Saturday, October 8, 2011

Leyton 3? no way!

  So Leyton is 3 today.  Like any parent, i have to ask "where did the time go?"  but with Leyton's birthday comes a lot of memories. memories of the normal things like the excitement of a new birth drawing near, will he have hair? how much will he weigh?  but with his story also comes memories of tremendous fear, uncertainty, stresses like no other, and surprisingly generous people.  leytons birthday is a time to reflect on a great deal of things.  we all tend to forget minor details of births.  we forget it hurt, we forget what we did just days prior to the birth.  but not with leyton, we remember it ALL.
for anyone who doesn't know, we found out at Leyton's 20 weeks ultrasound that he had a birth defect called gastroschisis.  spell check doesn't know what it either, dont worry.  basically it means his abdominal wall didn't close and now freely swimming around with him in the womb were his intestines... all of them. we freaked.  what did this mean?  the feeling in that doctors office was indescribable.  Lillian went with us and she so innocently asked us "why are your eyes wet?".
there was nothing greatly different about the pregnancy.  i did have the biggest belly ever as my body knew that leyton needed the extra cushion to protect his fragile body.  i had gallons of fluid surrounding him. oh and just TONS of stress.  would he even survive?
we spent the next 16 weeks driving to Columbus weekly for ultrasounds.  while it was awesome to see him so many times before he was born, i hate riding and driving, and i hated that there was a reason we had to do this.  near the end they scheduled an induction date.  they didn't want me to go into labor 3 hours away.  well sorry, but they were 3 days behind where leyton wanted to be.  Oct 9, 2008 i went into labor.  i stopped in Lima at the hospital and the doc said 4-5cm with bulging waters, you are headed to Columbus on life flight.  yay!  no 3 hour drive!  hehe.  i got to Columbus in like 20 minutes!  why couldn't i have taken the chopper every time!
labor was normal, and delivery was normal.  many people are surprised a c-section wasnt in order.  nope, he got to come the old fashion way.  i literally had 20 people in the delivery room.  it was a big to do!   leyton was born at 8 pm.  he had hair, and he was tiny.  born at 36 weeks he was 6 lbs 10 oz.  aside from his insides being outside, he was perfect.  despite being told i wouldnt get to hold him i was able to for a minute.  long enough to kiss him goodbye
some babies get their intestines and such put back in the day they are born.  leyton had way too much out to do that.  his body formed without that stuff in there so it wouldnt all fit right away.  they set him up with all of his organs in a plastic bag hanging above his belly.  each day the doctor would squeeze some in, and gravity helped some too.  6 days after he was born everything was in place.  at 8 days old he had surgery to close the abdominal wall.  they dont stictch the outside to prevent infection and to not make a "canoe" shaped heal. so, he had a bandaid basically.  BUT being closed up now meant we could hold him!  it was no easy process.  we had to gown up, have a nurse help with his 30  wires.  he had a PIC line, and monitors and thermoteres and i.vs.  with each passing week we got to lose a wire or two.
i pumped and pumped and pumped for leyton.  i had seriously nothing else to do! lol. when we finally got to feed him he had to start with 7ml.  if you arent familiar, thats like a bottle water cap full.  it was quite a tease.  he had to tolerate that for 3 feeding and could up it each day.  he had to eat, he had to poop and he had to gain weight.  wehn we first went in we were told to expect to be there for 4-6 weeks.  we left after 3 weeks and 3 days.  the day of his due date, november 4th.  it was a bittersweet day!  it was awesome to go home, but it was kind of scary too!
my parents kept Lillian and Sebastian almost every night while we were in Columbus  they were 2 and 3 at the time.  they came and stayed a few nights here and there and they got to hold their tiny baby brother too.  the support we got from the people at my old job, the people at johns work and from our friends and families was overwhelming.   we were also able to stay at the Ronald McDonald house the entire time.  they took wonderful care of us!  if anyone eve feels the need to donate to an organization may i suggest the Ronald McDonald house so everyone who needs to stay may?
leyton has no lasting effects from his ordeal.  he has a weird belly button and i have no 401k left, but hey, he is here and smart and hilarious. 

Happy 3rd Birthday Leyton Jeffrey, we love you!