We have decided to share our sons story for the 6th of November. We would like to introduce you to Harrison Robert Ray Norris. Life was perfect and Lachlan was 8 weeks old We had his check up as i had mine, i had been tired, no energy and feeling sick. What mum wouldnt be with an 8 week old right i put it down to having a new baby but our doctor insisted i take a pregnancy test. I didnt understand i hadnt had a period since lachlan was born so surely i couldnt be pregnant. There were two faint lines and our test was positive My pregnancy was amazing all scans were good apart from our little man was on the smallish side. At 26 weeks i started to have contractions we went to the hospital worried our little man cant be born just yet, thankfully they were able to stop them and able to be monitored. Once we were discharged everything was perfect again we had more scans to check growth and my cervix. At 31.4 weeks my contractions came back when we got to the hospital the nurse was getting prepared to deliver our little man, contractions were strong regular and labour was progressing nicely. The nurse gave me an exercise ball and told me to keep moving to speed the labour along as i was 4cm dilated. I was exhausted i couldnt move any more i had no energy all i wanted was sleep. As i wasnt moving my contractions slowed down and eventually stopped. I was admitted for two days to see if they would come back but they didnt At 6.30am on the 6/11/12 i woke with cramps and had a warm shower thinking they were just braxton hicks and would pass they quickly got stronger and i woke james to tell him that i dont think he was going to work today we got our children in the car while james ran around to pack me a bag as we hadnt done that as yet We were ready to drive 30minutes to drop the children off then head to the hospital together. We got down the road and with a contraction i had a bad feeling we wouldnt make it if i went to drop the kids off so i asked to be dropped off first. james took me to the door and a midwife helped me in while james drove to drop the children off. The nurse and doctors ran in the room with the ultrasound machine and scanned my belly, i was told at that moment oh your having twins...... what, um, no no there is only one in there.. i was so confused so much was going on i had nurses talking to me doctors doing internals and midwifes trying to get a heart beat. I was alone and so very scared. I begged them to stop my labour but it was too late i was 10cms dialated and he was coming no stopping him. I was told they had to prep me for theatre as he was breech i refused the whole time they were wheeling me up i had read its possible to have natural births breech thats what i was going to do... They put an epidural in and they tried to turn him but was unable to. With a doctors arm deep the nurse rushed my husband in we were told he had his cord wrapped around his head and there was no way we could try for a natural birth and he needed out NOW.... seconds later i was tied to the bed and held down by nurses as i screamed in pain i could feel everything, they said it was just presure but it wasnt the epidural hadnt taken effect as yet. At 7.33am Harrison Robert Ray Norris was born, i didnt get to see him as they took him rushed him to icu and rushed james out of theatre where they put the gas mask on me... I awoke an hour later in recovery no idea how harri was and i hadnt seen him all i wanted was to see him, hold him and know he was ok. James came into recovery with tears in his eyes not saying a word i just looked at him and cried i though we had lost our little man he reached to his pocket where he pulled out his phone to show me a picture of our baby boy with drips and cords and wrapped in plastic our beautiful baby boy was alive and fighting so hard to be here. As they wheeled me down to my room they let me see harri for 10minutes before they wheeled me away where i got to hold his little hand they promised once i got back to my room they would let me get a wheel chair and come back. As soon as i got to my room i asked for a wheel chair they said they would get one shortly... an hour had passed and no wheel chair then two and three hours i asked and asked again and kept getting the same answers its coming by the fourth hour i had had enough i was getting up and walking to see my son in pain or not i couldnt think about me my little man needed me more. I got out of bed and started to walk to the nursery to see harri, i got to the nurses station where they seen me and instantly ran to get me a wheel chair and told me i was not allowed to walk as i had just had surgery. I was so angry but so relieved that now i finally got to go see harri. Holding my breath with every bump that i went over just trying to hold back my own pain so i could be by harris side. When i got in there the nurses were telling us how he is all i could think of is how small he was in the humidicrib. I sat by his side from morning to night only leaving when the nurses told me to go to bed i went and sat in my room for a short moment but i couldnt be there it was so hard listening to babies cry for their mums when i couldnt have mine i went back to the nursery until i was told to go to bed again but i couldnt go to my room so i would sit outside the hospital and talk to james or my sister until it was time to feed harri again i tried and tried to express milk for him but i had none i felt hopeless i couldnt even feed my baby boy. Harri was fed via nasal gastric tube as he hadnt yet learnt how to suck swallow and breath at the same time. Harri struggled to hold his temp so we werent able to hold him and he needed to stay in his crib to keep warm with only short periods of holding his hands. Harri was unable to keep his sugar levels right so they needed to give him nutrients to help him to do so. Harri had his ups and also days we didnt know if we were going to take our baby home. After a week james had to return to work so he could take time off once harri came home. He would go to work at 8 and come straight to the hospital after work until late. I would get our two older children ready for school take them then take lachlan to the hospital with me until school pick up get the older ones and back to the hospital until 7pm where i would take them home feed them and get ready for the next day while james got to have some harri and daddy time. I wasnt meant to be driving or picking lachlan up a week after a section but with very limited family support i done what any mother would have done to be with her baby. Every night walking out of that hospital without my baby in my arms tore my heart out and into pieces the pain is indescribable. Each day passed and harri would take one step forward and two backwards. He was back and forth from the uv lights for his jaundice in and out of open crips to his humidicrib ups and downs with his feeds my milk still didnt come through even with expressing every three hours. The mental and emotional pain i felt everyday feeling as though i had failed my son. It felt as though every second day would be a good day and slowly but surely things started to look up Harri was still having apnoea s but we kept being told that its just because he is premature he will out grow it. I begged the hospital doctors to do a sleep study they advised there was no need to i had explained harris older brother had central apnoea and all of my other children had sleep studies i wanted harri to have one the doctors agreed to finally do one. the next day we went in and told harri is fine and doesnt have it and they said he no longer needed monitoring and the monitors came off after doing nothing but watching them for the last few weeks the anxiety kicked in i had started to know the monitors back to front i knew how many breaths a minutes, what his oxygen levels where for each stage of sleep while feeding and when he was distressed and crying, i knew his heart rate and i would know when he was about to cry before he did by reading a monitor screen and now it was gone. Each day i would talk to the doctors about going home and everyday it was not yet a few more days. i would watch babies come and go and we were left behind i watch the nursery fill up again and came so very crowded it was easy to see the staff were over worked and running out of room. As you would sit and listen to everything as it was all i could do, staff started talking about going on strike due to over crowding. The doctors came to do their rounds and asked if i wanted to take harri home i said yes of course. I ran to call james and he desperately tried to get the day off to bring harri home but his employer wouldnt allow it. James was furious and heart broken to say the least. so harris first destination was not home it was to see daddy at work then once daddy finished we all went home together Harri was doing well struggling to gain weight so we were advised to give him high calorie milk to help. Harri had his 6week check up and advised he had no long term problems from being born at 33 weeks just mild hip dyspepsia but otherwise he was doing perfect. At 8weeks and 5days old Harri grew his angel wings from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. It was only after harri died that we found out that he was at a much higher risk of SIDS due to being born premature, being a boy, being born with a sibling close in age (there is 8 months and 26days between lachlan and harri) and having a family history of central apnoea all of these risk factors were against harri and we were never even told before hand. Today while we should be opening his presents with him we are opening them for him, while we are meant to be singing happy birthday we are shedding tears over a cake harri will never get the chance to make birthday wishes for, eat or even blow out his own candles. Today we remember our baby boy and all he went through and the unforgettable memories in which he gave us to remember for a life time.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 13:18:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015