Reed Alexander!

Our sweet baby Reed Alexander was born at 10:31 a.m. on 10/7/11, which happened to be my parent’s 33rd wedding anniversary.

I had a FAST delivery and Reed was here faster than anyone expected. He is 8lbs3oz and is 20 3/4 inches long.

When he was born, his cord was around him and he was a little fluid deprived. He did cry and I got to hold him for just a minute when he was first born and then took him to clean him up. While they were cleaning him, they realized he was grunting. Basically he was having a hard time getting breaths and was making a grunting noise. They let me have him again for just a minute and Zach got to hold him too and then they took him to the NICU.

His cord was wrapped around a couple of places on his body, and our first report was that he was fluid deprived, which he was. They started an IV on him to get him fluid and they also went ahead and they started him on a 3 day antibiotic as a precaution. This is done so that if something arises, they aren’t waiting until the problem is discovered, because that can take a while, as we are discovering.

To rule out more serious problems, the NICU doctor ruled bloodwork and x-rays. When the x-ray came back, it showed that he had a pneumothorax, or a collapsed lung. There really isn’t a way to say what caused this. The  neonatologist said that an adult could get one by just coughing or sneezing.

As of last night, the course of treatment for his lung was to stay on the oxygen hood. His 2nd x-ray yesterday at 6pm showed a little improvement, which is good, but there was still a ways to go. We did get to spend some time with him last night and he had his sweet little eyes open. Here’s our sweet boy under his oxygen hood. This morning’s x-ray showed good and bad. The good news is that the pneumothorax has healed and he is going to be weaned off the oxygen today! The doctor said this morning as long as he does ok with that we can probably hold him this evening and I could possibly try to nurse tonight or tomorrow. The bad news is that his lungs look worse than last night in regards to pneumonia. Chances are he does have it and will be here to be on an antibiotic through 10 days. I was praying really hard that wouldn’t be the case, but at least he is already being treated for it and is where he needs to be.

I KNOW Reed will be ok. I have no doubt about that. We have an amazing NICU and I’m thankful we don’t have to rush off to another city. The REALLY hard part about this is that Ava just doesn’t understand why she can’t see her little brother. We’ve told her that he is sick and is in a special room where they doctors will make him better. Reed can have two visitors at a time and yesterday when Zach took my mom down there, she tried to go along too. She doesn’t get that others can see him and she can’t. The NICU nurse did tell me this morning that if he comes off his hood today we can take him into the regular nursery at some point and hold him up to the window so she can see him. I certainly hope that works out.  She is also very concerned about me. She came up here earlier and saw me on the couch instead of in the bed and asked if I was done. Sweet girl.

We are so thankful for everyone who has asked and wondered about Reed. We are so blessed and grateful that so many people are praying for Reed. Because this is a much easier way than trying to put all pertinent info into a text, or whatever, I’ll be making updates here when we know something and then I will post on fb or twitter or text that there is an update. I certainly don’t mind getting texts or calls or anything, it’s just easier to post all the details in one spot! Thank you so much for praying for our family.