Going back in Time: Kieran's birth

I am pasting some earlier posts I wrote for my myspace blog, in keeping with the journey. They are from those volatile prenatal diagnosis and Norwood days. I am re-posting them here because they are a play-by-play account from that time--the hindsight and retrospection continues to evolve. We have come such a long way since then! Looking back on it, those days were filled with a combination of worry and hope, but I do remember them now as a time of joy and togetherness...and of Herculean effort!

August 2008
Well, hello world, Kieran is here!!!!! Yep, he was born at 7:20 pm...to one of the biggest b-day parties ever, I think, as there were about 25 drs and students in the room Everyone came flying in at the last minute, as labor wasn't getting anywhere...until all of a sudden it happened all at once...the atmosphere was very positive and he looked great when he came out!!!!!

We got to hold him for about 2 min before they took him to the NICU. He was doing so well on the 1st day I even got to breastfeed him, but since then he's been too tired to do it again. We've been able to hold him a few times. He is a super snuggly baby. In fact, he likes being held so much, that when we have to put him back in his little bed, he gets very upset. Last night he got so worked up that he couldn't calm down and he had to be given some morphine. Luckily, today he is back up to doing really well...but it was scary for me to see firsthand how his heart condition can escalate normal baby behavior into a medical situation. Other than that, he has been doing great, and he's strong and unbelievably cute!

We're not sure when his heart surgery will be but I'll update everyone when I find out...we can't use cell phones in the NICU (can't even have them on even if they're on silent) so I haven't been able to call anyone other than 2 people so far...when I'm not in the NICU, I'm tryng to master the art of pumping breastmilk every 3 hrs around the clock, and when I'm not doing that, I'm sleeping! I just keep telling myself that no matter how difficult it is this period will not last forever and soon I'll be recovered and functional and same with Kieran...Shawn is doing a great job basically keeping things together and taking care of prescriptions and a billion other things, and is spending the day with Kieran today since "mommy" was told she needed to spend a day away from the hospital for her own health! But mostly we just absolutely love our little guy and thanks everyone for all the messages and thoughts and prayers!!!