Part Two

May 2008

The visits to Westmead continued every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday with all being perfectly normal Kai`s growth and development continued to give us hope that he was gonna be ok.

Lisa was admitted to hospital on the 16^th May eleven days before the c/section was booked during the 11 days she was in hospital we had her aunt fly down from Qld to help out around the house and with Reece(12), Micheala(10) and Tyler(21months) our other 3 beautiful children. This proved to be a bit tougher than expected but we got through it without any major problems. Visits out to mum became an adventure to say the least but still very enjoyable.

26^th May 2008

The day before the BIG day was a very nervous and anxious time for both of us with me staying the night with Lisa in her room the nurses there were fantastic in organizing me a fold out bed for the night we spent most of the night talking before Lisa had her sedative to help her sleep. I didn’t sleep much that night with so many things running around in my head so many scenarios what will tomorrow bring joy or grief only time will tell now.

27^th May 2008

Well the big day had arrived where many said it wouldn’t it did. We were woken at 6am time for Lisa to shower and be ready to go to theatre for the c/section, Lisa had ordered breakfast for me the day before but all I could manage to eat was a small piece of sausage. Lisa had showered and gotten dressed in her beautiful hospital gown, we spent most of the time in the room waiting for the call that they were ready for her holding each other and just chatting, had enough time for a few photos of Lisa’s belly and a nice one of the 2 of us, the call came and we were off.

Walking beside Lisa on the way down to theatres was rather daunting knowing we were soon to find out had our gamble with our son paid off or not. We arrived in the theatres to be checked in, Lisa went one way and I the other to get my scrubs on (not real attractive) as Lisa had chosen to go for the spinal block it meant I could be in there during the c/section and see my son come out so the unattractive scrubs were easy to wear.

We met up again just outside the actual theatre with Lisa having her pre op checks done and meeting with the anaesthesiologist who would do the spinal block and Dr Alakahoon who would perform the c/section and bring our little man into the world. During this time I was feeling rather ill and faint I think the anxiety of what was to come got a bit much, I wasn’t telling anybody just in case they didn’t allow me in. Lisa was taken in and I had to wait for what felt like an eternity but was probably only 10minutes but I can tell you it felt a hell of a lot longer.

Finally they came and got me to come in and sit at Lisa's head with a curtain separating us from the view of her belly. Then came the moment of truth the moment we had been waiting 9months for they dropped the curtain and said here he comes. My heart was pounding so hard I thought shit I’m gonna pass out here and miss it but I didn’t thank god, the camera around my neck was ready to go and there he was. Wow he looked absolutely beautiful he came out with a cry that small noise settled my anxiety and nervousness in one hit and I was snapping away like a Chinese tourist at the opera house the tears were flowing like mad but they were tears of joy and relief. The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice and was very tight a small moment of panic hit me while I watched they tried to untangle it but couldn’t Dr Alakahoon just yelled cut it and within seconds it was cut and off his neck and another small cry echoed in the room.

Over he went to the neonatal team who were amazed along with everyone in the room that he was breathing on his own and had good colour my head felt like a laughing clown at the Easter show looking at him then back to Lisa reassuring her that our little man was fine and he was, so what he had a bit of a bump on his belly but who cares he was perfect in every way no physical sign of a genetic defect as a lot of doctors had kept telling us just a bump on his belly which was now wrapped in glad wrap to keep moist. The feelings I had in that room I could not describe, but we were no way out of danger yet but one step closer he had made it out, and was now in the hands of the neo natal team and surgeons to get him the rest of the way.

Now came the time for Kai to be taken to the nice at Westmead to be assessed and stabilized ready to be transferred to GRACE WARD at the children's hospital with a quick” he’s ok baby I love you” to Lisa we were out the door and on our way. When we arrived at nice he was quickly surrounded by doctors, nurses and specialist staff checking him over fully they were very happy he was very stable and within minutes he was off to Grace ward at the children's hospital I was supposed to go with him, they were Lisa's orders but the doc`s said there was no need as he was very stable so I decided to stay and wait for Lisa to come back to maternity and let her know that he is doing fine as I know hearing it from me would ease her worry level.

I was taken to one of the birthing suites to change back out of the scrubs and to have a few minutes to settle myself and of course get on the phone to Reece, Micheala, Grandma and Grandpa to let them know we’re off to a good start with Kai coming into this world way better than a lot of doctors had told us.

I met up with Lisa’s best friend Bernadette coming out of the delivery suite we went up to the maternity to wait for Lisa to come up from recovery it seemed to take forever for her to arrive. When she did finally get up there her first words to me were “what are you doing here you're supposed to be over with Kai” to which I replied “he’s fine baby doing really well very stable and breathing on his own”. I sat with Lisa for about half an hour or so I was so proud of her and myself for sticking to our decision now that Kai was here and doing so well. Bernadette offered to stay with Lisa for a while so I could take off to the children's hospital to check on Kai which was a great offer considering she had not slept as she come from a night shift of her own she is a intensive care nurse at Canterbury or Bankstown hospital.

Upon my arrival at grace ward I was greeted with the sight of Kai surrounded by doctors my initial reaction was oh shit what has happened I should have stayed with him but that was soon gone as nurses congratulated me on becoming a new dad and that my boy was doing fine, he was on a small amount of oxygen but apart from that and a few leads coming off him to monitor his heart and various vital signs he was going great guns very stable. I spent a bit of time with him taking photos and even recorded a video of him crying on my phone to show Lisa and put her mind at ease that he really is ok. Back to Lisa after about an hour or so, she is such a wonderful woman I cannot describe how happy and proud I am that she is my wife and wonderful mother to my children.

The next few hours were spent with Lisa awaiting a clearance from someone to allow her to go visit our little man Lisa was rather keen to go as soon as she got there but after major abdominal surgery she had to wait which she didn’t really like but it was for the best. We finally got the ok to go later in the afternoon and could only go with a nurse to keep an eye on Lisa and only for 20 minutes which Lisa extended to nearly an hour, but it’s so hard to keep a mother away from her new born baby. During this time Lisa got to hold Kai which was excellent and we were informed that he will more than likely be going for his first major operation to try and fix his belly that night, not even 24hrs old and off for major surgery that was totally frightening, but good at the same time as the doctors were confident enough that he was doing so well and was strong enough to handle it and come out ok.

It was a tense time waiting to hear from them that he was going as were now back at maternity awaiting a call to let us know when he was off for his operation. Around 7:30pm we received a message that he was not going tonight as he was on the emergency list and a few more urgent cases had jumped in front of him, which was a bit hard to take as we felt our little guy was a fairly urgent case but it was also a good sign that he was still doing so good that he could wait. We were told he would be second on the surgical list for the morning.

Off to be with him again this time without a nurse just myself and Lisa with me driving the hospital taxi (wheelchair) not a real easy walk it is over 1km through corridors and security doors pushing a wheelchair isn’t fun but it seemed so insignificant I never really noticed it then. Our little angel was so beautiful we sat with him and spoke to several doctors, specialists and research people he was doing good real good in fact. Time goes so fast sitting there with him it was 11pm before we knew it and it was time to go as Lisa was supposed to be back by 9 or 10 so back into the taxi she went. As we arrived back at maternity the boss nurse was standing at the reception area not looking real happy and said “I was just about to send a search party out for you” we didn’t care we had spent some valuable time with our new bub. Arrangements were made for me to stay the night with Lisa, it was a rough night with nurses coming and going not much sleep was had by either of us especially knowing our little man was to go for such major surgery and not even 24hrs old yet.

28thMay 2008

Up and out early to go and be with Kai before his operation to put his liver back in, surgeons were fairly confident that it would go back in, in one go without having any major problems. If it didn’t they would put it in a silo which is like a sock and hang it from the top of his bed and gently apply pressure and let gravity do its work. Sitting there with him waiting for the call from theatre’s that they were ready for him were full of emotion, not knowing what was going to happen as this was the operation the surgeon had given him only a 1 in 4 chance of surviving so many things could go wrong our little man’s life was now in someone else’s hands, and for Lisa that was hard after taking care of him, getting him big and strong so he could handle this had been her job for the past 9months now it was someone else's turn to get him the next step of a very long journey.

Around 10:30 the call came through that the theatres were ready for him to come down, the nurses then began readying him for surgery wrapping him up like a mummy to keep him warm and connecting a portable monitor, oxygen bottles and various other bits and pieces to have him as ready as he was going to be. His nurse (Emily) was to go into theatre with him and keep a close eye on him, this was her first time with such an operation. The porter arrived about 11 to take him down we could go with him to the pre op area to say good luck, this was one of the toughest moments of our lives I think giving him a kiss and telling him we love him not knowing if he would make it through the op was bloody scary.

Lisa was due back at Westmead for her medication and checks, I walked her back to her room it was a very quiet walk back with the both of us lost in our own thoughts and prayers for Kai. Once back there I was off to make a few phone calls to let family and friends know what was going on, and hunt down some food Lisa was having lunch and a check of her wound so would be ok for a bit, but I didn’t want to leave her too long.

Phone calls and food out of the way I went back to Lisa to wait for our parents’ pager to go off letting us know our little fighter was back on the ward, it was going to be a while yet the surgeons had said 3 to 4 hrs before he would be back. We spent most of this time trying to get some sleep as very little was had in the last 48hrs.

I left Lisa to sleep and went outside of the ward to stretch out on the lounge, wasn’t there long and the pager was buzzing Kai was back at grace ward, time to move and see our little fighter, was he ok, did it go well, did we get our 1in4 chance. It was a quick trip down the long corridor between Westmead and the Children’s Hospital and there he was our little man all put back together the surgeon was there and told us it was a success the team had managed to get his liver all back in.

The sight of him lying there totally muscle relaxed and fully ventilated was bloody scary leads wires tubes everywhere and him not able to move a muscle totally helpless when he did flinch or flicker his eyes even the slightest the nurses were on the spot to give him another dose of muscle relaxant as it would not be good if he started moving about due the pressure on his wound and belly they were also monitoring bladder pressure due the pressure build up in his belly from putting his liver back in.

The next few hours were spent just sitting with our little guy hoping and praying for a full recovery and moving on with the next major surgery for him a left BT shunt for a disconnected Left Pulmonary Artery in a few weeks. We spent most of the night with Kai finally getting back to Westmead around midnight with me sleeping on the lounge in Lisa's room.

29^th May 2008

Up early and over to the Grace Ward to see Kai, he is doing well still muscle relaxed, it`s hard to see him like this he is basically paralysed if his eyes even flicker briefly the nurses give him more relaxant, it’s too risky for him to be moving about just yet as there is a lot of pressure on his abdominal cavity after putting his liver back in to a cavity that is small due to not having it there during development. The rest of the day was spent sitting with him, but it was not going well he developed a nasty infection in the wound which resulted in a few of the stiches to be removed and the wound left open and treated with a VAC dressing which was a first for a neonate, due to this infection it was going to delay any temporary repair of his heart which was going to be a BT Shunt which involved placing a tubular graft from his aorta to his left pulmonary artery. The last few days of May went by with very little complications just waiting for the infection to clear and be given the all clear for the BT shunt to go ahead. Still wasn’t an easy time being separated from our little guy in his 1^st week of life totally sucked but we knew it had to be this way and it would all be good soon.