The First Week

I thought finding out about Hudson's heart early on would allow me to be as prepared for everything as possible.  I erroneously believed that the Norwood (Hudson's 1st open-heart surgery) surgery itself would be the most difficult part of the first hospital stay.  The Norwood was really just the beginning of an emotional roller coaster that I was not even close to being ready for.  Hudson's Norwood procedure was performed on June 27th at 2 days old.  After he was born, the doctors noticed that there was a narrowing between the right and left atrium which was was leading to an increased pressure in the pulmonary circulation.  We did not know about this prior to birth, and this was something that needed to be addressed as soon as possible after birth.  As a result, the physicians decided that it would be better to perform his Norwood procedure a few days earlier than we had originally anticipated so that they could also address this narrowing between the atria.  Jamey and I originally thought that the surgery would be around 5-6 days old and it was hard to think about your 2 day old baby having to go through so much, but it was the best option for his situation.  The surgery went very well and afterwards they have to leave the chest cavity open to allow for any swelling to subside, and then within a day or two they can close it.  On the night of June 28th they closed Hudson's chest and this ended up being the beginning of the worst  night of my life.  The chest closure itself went very well and we were able to see him as soon as they had completed the procedure.  The cardiac team seemed to be having a slightly difficult time maintaining his blood pressure and oxygen saturations however initially it didn't seem to be a dire situation.  I was still in the hospital at UAB recovering from the birth and was only allowed to be at Children's for 4 hours at a time.  After we were able to spend some time with him, I had to go back to UAB.  Jamey and I had decided prior to Hudson's birth that he would sleep in Hudson's room in the CVICU and my mom would stay with me.  It helped me feel better about not being able to be with him knowing that Jamey was there.  A few hours after I had gotten back Jamey called me around 2 AM and told me about what had been going on for the past couple of hours that I had been gone.  Apparently Hudson had gotten so bad during the night that they weren't sure he was going to make it.  At one point Jamey asked the doctors if he needed to call me so that I could come over and they said to wait so they could try one more thing to try to bring his numbers up.  Luckily their intervention was able to turn things around and Hudson came out of the crisis.  By the time Jamey called me, things were significantly improving.  I am so incredibly grateful to the team that saved Hudson's life that night (Dr. Alten, Dr. Law, Hudson's nurses Katie and Hannah, and the respiratory therapist Justin).

Within a period of 72 hours I had gone from the greatest to the worst moment of my life.  Luckily, since that night things have really gone well and Hudson has made incredible strides.  Today, July 2nd has been the best day that we have had since Hudson's surgery.  He has had almost all of his tubes and catheters removed and has been weaned off the majority of his medications.  The best thing of all is that he is now off the ventilator and doing great.  I am also going to be able to hold my baby again for the first time since the surgery.  This journey is only beginning and I now realize that every thing can change in a moment.  It might be difficult for most people to understand, but every small milestone seems like the greatest achievement ever.  Jamey and I are both eternally grateful for everyone's prayers and support for Hudson!  We can't wait to continue sharing Hudson's victories with all of you.

Hudson's Birthday

Hudson Day 5

Hudson Day 7