Abel's Momma: March 2012

I continue to tell myself that one day I will write the story of my baby's birth. I can not seem to ever find the words to put in perspective how this day and the 14 days following this day changed our outlook on life forever. I had an easy pregnancy, if you can even call pregnancy easy. Nothing about pregnancy is easy, lets just say I didn't like being pregnant for one minute but it was uneventful. I thought for sure this would lead to an uneventful labor as well. Not so lucky. Twenty seven hours of hell is what I would call it. I guess it was pretty normal until I was in active labor. The details I will never forget (I am so sure that I will never forget every painful detail I don't feel the need to even write about it). I was in active labor for four long hours with the strong possiblity of a C-section when Abel decided to make his way into this world. Thank God! December 27, 2009 at 8:55 pm we experienced the best moment of our lives. Our bundle of Joy weighing in at 7lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long is here. How can something so horrible (labor) turn out so wonderful? Strange! It was a wonderful moment and the next 12 hours proved to be rather normal. It was about 12 hours after Abel was born that everything in the world seemed to come crashing down. While I was recoving and hanging out with our new joy Javy went home for a quick shower and bite to eat. At this time we had my mom and dad staying with me. We also had our first set of visitors. The Castillo's and Hermanns, our closest friends that just happened to both be pregnant at the same time as myself. Abel was the last of our 3 kids to join this world. Just as they were arriving and Javy was getting back to the hospital we had a nurse come in to check vitals for Abel. This nurse (wish I could remember her name; I will never forget her face) saved my sons life. She didn't like his coloring and ordered immediate blood tests and oxygen level tests. Thank god she did, Abel wasn't breathing to his full potential and his blood test proved that he was internally bleeding and had lost more then half of his blood in the short 12 hours that he was alive. Off to the NICU went my baby and I had no understanding of why. Javy and I were both in shock and disbelief. If this wasn't bad enough I was on bed rest and could not occompany my husband down to the NICU to be with Abel. When they took my epidural out the previous day some of the medicine had leaked into my spine and the only way to recover from the side effects (a God awful headache) was to lay flat for 3-5 days. So here I was without baby, without husband without words as I was in a state of shock. I got a call from the head Dr. of the NICU who was on Abels case with an update. Abel was in need of a blood transfusion and they also detected a small heart murmur and he was jaunduce. Not to mention they still did not know where he was losing blood. Things were not sounding good. This is where I begin to have a loss for words....insert an email written by my father to help explain our miracle story

So this is how you throw out the old year and herald in the New...Oh not without heart wrenching difficulty, for Abel was far to wise to be overly eager to enter this rather uncertain world we have managed to forge for his generation...yet he did elect to grace us with his presence but not before he made certain we had complete understanding of how difficult it was for him to accept unconditional entry...Oh he knew Mom and Dad were there for him and he felt so bad that he couldn't go home with them like most new Born's do. But he thought it better to stay back and challenge the medical establishment to make certain that the young ones who follow are receiving the very best of care.Abel being so new to this world came out from his most comfortable abode with the wisdom to challenge the "heart experts," the "infectious aficionados," the "respiratory realists", and even the "dietarydeists." Yes in his bid for superior understanding of his condition he acknowledged the difficulty he posed for Mom and Dad, but then he knew how strong they were and how much they would support him by making their un-ending trips from hospital to home and back again many times, knowing full well that when he was satisfied that the Neo-Natal Center was in 110% condition for his followers, then it was time for him to join Mom and Dad on Foxcroft Circle and assume his life as the first off-spring of the Valdivia family. And what a life it will be!

This pretty much sums it up; two years later and I still get teary eyed thinking about what a medical miracle our little guy is. No explanation for his internal bleeding where one day we were looking at continuous blood transfusions then the next miraculous day he started to maintain and create his own blood. A couple of days later his heart doctor was in full confidence that his murmur would heal in time with no additional treatments, finally the infection that seemed to be ailing him and causing jaundice was eliminated with his 14 days of antibiotics. I still often wonder how we got to lucky to have such a strong son, then I remember that his parents are pretty darn strong.... Not a bad trait to have. The final meeting with the head of the NICU left us with just one assumption of what started Abels troubles. I was in labor for so long and the umbilical cord was wrapped around him he must have lost blood through the cord. With this only being an assumption because there is no other logical explanation we will take it and thank God everyday for the wonderful staff and care we received at Kaiser NICU.