 My wife Carrie and I have three sons. Colin was born at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, so we were already aware of what a fine hospital it is and were excited that our third son, Owen, was going to be born there as well. Carrie had a rough pregnancy as she was diagnosed with placenta previa very
early on. Both Ryan and Colin were born naturally and she was not looking forward to a C-section with Owen. At about seven months she started to have some serious bleeding, which necessitated a lot of bed rest at home and eventually landed her at Magee.
To the right: Ryan and Colin Reich and their father splash around at a water park enjoying the company of their newborn baby brother, Owen.
For two weeks, Ryan, Colin, and I made nightly visits to see Mommy at the hospital. This was a very trying time for the boys, especially Ryan, as they really couldn't comprehend why she had to sleep there when she seemed perfectly healthy.
After two weeks with no more bleeding spells, she was allowed to come home for the last week before she needed to have the scheduled C-section.
On November 4 we got up extremely early to head to the hospital. All seemed to go perfectly well as Owen was born at about 10 a.m. if memory serves. He looked just like our other two sons and had a perfect Apgar score. It appeared that everything was fine. I guess this is where the story really beings...
Soon after heading into the recovery room, the nurses noticed that Owen was having a difficult time clearing his lungs. The pediatric resident came by and said this was normal and that everything sounded fine inside, but I wasn't convinced. I demanded that an attending physician be paged and the nurse agreed. Finally, a resident showed up with the chief resident and they agreed to take him down to the NICU for tests.
Unfortunately, the NICU was full that day, so I went down by myself and saw Owen, who had an oxygen hood over his tiny head. The nurses were very kind and said that he had become noticeably more comfortable once the hood started pumping oxygen into his system. The nurses explained to me that he had most likely aspirated some fluids during the procedure and that it was going to take a few days for the body and lungs to absorb them, but that he was going to be just fine.
Owen didn't improve much over the weekend and we really started getting worried until they diagnosed him with pneumonia and started the antibiotics. He was really a sick little guy, but the nurses there were always very calm and said he would get better in no time. There was one nurse in particular who was especially kind and really enjoyed spending time with Owen. Even though he was sick she made him sit up for our visits and told Ryan and Colin that he was going to be home playing with them "in no time". She was truly a special person.
Well, as you can conclude, Owen came home after a week in the NICU and has been healthy ever since. I know that our story isn't nearly as dramatic as others, but combined with Carrie's rough pregnancy, the C-section, and then Owen’s battle with pneumonia, it was an amazing battle of highs and lows. During that week of constant visits we got to see many babies that were worse off than Owen and how the same care was given to those children and parents as well.
Our story turned out perfectly well and, I am happy to say, Owen was our third and final son so, no matter what, our one stint in a NICU turned out to be our final one.
OUR COMMITMENT TO: Neonatology
OPPORTUNITIES FOR GIVING: Neonatal Intensive Care
|
