We have a little peanut!!!!! And what a few months it has been! He is such a cute little guy and we've had such an amazing time with him already. Here's a somewhat condensed version of our experiences from this new dad's perspective. I'll have to do this in installments; there's been quite a bit that's happened over the last little bit.
We started off the week on Monday the 12th with a tour of the labor and delivery unit at the University of Utah hospital from one of Angie's really good friends that works there. For me especially it was great to be able to see where we would be headed the next morning and have a little better idea of how everything would go. We topped the day off with a simple yet very enjoyable early Valentine's Day celebration since we knew we wouldn't get much of chance on Wednesday.
Tuesday started much earlier than either of us cared for as we had to be to the university hospital by 6:30 am. I've felt both nervous and exited at the same time before, but that day was probably a new high for me. There were still so many unknowns, and we were both getting pretty anxious to have some answers.
The best way I can describe our first few hours at the hospital is that it was a very strange back and forth between a whirlwind of people and waiting. They initially got Angie all situated, got an IV in, took blood tests, etc., and gave us a lot of information about the C-section. Then, after preparing mentally for several weeks for said C-section, they came in and said that they wanted to try a version (essentially try and push the baby around into the correct position for a vaginal delivery). So we got to make a quick decision if we even wanted to try that or just move forward with the C-section. We opted for the version, so they took Angie back to operating room for the attempt in case anything went wrong and they needed to get the baby out in a hurry.
Being in the operating room was a very surreal experience. Angie was already lying on the operating table, the version had been unsuccessful, and they were preparing to go ahead with the C-section. Oddly enough, the only time during any of it that I felt light-headed was when I first walked in to the operating room, and the reality of everything hit me all at once (along with the very unique operating room smell). I told myself that I wasn't allowed to pass out because Angie would never let me live it down, and after a few moments I was fine.
The actual C-section went pretty well. As is typical in C-sections, they had me positioned right by Angie's head with the drape pulled up in front of her face. Angie had given me strict instructions before that I was to get as many pictures of our baby coming out as possible, so I had my phone ready to go. I don't really mind seeing when something is open for a surgery, but I get all heebie-jeebied when I see the actual cut being made. For that reason, I made sure to wait until after the incision before I peeked up over.
As a totally random side note, every time I'd look over the drape I kept having a line from the movie "Tangled" pop in to my head, where Flynn says something to the effect of, "Good sir, that's a lot of blood!" The first time I peaked over I also saw the doctor with her whole hand inside Angie working on pulling the baby out. So yeah, lots of fun.
After that it really didn't take long to pull the little guy out though. He came out looking like babies do, but we were super excited to see him nonetheless. They brought him over so that Angie could see him for about 10 seconds or so, then immediately passed him through a window in the wall directly to the NICU. They worked on cleaning him up and getting him stabilized, then after a few minutes the lead doctor over there opened the window and called out for dad to come over.
With the thought of actually being a dad bouncing around in my head I walked around to the NICU entrance and actually got to see Kyler up close, amidst being jostled around as the NICU staff continued getting him settled. The lead doctor told me that his oxygen saturations were actually looking really good, which was a huge relief because it meant that we didn't have to rush quite as bad to transfer him over to Primary's. I'm sure you parents out there will understand, but it was such an amazing experience being right up next to him and knowing that he's mine. Then I got really excited as I also noticed that he had a rather great amount of hair (that was a hotly debated topic during the pregnancy).
Again, I was under strict orders to get as many pictures as possible for Angie as she was still on the operating room table getting cleaned out and sewed up. So being the dutiful husband that I am, I kept snapping away. During that amateur photo shoot I got one of our favorite pictures of Kyler so far, perfectly timed with him sticking his tongue out at me. The NICU staff also told me his stats during that initial visit: 7 lbs. 7 oz., 19 inches long, and official time of birth at 10:28 am.
After a few more minutes they ushered me from the NICU so that they could get his IV and arterial line in place and sent me back to the operating room . . . where I was greeted with the oh so lovely sight of Angie throwing up in a bag. As is quite common, the anesthesia had made her nauseated and they weren't able to get it corrected in time. So like I said earlier, lots of fun. I sat with her for the remainder of the time that they sewed her up and transferred her back to the room. Since she was still totally numb she was doing really well at that point.
After a little while I went back to the NICU right as the team from LifeFlight got there to transfer him over to Primary's. Angie knows one of the nurses that was on, so that was really fun to have her along. It took a little while for them to do their initial assessment and get everything ready for the transfer. They actually let me lift Kyler from the NICU bed up into the isolette for the transfer, so that was the first time I actually got to hold him. My hands were a little cold so he of course screamed at me the whole time I was holding him, but it was still a pretty incredible feeling to hold my son for the first time.
One of the biggest concerns I had had with the whole process was that Angie might not be able to hold him for quite a while after he was born. Thankfully though, because he was doing so well, we got to stop by Angie's room for a few minutes so that she could hold him before actually heading over to Primary's. Seeing Angie as a new mom holding our baby for the first time was a pretty sweet experience as well. The LifeFlight staff was kind enough to take our first ever family picture.
The walk over to Primary's was pretty uneventful. Kyler was fast asleep and super easy-going. When we arrived in our assigned room in the cardiac ICU (CICU), a whole swarm of doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals materialized to get him settled and discuss the initial plan of care. As the group dissipated they brought in the echo machine to take a look at Kyler's heart and make sure that everything looked the same with his heart as it had before birth.
We had expected them to watch him for a couple of days to see if they would need to do a surgery, but before they were even done with the echo the cardiologist that was on came over and talked with me for a while and explained that they would definitely need to do the pulmonary band later that week. It was pretty obvious right there that he would need the surgery and didn't need to be observed for a few days first.
As I said initially, I'm going to have to do this in stages. So stay tuned for future updates for more info on the surgery and aftermath.
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