Along with being a premie.....

I will apologize that it's been a bit since I updated the blog.  But what am I saying...I've only done one blog!  It's been a wild and crazy ride and I've actually been really thinking about how to do this post.  Hopefully I will explain things to where everyone will understand and maybe I will get it all in the correct order.

Our precious son, Cannon, arrived March 31, 2011 via emergency c-section.  Early the day before as I was having my weekly montioring session the drs. were concerned about some heart rate decels that were showing up.  They ordered another session on the monitors and he had one decel that called for me to be rushed down to the labor and delivery floor for 24 hours monitoring.  Less than 48 hours later due to many decels the drs. called it and said I was having a c-section immediately!  I had all of about 20 seconds to take this in as they were wheeling me down to the O.R.  Trent was almost home and was going to work that night.  My dad was still at the hospital and he made all the calls to get family there a.s.a.p.

So I wake up in the recovery room to a dr. telling me that not only was Cannon a premie (which we of course knew from the get go) he also had esophageal atresia and tracheo esophageal fistula.  I was scared to death.  Basically, this means Cannon's esophagus does not connect to his stomach where it should.  Also it means his esophagus is connected to his trachea.  So, how does he eat?  How does he breathe?  What happens next?

He had surgery the day after he was born to put a gastric tube in.  This tube is in his stomach and it sucks out any fluid that gets in his stomach.  He also has a tube in his mouth that sucks out any saliva so that he will not choke.  He cannot have any milk or formula or anything.  He has a picc line that allows them to pump him up with lipids so he can gain weight.  He was born around 1 kilo (or about 2 lbs. 8ish oz.).  He will have another surgery (hopefully in a few months) for them to detach the esophagus from the trachea and connect it to the stomach where it belongs.  They origionally told us they wanted him to grow to be between 1.5-2 kilos (or up to about 4ish lbs) before they do this surgery.  However, today a surgeon came in to speak to me and she said that if he is doing well when he hits 1.5 kilos they want to keep him growing to 2 kilos.  Then if he's doing well at 2 kilos they will try to get him to 3 kilos (about 6ish lbs) before they do the surgery.  She said the bigger he is for the surgery the easier it will be on him and on them.  

It has really been a roller coaster ride of emotions and exhaustion. This is the basic gist of what is going on with Cannon and as we learn more I will update.  Please be patient and send prayers and love for our son, the little fighter!

Also I will post pictures towards the end of the week when Trent makes it back to Little Rock with my laptop.

Love,

Christian and Trent

Starting this blog.....Please be patient!!

OK, here I go!  Be patient as I am still trying to figure out how in the world to set up this blog!  I get frustrated easily sometimes when it comes to technology and well since I'm supposed to be as relaxed as possible right now it may take me a while to get it looking decent!  Bear with me!
I've been meaning to start a blog to be able to remember my pregnancy, but I never got around to it until now.  Now I have plenty of time on my hands to write and think about my pregnancy and what's going to turn out to be a shorter pregnancy than expected.
I have had a wonderful and very smooth pregnancy since day one.  Trent and I found out back in December that we would be welcoming a little boy.  He will be named Cannon and we could not be happier!  We cannot wait to welcome him, which will now be sooner than expected.  Like I said everything had been smooth sailing from day one until last Wednesday in the early morning hours.  At 1:45 a.m. Wednesday March, 23, 2011 I woke up with a rude awakening.....my water had broken!  I was what I thought was 31 weeks pregnant and it caught Trent and I off guard completely!  We immediately went to the Labor and Delivery floor in our local hospital and they called my Dr. in to come make sure things were OK.  They weren't.  I was prepared to be transferred to UAMS and told by a nurse I would be having my baby in 48 hours.  That scared us to death, but we remained as calm as possible!  I was transferred to UAMS and Trent and my dad followed and my mom met us here as soon as I arrived and Trent's parents arrived as soon as they could.  Exhausted and a little scared we met with about 10 doctors in the first hour or two we were here.  They told us several things.  Bad news was yes my water had in fact broken.  Good news was I was not contracting or going into active labor!  They moved my due date back from May 26 to June 5 due to an early ultrasound dating.  So that put me at 29 weeks and a few days (still not clear on how many days due to my exhaustion and being confused and just plain chaos going on!!  lol.. So you do the math!)  Anyways, they told us that I would be here in the hospital until I had this baby.  They are hoping to keep him growing and developing until I am 34 weeks.  At that point they will induce labor because the risks of infections and a couple other things increase and it's better to go ahead and have him instead of trying to go to term.  With that said, they will keep him growing until 34 weeks unless I go into labor on my own, show signs of infection, or signs of fetal distress.  They plan to take him April 24, 2011.  They are taking wonderful care of me and monitoring baby Cannon closely.
I am officially starting the hospital bed rest countdown..........27 days until we meet Cannon...we hope he cooperates and wants to keep cooking that long!  He does have a strong mind of his own so just be praying that he will do what we all are hoping for and stay where he's supposed until he's 34 weeks!
Thank you for all the thoughts, prayers, calls, and texts!  And for your patience as I work on this website to make it look better!
Christian