15 Days

15 days. It has been 15 days since Asher’s birth. For most people, they think of 15 days in terms of when they’ll get paid again of that half the month is already over. For us, we think about how many pokes, prods, doctors and nurses have happened and come and gone in that relatively short period of time.

Asher graced us with prescence in the early morning of July 16th after only 8 hours of labor and 4 pushes! He came out sunny side up just like his big brother and the loudest cries. Just to make sure all 20 (yes, 20!) people in the room knew he was okay. After just a few moments of snuggles and kisses, he and his Daddy headed down to the NICU to continue his journey. It would be a few hours before I would be able to join due to some postpartum hemorrhaging.

Asher got lots of love, snuggles and care during the following 6 days while he was in the NICU. He mastered dirty diapers, explosive flatulence and eating like an absolute champ. I even got him to breastfeed the day before his surgery. Asher had set himself up for complete success post surgery.

On Wednesday, July 22nd, Asher headed down to pre-op in his NICU bed followed by myself and his Daddy. Garrett and Asher did a great job of holding it together, I did not. In all the time I spent thinking about and preparing for what this journey would entail, I never once thought about walking my child down for open heart surgery would feel like. There is nothing that could have prepared me for that. Walking away from my 6 day old baby and putting his life in the hands of strangers, no matter how well equipped they were, was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do as a mother.

Thankfully we chose a wonderful hospital and an even better team of specialists to take care of our child. His surgery went great, it was actually completed a little quicker than what they anticipated and Asher was able to stay off the bypass machine. Garrett and I were able to see him together for a little over an hour post surgery in his new PICU room. We decided to take the doctors and nurses advice and we both left together for the night. Knowing Asher was sedated and very well taken care of made the decision to get some rest a little easier on us both. It had been an exhausting day.

The following week is all a blur. Thursday morning Garrett headed to the hospital to be with Asher like he had done for all his days pre-surgery. Asher had a good night and was looking better than we were told to expect. After a good morning report we decided Garrett would head home to spend some quality time with big brother! Shortly after I got to the hospital I was told that after looking at one of Asher’s xrays, it seemed like there was some air in his abdomen.

The pediatric surgical team came in and told me that Asher was very sick. There was air in his liver, abdomen and intestines. His intestinal wall was also very inflamed. I was told that they were prepared to operate at any moment but we’re waiting as long as possible to make that call. If Asher was to have surgery, he would most likely die. Talk about the most gut wrenching moment.

Over the next 3 days they kept talking about his hot, red and distended stomach, intestinal perforations and whether or not surgery would need to happen. Asher was diagnosed with severe Necrotizing Enterocolitis. There is no way to know for certain where it came from or how he got it but we are so thankful it was found so early. Asher is still currently running his 10 day course of antibiotics and so far they seem to be working.

We are not allowed to start any type of feeds until his antibiotics have run their course. On Monday when Asher’s first feed is scheduled to take place, it will be 13 days since he has last eaten. We ask for prayers that all the hard work Asher did with his eating prior to surgery come back naturally and quickly.

Asher still has a long road before we can take him home. We knew that eating would be one of the largest hurdles of getting him home. That was before a severe intestinal infection and having a breathing tube for 7 days instead of 2-3 days. He is also still healing from his infection and will be for approximately 6 weeks. Not to mention the fact that he is recovering from major open heart surgery and still needs to learn all the normal functions of a newborn.

Garrett and I ask you to please continue to cover him in prayer. He is healing and progressing every day, but without hitting certain milestones he can’t go home. He can’t enjoy life with his big brother or even enjoy having both his Mommy and Daddy with him at the same time.

Please pray for the return of his ability to feed on Monday. Please pray for his intestines to handle him starting feeds. Please pray for bowel movements, weight gain and no scar tissue build up in his intestines. Lastly, please pray for an easy ween off his narcotic drugs and that all his stats stay where they need to be. Asher has needed to stay on all his pain medications a lot longer than we would have liked because of his infection. We are now dealing with the ween of a drug addiction in our tiny little baby boy.

None of this has been easy for us as Asher’s parents, but I can’t even begin to imagine what this must all be like for Asher. There is a reason people call those with congenital heart defects, warriors. I know many adults that would have an extremely hard time going through what Asher has gone through in just 15 days. The same amount of time most people have in a single pay period.