His REAL birthday to me!

I posted briefly on Cameron's birthday a little about his dramatic entry into the world. Shortly after he was born, he was trying really hard to breathe, he was working too hard. The doctors put him on oxygen and told us it was most likely immature lungs. He didn't improve at all and after doing all they could in the Logan hospital, they said his best chance would be to be life lighted to another hospital. As soon as the life flight nurse took one look at his chest x-ray, she knew it was a heart problem because it was enlarged. We were terrified. We went back to my room and cried as we heard the helicopter take-off. The cardiologist called us and informed us that he had a coarctation of the aorta. As the aorta leaves the heart, a part of it is pinched, not allowing enough blood to the lower half of the body.

Many months after he was born we were looking at pictures and noticed in this one, taken minutes after his birth, his legs and feet were blue! We now know it was because his heart wasn't working right.
We weren't able to hold him because he was on a ventilator and had tubes everywhere. They let us hold him briefly before his surgery at four days old. They go in through the side and find the narrowing of the aorta. They cut it out and sew the two big pieces together.

The above picture was taken the day after his surgery. The nurses were great and had a fun sense of humor. This was on St. Patricks day, no pinching here.
Every day he got better. I HATED the I.V. in the head, but they ran out of places to put it. Eventually he was freed from all the wires and tubes and after only ten days, was able to come home. I am so thankful for modern technology. The outcome would not be nearly so great if he had been born a few years earlier.

I know I have posted a lot about this boy over the last few entries, but I think of this blog as a place for me. I'm not good at keeping a journal, this little place works for me.