Easter Sunday 4/4/21
Grandma's Story:
***PLEASE NOTE : This post contains some graphic pics.
All pics are posted with Cody's permission.
Kamden Lee Bruns
Kam's actual due date is April 25th (in 4 days)
Kam's C-Section was scheduled for April 20th (yesterday)
He was actually born 17 days ago on 4/4 21 at Shawnee Mission Medical Center (now called Advent Health)
Here is what happened..............
At 4 AM on Easter Sunday, Cody's water broke.
I am a night owl, so I was still awake. Yes, I was still awake at 4 AM
I had just finished doing some dishes and wiping the counters. I was just going to go to bed when I heard Cody yell for me.
She had been having a lot of different pains and contractions that had been getting stronger all week. We had been to the hospital for the last 2 nights in a row. They tried to give Cody different meds and do things to try to help slow or stop her contractions.
I wasn't surprised when I heard her call my name at 4 AM, and I was glad I was still awake. I had a feeling we were about to go to the hospital again.
Apparently Kam was ready to come early. When her water broke, we knew it was really time to have this baby! How exciting!!!
Cody called her doctor and finished packing her bag.
Her contractions started STRONG within about 10 minutes of her water breaking.
I jumped in the shower real quick.
We woke Timmy up and let him know we were going to the hospital. He couldn't go with us because they would only allow one person with her in the operating room during her C-section. We had previously decided Timmy would stay home with Kaden.
We left the house at 5:30 and got to the hospital around 5:45 AM
I parked in the circle drive so I could walk her in. By then her contractions were strong and coming about 5-6 minutes apart.
This was so exciting for me!! My 4th grandbaby!!!
I was practically skipping to the door :)
Well, I would have skipped, but Cody didn't seem to be in the mood to skip with me.
HA! HA!!
Here we are in the circle drive, trying to get to the front door of the Birth Center.
Those darn contractions!
Poor girl.
Ok, so rather than skip, I decided this would be a good time for a photo shoot.
We finally got in the front door, got Cody checked in, got our wristbands, etc......
Now we needed to head up to Labor & Delivery!!!
It was time to have this baby!!!!
Oh, but wait..............
At this point I was laughing at my poor baby girl.
She was having some strong contractions, and I was having great fun!!
WE ARE HAVING A BABY TODAY!!!!
I was on cloud 9, seriously giddy!
* Please note, I am not heartless, I promise.
I have had FOUR babies naturally and I know, although painful, contractions are do-able.
My girl didn't have to go through this when Kaden was born almost 4 years ago. She went right in and had her C-section with him. I was kind of glad Cody was getting to experience having some labor pains. It's perfectly natural. Plus I knew she would be having a C-section shortly, so she wouldn't feel these pains very long.
We finally got her up to her room, and got her settled.
I went down and moved the truck out of the circle drive.
When I got back her contractions were getting stronger and closer together.
Looking at the clock on the wall, it was now 6:05AM
The nurse said they would take Cody back for her C-section around 8 AM.
Oh Man! 2 hours to go........
Poor Cody :(
We also knew that since Cody wasn't quite at 37 weeks pregnant, that her baby would be going to the NICU. We had been told this the 2 previous nights when we were there, so we weren't surprised when Cody's nurse told us this. Hopefully he would check out just fine and not have to stay in the NICU for long.
I knew this was already a big baby, so I was hoping his lungs would be developed enough for him to breathe.
As we got closer and closer to 8 AM, her contractions were VERY strong and about 2 minutes apart.
The nurse came in at about 7:50 and told us "no one had called the Doctor in, but now he was on the way".
Really?? No one called the Doctor yet??
My inner Mom self wasn't happy to hear this, and my Girl was not amused.
OK though, shit happens.
No big deal. We let it go.
More strong contractions.........
Yes, at this point I felt pretty bad for the pain Cody was in, but she was doing fine and hopefully it wouldn't be too much longer.
Here is Cody breathing through a strong contraction.
Cody's doctor must live very close to the hospital, or he drives VERY fast.
He arrived at the hospital in about 20 minutes.
It's GO time!!!!!
The anesthesiologist came and got Cody,
He walked with her into the Operating Room.
She was going to get an epidural and they would come get me as soon as that was done and she was settled.
I barely got this pic of them walking through the doors toward the operating room.
SO EXCITING!!!!!!
The nurse brought me my gown, head covering, shoe covers, and a hospital mask.
I knew I had a few minutes to wait so I entertained myself by taking selfies in Cody's bathroom mirror.
IT'S BABY TIME!!!!!
It seemed like it took FOREVER for them to come get me.
I was bored with my hospital gown selfies so I sat back down in my chair and watched the hallway anxiously.
After a few minutes, I saw Cody's Doctor in the hallway putting his gown and mask on.
(see him there in the hallway?)
FINALLY they came to get me!!! ITS TIME!!!!!
I was SO excited I skipped back to the Operating room!
(ok, not really, but I FELT like skipping!)
This is what my Cody Leigh looked like when I got into the room.
Also, I noticed it was the same Operating room Kaden was born in!
Cody was already groggy...........
They gave her some good meds
Not my best look, but can you see how excited I was!!!
Our Lil Babe was going to be born in MINUTES!!!
They wouldn't let me stand up and look over the sheet while the baby was actually being born.
I sat there in a chair by Cody's head, SO EXCITED, and I asked her questions like, "Can you feel him cutting you open?"
Oh I'm a funny one!! I'm sure Cody was amused with my sense of humor :)
(she's used to me by now though, I've been her Mom for 30 years)
OK..........That was all fun and games, but at this point things got serious REAL QUICK.
Here is our Little Babe!!!
5 seconds old
WELCOME KAMDEN LEE
My first view of Kam was of his rear end, and he happened to be pooping
He is laying on Cody's legs, with his head near her knees.
The Doctor is sucking the fluid out of his mouth with that green bulb thing,
By the clock on the wall, it was 8:38 AM
Kam is about 7 seconds old here.........
Still laying on Cody's lap while they cut his umbilical cord.
I did hear the Doctor say a few times that there was SO MUCH amniotic fluid
10 seconds old, he cried a few times when the nurse lifted him up to move him to the warming table.
The nurse was cleaning him off. Everything seemed fine so far!!!
This was so fun!!! Our baby is here!!!!
Then suddenly it wasn't OK anymore. The nurses surrounded him and started giving him oxygen.
I heard 2 different nurses ask if Mom had a "hard labor"
There was also some discussion about Kam sucking down a huge gulp of amniotic fluid either during labor or as he was being pulled out of Cody's belly.
This sometimes happens with C-sections. The baby is startled and takes in some fluid.
It also can happen if the mother is in hard labor for too long. The baby becomes distressed and sucks in some fluid.
Most of the time, this isn't a huge problem but Kam had already poo'd into his amniotic fluid before being born. This first baby poo is called meconium. It's thick sticky poo and it's highly toxic.
Kam sucked meconium fluid into his lungs. After he took his first few breaths, the meconium stuck to the small hairs in his lungs and filled and blocked his airways.
Little Kam couldn't breathe :(
The nurses were furiously working on him, and I was trying to stay out of their way.
I asked what his Apgar score was, and they wouldn't tell me.
That's when I knew it was really bad.
His main nurse pulled me aside and told me he was sick and needed to go to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) pretty quickly.
She told me his oxygen was up to 100% and she had no more oxygen to give him.
She said she was going to let Cody and I hold him for a few minutes and take a few pictures, and then she wanted to get him upstairs.
They cleaned him up a little bit and wrapped him up, and that's when he really tanked :(
He was not doing well, I could tell by the urgency of the Nurses working with him.
By this time, Kam was about 10 minutes old.
Oh my goodness, look at this sweet sweet boy.
He's beautiful!!!
Our poor poor sweet baby boy was SO SICK :(
By the time Kam was about 12 minutes old, his nurses decided a photo shoot with Mommy and Grandma was a bad idea. Kam's nurse held him up for Cody to see him for about 20 seconds. Cody got to rub his back and tell him she loved him before they rushed him off to the NICU.
One of the Nurses said, "Come on, Grandma. You can come with us"
and off we went.
We ran.
The entire way to the NICU, we all ran with poor baby Kam :(
I was starting to gather that Kam was in serious trouble.
Up in the NICU, they wheeled him into a bright sunny room.
Kam's Nurse (in the hairnet) explaining to Kam's NICU nurse what his stats were.
I was trying to stay back out of the way.
The Nurses said I could come in the room, so I went in and sat on the couch while they got him set up.
At this point, he was spitting out amniotic fluid, which is a good thing.
Unfortunately, he had A LOT of amniotic fluid in his lungs. As the minutes went by, the meconium was making it harder and harder for Kam to get a breath. He was really struggling.
Kam's doctor came in immediately. She was a wonderful older woman.
I really liked her. She told me she wanted to put Kam on a respirator to help him breathe.
She told me he was REALLY sick and to be prepared for him to be taken to Children's Mercy.
I stayed there while they intubated him.
Poor baby :(
It was heartbreaking to see him like this.
His heart was beating out of his chest. I could see his tiny heart working SO HARD. It was going so fast, and a MAJOR concern was that he was going to have a heart attack.
He was drawing so hard for every breath, I could see his baby belly was pulling in so hard to draw every single breath.
The only thing I could do now was stand there with him and hold his tiny hand.
He was sooooo little!!
He weighed 7 lbs 2 oz
He was 19 inches long
7 lbs is pretty big for a 36 week baby, but 7 lbs is so so very small when they are suffering and in so much distress. He was so tiny and pitiful.
She told me again how sick Kam was, and she told me Children's Mercy was a definite possibility for Kam. She said there was no more they could do for him here, and that Children's Mercy had some special equipment that could help him if he got to that point.
When we first saw Cody in the recovery room, I think my first words to her were "You look like shit!"
(or maybe I just thought that??)
Look at her! She's normally darker complected but when I saw her she was as pale as a ghost. Her lips were white.
While Kam's Doctor talked to Cody, Cody's Doctor came to talk to me.
He told me he can not get Cody to stop bleeding.
I won't give details, because Cody might like to keep her uterus details to herself, but her Doctor said this is serious. If he can't get the bleeding to stop, Cody will need to go for an emergency hysterectomy.
He said they just called the Blood Bank and they were rushing blood in so they could give her a transfusion.
OK, WTF is going on??!!!!
Two hours ago I was on Cloud 9
And now EVERYONE IS DYING!!!!!
Are you kidding me with all this??
I think this was about the time I went into shock.
My stress and anxiety were at an all time high, and I was all alone watching my family DIE.
My poor baby girl, and her poor sweet baby boy :(
This is seriously the stuff nightmares are made of. It didn't occur to me that everything could go so wrong.
In just the time the Doctor talked to me, Cody was fading fast. She couldn't keep her eyes open. She kept saying she was "so tired".
One of the nurses showed up with a red cooler from the Blood Bank, and they got Cody's transfusion started.
The next day (4 days old) we could tell he was starting to feel better.
I tried to stay out of the way.
There were 6-8 nurses surrounding Cody, plus her Doctor. They were furiously working on her trying to stop her bleeding.
I purposely blocked the bottom half of this pic with my finger. It wasn't a good idea to photograph "everything".
I have to stop here and thank the amazingly awesome volunteer donor who took their time to donate this blood that saved my daughter's life.
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!
(I also want to say that you can explain it to me 58 more times and I will NEVER understand how I have type A+ blood and I made a kid that does not have type A blood, but whatever)
Thank you again (and again) to everyone who donates blood.
It really does save lives.
You saved my baby.
With the blood transfusion, Cody started feeling better.
Meanwhile the Doctor tried something to stop the blood loss, AND IT WORKED!!!!
Well, so far so good. We would have to wait and see if it REALLY was going to work.
At this point I was happy she didn't have to have a hysterectomy. That's pretty huge.
Of course, if it is her life or a hysterectomy...............of course I'd pick the hysterectomy any day.
But still........
She's eating ice chips and checking her phone.
She must be feeling better??
Now that my Girl is stable...........
back to focusing on the baby.
I went back up to the NICU to check on the little guy.
He was not doing any better.
He was on some heavy meds to keep him calm.
By now is was around 1 PM and I was exhausted mentally and physically.
I had been up for over 24 hours by then, and I really really needed a hug from my Sweetheart.
I felt like I had been through a war.
Not that any of this is about me.........but the last 5 hours were quite traumatic for me.
I didn't know whether I was supposed to be upstairs with the baby or downstairs with my daughter.
What a horrible position to be in :(
I was completely alone going through this.
Even if Timmy were to find someone to leave Kaden with, he wouldn't have been allowed to come into Recovery to see Cody or into the NICU to see the baby.
I was kind of stuck doing this by myself.
Since Cody was stable and the baby was in good hands, I decided to go home to eat and nap real quick.
I also needed some energy from my Timmy.........he is pretty amazing at helping me feel better in any situation. I really needed him.
What a terrible horrible awful day this turned out to be.
I was back at the hospital by 4 or 5 PM.
Again, I didn't know whether to go upstairs or down. Who do I visit first?
Since I was texting with Cody, and I knew she was "mostly" OK, I went to see the baby.
Poor Sweet Baby Boy.
He was doing no better, and no worse.
Next I went to find Cody.
They had moved her into a temporary room while they were waiting to see if her bleeding would stop.
She was on complete bedrest, so she could not go up to see her baby.
Not even in a wheelchair.
She was devastated.
She carried that baby for 8 months, and now he was............somewhere else.
And he was not doing well at all :(
I didn't really want to tell her how sick he was. Kam's doctor visited Cody several times that day and had been telling her what was going on. I wasn't really sure if Cody knew how sick he really was though.
Goodness this was all so awful. I felt so bad for her.
One really cool thing the NICU has are Baby Cameras!!
The only problem is, they only have 2 of them, so the Mommy's have to share them.
When I got to Cody's room, they had her set up with one of the cameras so she could see her baby.
Thank goodness for that camera! It really helped her feel better.
She couldn't take her eyes off the screen, and she was actually smiling.
I'm ready to start a "Go Fund Me" and try to raise some money to get the NICU some more of those Baby Cameras. They really need more than two. They probably cost thousands, or millions.........
that's probably why they only have two of them.
The disappointing part for me was that when I came in to see Cody, they were giving her another transfusion. She had lost so much blood, she needed more.
I visited with Cody for awhile, and got her all set up with everything she might need for the night on her hospital tray. She wasn't allowed to eat solid food, but I refilled her water cup and got her a cup of crushed ice to chomp on.
After I got Cody settled in for the night, I went up to spend some time with the baby.
It was about 10 PM when I went up to the NICU.
I just sat quietly on the couch in his room and hung out with him for a few hours.
Poor thing was still in bad shape and he seemed to be getting worse.
Kam's Nurse came in and sat with me and explained more of what was going on with him.
She told me she was a special Nurse from Children's Mercy. She told me her title, but I can't remember what she said. I was REALLY happy Kam was under her care. She was amazing.
Because that meconium poo is so toxic, an infection had begun to set in.
Poor guy couldn't breathe, and now he had a bad infection.
He was really struggling.
His oxygen was still turned up to 100%
(21% oxygen is what is in our normal breathing air)
Again, she said Children's Mercy was still an option for Kam. They were trying to decide if they should move him or not. The move would be risky for him, and they were on the fence about moving him or leaving him where he is.
She said Kam was very very sick and that he would likely be in the NICU for weeks or months.
I stayed with Kam until about 1:30 AM
I left him a few goodies
Mickey Mouse is our thing. Cody and I thought Mickey might lend Kam a helping hand
in fighting this horrible mess.
Some kind stranger took the time to knit this little hat..........and with a bunny on it too!
Kam is our Little Easter Bunny baby!
One of Kam's Nurses brought it to him.
So sweet..............
So, when I got home that night it really hit me that this baby might not make it.
He was fighting for his life and it seemed really bad :(
I was so upset that night. This was really hard.
Around 3 AM I called the NICU and spoke to his Nurse.
She said he was still hanging in there.
The next day, we found out that Cody's bleeding did finally stop. YAY!
Finally some good news.
She was allowed to get out of bed, and I was allowed to push her upstairs in a wheelchair to see her baby!!!
It was so exciting! But also bittersweet.
Kam wasn't doing well at all.
Any kind of stimulation would send his heart rate soaring.
They moved him out of the sunny room and into a room with no windows.
They turned off the lights, turned off the sound to all of the beeping machines, we had to whisper very quietly, and we weren't allowed to touch him. No stimulation at all.
Cody sat there and stared at him for over an hour. She sat there as long as she could. She was still really weak.
Kam had a nurse in his room with him 24/7
He was still struggling to breathe through the tarry stuff in his lungs.
He also had a raging infection from ingesting the toxic meconium.
He was fighting for every breath.
The next day (3 days old) he was doing a little better and they said we could put our hands on him and hold him gently. He seemed to like it.
He was still really sick. He wasn't out of the woods quite yet but the antibiotics seemed to be working.
This was the first day we got to see his eyes!
He wasn't awake for very long but we were so happy to see him open his eyes every so often.
He seemed to know we were there and try to look directly at us. I'm sure he could see our shadows above his bed. He was still really sleepy. He was on Morphine to keep him calm.
Look how tiny he is!!! He really is itty bitty
I'm not sure what day this is, but finally he was coming off all of the meds, tubes and machines.
We were able to hold him!!
So exciting!! We could tell he was feeling better and better each day.
Cody was feeling better each day too. She was discharged from the hospital when Kam was 4 days old and she was up there to see him as much as she could.
As she felt better she was up there with Kam more and more each day until finally we never saw her at home.
We assured her that Kaden was fine at home, and she knew Kam really needed her. It was so good for her to finally be able to bond with him. I think having his Mommy hold him all day really helped Kam get better faster. The Doctors and Nurses all commented on how quickly he was feeling better.
Finally Kam's oxygen is down to 21% and he can breathe normal air!!!
Now to see if he will take a bottle. A few of the Nurses told us that some NICU babies have trouble bottle feeding.
Kam did great at bottle feeding!!
He is below his birthweight, and they are concerned that he needs to gain some weight.
He managed to put on the slightest bit of weight and that's better than nothing!
Next he had to pass his car seat test. He had to sit in his car seat unassisted for 90 minutes without his heart rate going up.
He actually did this test and his Nurse didn't record his results. He had to do the whole thing over the next day. He did great both times! GO KAM!!!
His Nurses and Doctors were commenting daily on how quickly he was getting well, and how good he did at all of his tests. He really surprised everyone!
When Kam was 13 days old we got to bring him HOME!!!
Such an exciting day!!!
Cody went up to the hospital early in the morning.
I had Timmy drop me off up there around noon.
Finally around 1:30 PM we got to leave the hospital with Baby kam.
His Nurse helped make sure he was buckled into his carseat correctly.
Cody was so proud to carry him out to the truck.
This is the same wall she was having a bad contraction at when we came into the hospital.
Grandpa was so happy to finally meet the little guy!!
Kaden took a quick peek at Kam. It took a day or two, but Kaden has warmed up to having a baby brother. He says, "Awww, he's cute!"
Proud Mommy bringing her baby home!!!
Up the front steps!
(now it's all so exciting again!!)
He's HOME!!!!!
We are all so proud and happy to have this little guy home!!!
It took 2.3 seconds before Grandpa Timmy claimed him!
Proud Grandpa finally gets to meet Kam after 13 LONG days
Same outfit! And these boys sure do look like brothers!!
We are enjoying all of the things!
Big Yawns!!
Baby frog legs!!!!!!!
All of the below pics were taken today. Kam is 17 days old and has been home for 4 days. He is doing GREAT!!!
Cody took him to his Baby Doctor yesterday, and he has put on an ounce of weight since coming home.
Good job Kam!!!
Since he has been home, he seems to be sweet, quiet and calm.
He really likes to be held, which is fine with us! Cody has hardly put him down since he's been home. Tim and I are waiting to hold him as soon as she is ready to give him up :)
He makes THE BEST sucking noises when he drinks his bottle! It's adorable!
He also does the "Baby Bird" thing when he is hungry and trying to find his bottle.
I know some families are not as lucky as we are. That is horrifying to think about.
We are thanking our lucky stars that our story has a happy ending!
