Jack Kaden

Day 4 - early morning.Today is Sarah’s (my) first post to the blog, and frankly the first time I’ve felt up to it.

We’ve been in the hospital for two weeks today. This is one of 3 nights that Arch hasn’t slept here and it’s amazing how much his presence comforts me, I can’t sleep.

I have been up and walking since Monday, and visited Jack 4 times today. The nurses say too much stimulation isn’t good for him. His heart rate rises when Arch or I touch him, and we’re trying to keep him stable, so now we kind of sit and stare unless the nurses give us a job to do. He has Mild RDS and has been suffering from Apnea, which they treat with good old fashioned caffeine. He stopped breathing 5 times in the past 24 hours, something that terrifies me, but the nurses seem relatively blase about the whole thing.

The nurses in the NICU are very patient with all of our questions although they hedge when I press for hard facts. They’re big into giving us jobs to do for him and so today I got to change my son’s diaper for the first time. It was a very, very teeny, tiny little diaper indeed. I also learned how to take his temperature, which was slightly elevated and thus, not good. Later in the evening, I did a little online shopping and ordered a blanket to go over his isolette so that he can have a little peace and quiet once the french fry warmer (for the jaundice) comes off. The NICU is very loud with all kinds of beep and alarms going off.

*For those of you looking to shop for Baby Jack (and you know who you are) dark colored blankets for the isolette and soft preemie hats are the ticket*

He is still doing well and the while I can’t get any nurse or doctor to commit to a positive or negative diagnosis, we’re taking his general stability as a good sign. When Jack first came out, he surprised all of us by A) crying and B) breathing on his own. His APGAR score at 1 minute was 7 and at 5 minutes was 8 - better than some newborns born at term. We’re hoping he can sustain this strength for the long haul in front of us.

I did want to say that Arch and I are amazed at the care we have both received since being here at St.Lukes Roosevelt. While we never anticipated having to need a level 3 NICU or a high risk OB, here we are, and we are very lucky to be here. Most maternity patients are in and out in 3 days, we’ve been here for 14 days, and we’ve had the opportunity to get to know the remarkable doctors and nurses pretty well. The hospital adminstration itself is simply appalling, I’ve had 19 rooms in 14 days…but the care has been 1st rate.

I am convinced that Dr. Bradley and Dr. Playforth saved both Jack’s and my life and the nurses have kept us sane in the meantime. I know I am being discharged on Thursday and I had to say goodbye to Nurse Kathy today. Kathy ordered me around for one week on anti-partum and for the past 3 days here. She got me up, she kept me going, and she tag-teamed me (with Arch) into eating healthy food. She was a life saver. Tonight, one of the nurses who was in the delivery room with us stopped by to say how good Jack looked. In a huge hospital where it’s relatively easy to get lost in the system we have found that the Nurses, Residents and Doctors have made sure to keep us front in center, something we will never forget.

Finally, I want to say that we our room looks like a floral shop. I lost count of the number of bouquets we have received - I keep dropping off bouquets with the nurses and new ones keep appearing. It’s odd to feel lucky right now, but our Son is alive and we’ve got this amazing circle of friends and family, so yes I guess we feel very lucky indeed. Thank you.