Thinking..

I've been thinking about Charlie alot, as I always do. I noticed that I have yet to post his story in my blog yet. I know I don't have a whole lot of new people reading this, but I thought I'd repost his story. Why you ask? Because his story is an important part of my life, and he continues to be important to me and always will be. Charlie's story makes me who I am today. I am a mommy, and always will be. :)

On November 30th 2006, our beautiful baby boy Charlie was born into this world, and on December 4th, he left to become an angel.

At our 18 week ultrasound we found out that Charlie was going to be born with a heart defect called Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA). To prepare for Charlie, we met with many doctors and other specialists to come up with a game plan to ensure a smooth delivery. We knew before Charlie's birth that I'd be delivering at Hutzel Women's Hospital in downtown Detroit so that Charlie could be transferred soon after to Children's Hospital of Michigan via tunnel.

On Tuesday, November 28th, my water broke unexpectedly. Corey and I were both worried because I was only 34 weeks and 5 days pregnant. We thought it was too soon for Charlie to be here, and were terrified of the consequences of an early delivery. We went to the hospital where they told us that my water had indeed broken, and that they'd move me into a room and call my doctor. After a 15 hour waiting period, they decided it would be best to induce me. After 28 hours of labor I didn't progress enough to deliver naturally so a cesarean section was done. When Charlie was born they hurried him past me so I could see him as they were getting ready to transport him to nearby Children's hospital. Our Charlie was rushed to the NICU because when he stopped crying, he would stop breathing. They diagnosed Charlie with severe Respiratory Distress Syndrome and told us his lungs were not mature enough. By the time he was born, he was 35 weeks old and at that point the doctor thought his lungs may have been mature enough. Unfortunately this was not the case. Because of his immature lungs, his heart defect, and the severity of his condition, they couldn't take him via tunnel to Children's Hospital. They needed to get him to Children's very quickly, so they took him by ambulance. After manually helping Charlie to breathe for 6 hours, they finally got him on a oscillatory ventilator, and got him settled into the NICU at Children's.

As I laid in the recovery room at one hospital, Charlie fought for his life at another one. When I was finally moved to my post-partum room, Corey called from Children's NICU and told me that Charlie was in dire straits and that they needed me to come see him immediately. I wasn't made aware before this that there were any issues with Charlie after birth and it was at this point where I found out that his situation was very critical. My mom went and told the nurses that I needed to be taken via tunnel to Children's to see my son. They said "no" because I still had the epidural in and they needed my doctors approval. They said that I could see him tomorrow.

My mom proceeded to the nurses station and told them I needed to go NOW because Charlie may not have a "tomorrow". After hearing that, the nurses and my mother came in immediately and hoisted me into a wheelchair, and took me to see him.

When I saw him, he was situated amongst many machines and monitors. His skin had a bluish tint, despite being on a ventilator. The chaplain was there and both my husband and our families were praying. (they bent the 2 people per bedside rule that night so everyone could see him) Charlie was baptized just in case the worst happened.

The praying and the baptism seemed to work, because Charlie improved significantly. Over the next few days, Charlie was placed on a regular ventilator, and slowly being weaned off it (although not completely). He had a balloon septostomy/heart catheter procedure done on December 1st to open up a hole in his heart to allow his heart to function better until he was well enough for surgery. The risks for this procedure were heart attack and stroke, although the chances of either of those happening are so tiny that the benefits outweigh the risks. We found out through this heart catheter procedure that Charlie also had Coarctation of the Aorta (COA). They said they would be able fix it during his arterial switch operation, which would have to wait until he was better. On December 2nd and 3rd, Charlie continued to improve and we continued bonding with our beautiful baby boy. On December 2nd, we had very few visitors. We took that time to spend with Charlie without the pressures of entertaining others. It was during that time we learned that Charlie had ticklish toes, and that when he heard us talk he would respond to our voices by adjusting his breathing patterns. On December 3rd, we got to hold Charlie for the first, and sadly the last time while he was here on earth. The nurse felt comfortable enough to let us hold our Charlie despite being attached to the machines and monitors. I sang to him, and rocked him. Corey and I took lots of pictures. Both my family, and Corey's family came from out of town to spend the day with Charlie. We were all so proud of the progress he was making, so much so that they were going to talk about scheduling him for surgery the next day.
That night, as Corey and I were leaving for the night we felt safe knowing Charlie was being well cared for. We only were going 100 feet to the Ronald McDonald house next door. We kissed Charlie goodnight, talked to his nurse for a bit, and then kissed him again and left. We went to the Ronald McDonald house to try to get some rest.

Exhausted, we reluctantly fell into an uneasy sleep, but only for a little while. Only a few hours later, at 1:42 a.m. on December 4th Corey received an alarming phone call from one of the nurses at the NICU. She said to come quickly because Charlie's heart had stopped. She had informed us that they had gotten his heart started again, but to come quickly.
We raced to the NICU, only to find many doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals surrounding our son. They looked hopeless. They weren't sure why his heart was failing. They tried for over an hour to help Charlie find a regular heartbeat, but it was to no avail. At 2:54 a.m. on December 4th, our Charlie became an ANGEL.

Charlie has his own website dedicated to his life. http://charlie.isinourhearts.com