Everly’s First Day of Life

I hope you all weren’t holding your breath. I’m sorry that I haven’t been back to you all with updates or really answering many messages. The last 24 hours have been challenging but we are all OK. 

Since the birth and the quick update after that, it probably seems like I’ve fallen off the radar and I’m not kidding when I say, I have. We all have. 

Baby Everly was taken from the birthing suite to the NICU right after birth for some respiratory distress resulting from fluid in her lungs. When inducing labor, things moved rapidly once they started moving - like a boulder down a hill.

Our little girl went from aquatic living to room air so quickly that her lungs didn’t really get rung out while coming out of the womb so away she went to the NICU. 

Now let me tell you - before any panic sets in - that this type of thing is fairly common. It is especially common for c-sections but it can happen when induced birthing goes as quickly as ours did. 

When the nurses wheeled Everly to the NICU they allowed me to follow them in so I could see them weigh her. They told me that I could see them weigh her but I would have to go back to the birthing suite right after. Well they weighed her and to my surprise they didn’t direct me to leave. I strongly believe that it was because I took a step back, kept my mouth shut, and let the professionals do their jobs.

I’m imagining how a lot of new parents may try to jump in, ask questions, or even lash out because there’s nothing worse than fear and fear makes people do really crazy (and really dumb) things. I’m sure that those new parents don’t get to witness much of the great work done by the people in scrubs.

As badly as I wanted to (as a new father to a struggling baby) jump in, ask questions, and lash out (well maybe not lash out) I just didn’t. I have several years of experience working as an EMT to thank for my calm. 

Being in the NICU and seeing Everly receiving intensive care set me back but I was in the nurse’s/dr’s ‘sandbox’. Ask any EMT how they feel about off duty nurses showing up on EMS calls and, 9 times out of 10, said EMT will tell you that the last person they ever want on any scene is an off duty nurse. We don’t like them ‘playing’ (practicing medicine) in our (911) sandbox so why on Earth would I want to ‘play’ in their (NICU) sandbox? They know what they’re doing and they do it very well. 

After several moments passed, they asked me if I wanted to stay. I told them if it was okay I would like to stay for a few more minutes and watch but before too long I wanted to get back to Katrina and see how she was. I knew if I were her I’d probably want the scoop on how our daughter was doing. 

I walked back to Katrina and stayed with her in the birthing suite until it was time to pack up and move to the maternity ward. I’m not sure how long it was because, again, the last 24+ hours have been beyond blurry. 

Once back in the birthing suite we got settled. Staff kept coming in to assess Katrina and she was doing well for having just birthed our daughter. Her pain wasn’t bad even after the epidural wore off and she was able to walk on her own in decent time.

Finally we were able to visit our baby together in the NICU. A wonderful team of doctors and nurses placed CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) running humidified oxygen on Everly’s nose and they also stuck a small thin tube down her esophagus into her stomach to relieve any pressure of air that went into her stomach. 

Our baby had good a good pink color now compared to the somewhat cyanotic look she had going on for her back in the birthing suite. She had received plenty of suction to remove the fluid from her airway and it seemed like she was progressing in the right direction. Our visit was over and I honestly can’t tell you how long we were up there for.

Here’s where the properties of time have slipped away. We went back to our room. There was a visit from social work (no concerns). We had several visits from nursing staff with assessments being made and paperwork being brought in. The lactation nurse made several stops. An aide had us watch the Shaking Baby video which was mandatory to watch. More paperwork was brought into the room. We got to go back up and attempt to feed Everly in the NICU. I took a shower at one point. Katrina tried to pump. I left for a little bit to let the dog out back at home quickly and had to go to Butler Auto and pick up the truck (I would have postponed that but they probably needed their courtesy car back). I came back to the hospital and Katrina was sleeping. I tried to sleep but I couldn’t. Katrina got up. More paperwork. Tried to eat something. Tried to drink water. Cleaned the pump parts. Went to see baby Ev in the NICU. Went back to the room. Ate. Katrina showered. More pumping. More washing pump parts. So much going on and the hands on the clock were making no sense any more. 

While all of this chaos was going on, Everly had a new problem. She was not eating enough. She was almost completely disinterested in latching on to breast feed and she was very disinterested in the bottle. It is frustrating when your baby needs nutrition and won’t eat. The nurse told us that if she was to keep disinterested that they would have to keep Ev in the NICU longer and probably place a feeding tube. 

Finally the night came to an end. We were exhausted. We were scared, and honestly a little bit frustrated over the situation. It was around 1 in the morning. We shut our eyes and tried to sleep. It wouldn’t be long before a new day was here. 

One good thing I will say about our relationship is that when we are ever frustrated about anything going on we do talk about it quickly. When all is said and done we are always apologetic and understanding of each other even when it’s tough to be patient. We love each other and we are blessed to have each other. Neither of us would want to do this without the other. I thank God for Katrina being my partner in this lifetime.  

That was all for last nights update. I was trying to finish typing it then but you know.. sleep. 


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