Ethan's Story, Part VII

Watching the EMS team come into the hospital with the infant isolette made me about crumble. My baby is supposed to be going home with ME in OUR car to OUR home. This is not how it is supposed to be!

EMS took two polaroid pictures of Ethan in case anything happened in transit. My nurses were great- they made sure I had enough medicine and supplies for myself because they knew that I would not be going home. My doctor was kind enough to not make me sign myself out of the hospital.

By 10:30pm, we were headed to VCH to meet the ambulance. Who knew 24 hours earlier that we would be watching our son drive away in an ambulance instead of cuddling and bonding?

My parents were in Oakdale when I told them that we were being transferred. That is close to 2 hours away from Fresno. They met me in the ER. I always say how funny it was to need my Mommy so intensely at that moment. Ethan was checked into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). We were allowed to be in the room at any time except shift changes, but were not allowed to sleep there.

Our friends, Elvira & Brian, lived in Fresno and opened their home to us with open arms at 2am+ since the Ronald McDonald house could not take in any new families that late at night. They lived about 10 minutes from the hospital...it was the most excruciating feeling to leave Ethan at the hospital.

The next day- or I guess it would just be later that morning, I took a shower and just cried. I was in pain physically and emotionally. We could get in to see Ethan around 7:30am and I wanted to be there as soon as we were allowed in.

Before we could hold Ethan, we had to 'scrub in' with a surgical brush for three minutes. We also had to wear a gown.


Daddy & Ethan

Only two people were allowed in the NICU with Ethan at a time and either Scott or I had to be with him if there was a visitor. The security was great. We always felt that Ethan was in the best hands.

An echocardiogram was done and it showed that Ethan did have a couple of pin sized holes in his heart but that they anticipated them to close on their own without any need for surgical intervention. Praise God!

***To Be Continued...***