We're staying at Shawn's parents camper they pulled down here for us since we have heard we may be here for around a month. We're praying nonstop that we can soon bring our beautiful baby home and that he keeps making progress although we know to take it hour by hour. He has had set backs but he has also fought his way back very well and we're already very proud of him. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. Here are some more pictures of Oliver.
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