Saturday, August 25, 2007
Atty's Oldest Friend
Atticus went on his first "play date" today with the little guy who will, later in life, be referred to as his oldest friend: Phineas. Phin was born only a couple of weeks after Atty to our friends Billy and Jackie. And here are the pictures we'll show their girlfriends when they're all getting ready to go to Prom together:
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Complicated
Without the sour, the sweet just isn't as sweet...
Let's go back a bit. After a week of relatively smooth sailing in our new-parenthood, we hit a patch of rough sea. On the Wednesday after Atticus was born, Jodi had an appointment to follow up on her c-section incision and have her staples removed. At that time, she was told that she seemed to have a minor skin infection, and the doctor prescribed some oral antibiotics.
Just a few hours later, I was changing the dressing on the incision, and I noticed a marked increase in drainage and odor. I knew that this was a symptom of infection, but after all, we were told earlier in the day that Jodi had an infection. So, we didn't panic, but we decided to call the office first thing in the morning.
After a frustrating administrative delay, the office asked us to come in, and by late afternoon, we were in with two doctors, and they're telling us that the infection has gotten much worse, and that they are admitting Jodi to the hospital.
To make matters worse, the doctors told us that Jodi would be in the hospital for at least 5-6 days and-- the kicker-- that Atticus would not be able to visit. The thought of a week-long hospital stay was bad enough, but the additional blow of not letting a mother see her week-old newborn was absolutely unbearable. We understood the logic that because Jodi was on a regular adult floor, Atty might be exposed to some germs that his nascent immune system might not be able to handle. On the other hand, if Jodi didn't get to see him, her infection would be the least of her ills.
Fortunately, by the next morning, Jodi's appeals to the powers that be at the hospital had allowed Atty to visit, so we at least had that. Jodi's parents graciously came over from Melbourne to pitch in, so with their help and the help of my parents, we were able to juggle baby duties with hospital visits while all getting a little chance to eat and sleep.
Anyway, on Friday (the 3rd), Jodi had surgery to remove a fairly sizable chunk of infected tissue. Because of the infection, they weren't able to just sew her up after the surgery-- they want her to heal from the inside out. So instead, they hooked her up to this machine that seals off the wound and applies constant suction to the wound to reduce the infection and promote healing.
In addition, she needed to get a semi-permanent IV line so that she could receive IV antibiotics after she went home. This sounds fairly straight-forward, but Jodi's veins did not agree. After trying for three hours on Monday (they don't do them on the weekend, of course) and another three hours on Tuesday, they were unable to install a line. Finally, on Wednesday, they were able to install a port in her chest.
After 6 days in the hospital she was allowed to go home at last. Of course, she still had to go to the doctors office on Thursday, which led to another short trip to the hospital to redo her x-rays. Friday's adventures included her first wound dressing change at home (which is extremely painful and trying).
Jodi's recovery will probably last at least another 6-8 weeks, but at least she's home now, and we're able to really cope as a family.
We'd like to apologize to anyone who we didn't tell what was going on. We felt weird about calling people and telling them what was up, but at the same time we were never home when people called and didn't really have time to call people back. Can you forgive us?
Through all of it, we are just glad that Atticus is doing fine, and that we have such amazing friends and family to help us through life's little complications like this week.
Let's go back a bit. After a week of relatively smooth sailing in our new-parenthood, we hit a patch of rough sea. On the Wednesday after Atticus was born, Jodi had an appointment to follow up on her c-section incision and have her staples removed. At that time, she was told that she seemed to have a minor skin infection, and the doctor prescribed some oral antibiotics.
Just a few hours later, I was changing the dressing on the incision, and I noticed a marked increase in drainage and odor. I knew that this was a symptom of infection, but after all, we were told earlier in the day that Jodi had an infection. So, we didn't panic, but we decided to call the office first thing in the morning.
After a frustrating administrative delay, the office asked us to come in, and by late afternoon, we were in with two doctors, and they're telling us that the infection has gotten much worse, and that they are admitting Jodi to the hospital.
To make matters worse, the doctors told us that Jodi would be in the hospital for at least 5-6 days and-- the kicker-- that Atticus would not be able to visit. The thought of a week-long hospital stay was bad enough, but the additional blow of not letting a mother see her week-old newborn was absolutely unbearable. We understood the logic that because Jodi was on a regular adult floor, Atty might be exposed to some germs that his nascent immune system might not be able to handle. On the other hand, if Jodi didn't get to see him, her infection would be the least of her ills.
Fortunately, by the next morning, Jodi's appeals to the powers that be at the hospital had allowed Atty to visit, so we at least had that. Jodi's parents graciously came over from Melbourne to pitch in, so with their help and the help of my parents, we were able to juggle baby duties with hospital visits while all getting a little chance to eat and sleep.
Anyway, on Friday (the 3rd), Jodi had surgery to remove a fairly sizable chunk of infected tissue. Because of the infection, they weren't able to just sew her up after the surgery-- they want her to heal from the inside out. So instead, they hooked her up to this machine that seals off the wound and applies constant suction to the wound to reduce the infection and promote healing.
In addition, she needed to get a semi-permanent IV line so that she could receive IV antibiotics after she went home. This sounds fairly straight-forward, but Jodi's veins did not agree. After trying for three hours on Monday (they don't do them on the weekend, of course) and another three hours on Tuesday, they were unable to install a line. Finally, on Wednesday, they were able to install a port in her chest.
After 6 days in the hospital she was allowed to go home at last. Of course, she still had to go to the doctors office on Thursday, which led to another short trip to the hospital to redo her x-rays. Friday's adventures included her first wound dressing change at home (which is extremely painful and trying).
Jodi's recovery will probably last at least another 6-8 weeks, but at least she's home now, and we're able to really cope as a family.
We'd like to apologize to anyone who we didn't tell what was going on. We felt weird about calling people and telling them what was up, but at the same time we were never home when people called and didn't really have time to call people back. Can you forgive us?
Through all of it, we are just glad that Atticus is doing fine, and that we have such amazing friends and family to help us through life's little complications like this week.
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