At 12:57 pm on August 4, 2009 Micah was delivered via emergency c-section. I never heard his cry. I never saw his tiny face. The anesthesiologist put me to sleep as soon as I realized something was wrong. When I awoke and asked for my baby.
"He's not here. He was sent away 2 hours ago. Your husband is waiting to talk to you."
My husband. My brave soldier. I have never seen him so scared. He explained that our baby wasn't breathing well and the hospital had sent him away to a children's hospital in Nuremberg to figure out what happened. I begged him to bring the camera and take lots of pictures so I could see him.
He returned 6 hours later with more worry weighing him down. While I looked at his pictures of our tiny infant, he explained what the doctors knew so far. Micah's right lung hadn't unfolded properly and that was why he hadn't taken a full breath after he was born. They found something else. Micah's heart wasn't right. In fact, something was very wrong. Micah was on oxygen and yet was only SATing at 75%. They needed to run more tests.
I asked my doctor when I could leave the hospital/be transferred so I could be with my baby. I couldn't leave. Something was wrong with me too. I had pre-eclampsia.That's why my labor started so early. My body needed to recover. 3 days. 3 days I waited, climbing the walls. Asking everyone who walked in to my room if they had heard anything about my baby. So many people worked so hard to keep me up to date with everything happening so far away, but I just had to get to my baby.
Finally I was placed in an ambulance and transferred to Nuremberg. Finally I was in the same building as my baby. Finally I could see him, hold him, fix him. Sadly no amount of boo-boo kisses could fix my sweet baby. He was very sick and very weak. Just 5 lbs and unable to eat on his own. Unable to leave his oxygen line; holding him was out of the question for days. Finally, when I could hold him, so many things had to happen and I needed help making sure everything stayed where it should. Dr. Hemmerson explained that Micah had Tetrology Of Fallot. He would need surgery and soon."If you want him to celebrate his first birthday, you'll get him the surgery." He was very weak and more tests were needed to see if he could survive the flight back to the States. At 5 days old Micah had his first Tet spell and this panicked everyone since he should have been too young to have one.The race to get him to Boston Children's Hospital was on. Micah was 2 weeks old when we landed at Logan Airport and 3 weeks old when he was released home. Jason and I had to learn so many new things. So many things that should come easy/naturally were now so much more difficult.
That was 5 years ago. 5 years of struggle and joy. 5 years of fighting for every thing and every day that Micah has had. My sweet baby is 5 years old. 5 YEARS OLD!!!!!!!!! I am so excited to be celebrating this birthday. Micah has fought hard and continues to fight every single day to be the happy, healthy boy that he is. He is my Mighty Micah Man!!!!! Happy birthday my darling!!! I am so proud of you!!!!
