On the morning of February 3rd, I had a little cramping but nothing worse then I had been having. I decided to go grocery shopping and get some things to eat during the superbowl. While I was at market basket I started having contractions that I couldnt walk or talk through. I had a few that were three minutes apart but they didnt seem that regular. I text Ryan and said "today is the day" kind of joking around. I finished shopping and headed home. When I got home, I made buffalo chicken dip and sat down with Ryan and had some. I didnt have a change in appetite or anything so I didnt really think I was in labor. I started having more painful contractions that hurt more in my sides and back which made me think something might be starting. The contractions I had before were just in my lower abdomen. I started timing the contractions and they were about 8 minutes apart and before long I was on my hands and knees in pain. I decided I should call the doctor to see what he thought.
The doctor told me I should get checked out, mostly because it was my second child and they usually come much sooner then the first. We packed our bags, called our parents and headed to the hospital. I still didnt feel sick or anything so I wasnt sure if it was real or if they would send me home. We got to the hospital around 2pm and they started me on the monitors. I saw the doctor shortly after that and he said I was 3cm and 100% effaced. The previous Thursday I was only 1cm and 50% effaced. He broke my water and almost immediately the contractions became much stronger. I ended up with an epidural pretty quickly and then I felt great. I was hungry and didnt feel much pain. At 5:15 the doctor re-checked me and I was fully dilated and by 5:45 I started pushing. At 6:15pm, my beautiful son was born. He will definately be a sports fan because he came flying out just in time to see the superbowl kickoff. Its a good thing the Patriots werent playing because Ryan would have been having a heart atttack.
Cody Ryan Guilfoyle was born weighing 8lbs 5oz and 20.5 in long. When he started crying it was very hoarse sounding and no one knew why. When they took him into the nursery to do his initial evaluation, they noticed a heart murmor. The nurse informed me that most of the time heart murmors go away on there own, sometimes within just a few days. They continued to monitor him for the next day and it was still there each time they listened.
Two days after Cody was born, they brought him into the nursery to weigh him and do a little check up. The nurse brought him back to me, almost in a hurry and put him on my chest. She said, you need to feed him immediately, he has lost almost a pound. At this point, Cody was down to 7.6. This was considered a lot in just two days. We noticed he wasnt doing that good with breastfeeding so I spoke to a lactation specialist and worked on different ways to suplement. We managed to get the breast milk in him but he was still not gaining that much weight. A cardiologist examined Cody and felt it necessary to do a chest x-ray and EKG on him to make sure nothing serious was going on. It took way longer than it should have to get the results but we finally got them and they seemed to be pretty normal.
On Wednesday morning, Cody saw a pediatrician who examined him and took into account his weight loss, hoarse voice, heart murmor, and poor eating. As I stood in the nursery watching him examine my newborn son with a questioned look on his face, I had to do all I could not to cry. I was devastated and never imagined anything would be wrong with my baby. He looked at me and said, "we can do three things. You can go home and follow up with your pediatrician, You can stay here and we will continue to monitor him or we can transfer you somewhere else where he can get all the care he needs." I couldn't understand why he would offer me to go home or to another hospital, they seemed to me like such different options. I didnt really know what to say and just wanted to cry when he looked at me again and said "if this was my kid, I would go to Childrens in Boston." I agreed and we started the process to be discharged to Childrens Hospital Boston that afternoon.
My whole world came crashing down. I didn't know what to expect, I didn't know what I was going to do with Hailey and I certainly did not know what was wrong with my baby boy. I made some phone calls to make sure Ryan could go with me and make sure I had someone to take Hailey. Thankfully, my family is amazing and my sister took Hailey for the entire time we had to stay there. Ryan met me at the hospital with Hailey so I could see her for the morning and then Ryan met Kristy at our apartment so Kristy could take her home and Ryan could meet me in Boston. I went in the ambulance with Cody and we traveled to Boston to the NICU. When we got there, I saw so many sick babies fighting for their lives. There were babies there with no one by their side and I couldnt imagine ever leaving my baby there alone. It broke my heart. I watched as nurses and doctors came swarming in our tiny little room and hooked Cody up to all these machines. I had no idea what any of them were and I met so many people I couldn't remember any of their names. Within a few hours Cody had already had seen a cardiologist and an ENT (ear, nose and throat doctor). The cardiologist did an echocardiogram and told us she would be back in the morning with the results. I knew she had read it and was just waiting for another read but I was desperate for an answer so I asked what she saw. She said he had a moderate VSD but would be back the next day to explain what all that meant. Of course I googled it and researched it all night long. The ENT doctor did a scope to see why his voice was so hoarse sounding and said he had a small cyst on his vocal chord and thought it was from acid reflux. He also said they would be back to have someone else do another scope to see if anything else was going on. They said that his vocal chords didn't come together all the way and it was red and inflammed so they would put him on prilosec to help with the reflux.
All the days turned into one and I cant remember what happened on what day and who we saw when. Eventually, Cody was also seen by neurology and genetics. They did a head ultrasound and a brain MRI which were both normal. Genetics did some blood work to test for a few diseases but we will have to follow up in April to discuss those results because they take about 6 weeks to come back.
We spoke with cardiology and Cody has a moderate membronous Ventricular Septal Defect. This basically means he has a hole between the right and left ventricles and some of the blood that is supposed to be pumped into his body will go back through his lungs causing him to have trouble breathing, eating, gaining weight and may turn blue at times. These are all signs I will have to watch for at home. We will be following up with cardiology every couple weeks and depending on his symptoms, he may need medication and eventually may need open heart surgery. The thought of that makes me sick.
While at childrens, we worked on feedings and Cody ended up with a feeding tube and I was pumping and giving him bottles along with breastfeeding. He was getting so sleepy with eating, it was really difficult to get him to eat. He finally started gaining weight and they kept telling me we were going to be able to go home. That was until his oxygen saturation levels were dropping and every time he had one of these episodes with eating he had to stay 3 more days without one and if he had one while sleeping we had to stay 5 days without one. So, the day we were ready to go (on February 15th), he had another episode while sleeping. They said we could be transferred to a hospital closer to home or stay there for 5 more days. We decided to go closer to home.
At 2pm on that Friday afternoon, Cody's nurse and I followed two EMT's to the ambulance and started on our way to Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, NH. Because it wasn't an emergency and Cody was breathing on his own, we didnt need lights or sirens. When we got out onto the road we realized it was going to take quite some time to get there, as there was a lot of traffic. About half way there, The nurse and I began smelling exhaust and I started to have a headache. Before long, the carbon monoxide alarm went off and I was ready to have a heart attack. The nurse gave Cody oxygen and the EMT's pulled over and called their supervisor. He said that 99% of the time its just the battery. I was still nervous because of the smell but they said it was going to take hours to wait for another ambulance and I didnt want Cody to have to be out in the cold. I didnt really know what to do, so the nurse said put the lights and sirens on and get us there as fast as you can. WE were there withihn 15 minutes and everyone was fine. They wheeled Cody in and the nurses did their evaluation on Cody, despite his irritability and need to eat since it was now an hour later then he should of been fed. The room was much bigger and nicer at CMC and the nurses were all very nice. They monitored Cody over the weekend and he had no episodes. They said he looked good and on Monday, we were sent home. Since being home, we have been to the pediatrician quite a few times, a visiting nurse has been coming in twice a week to weigh him and early intervention came in to interview me to see if Cody will be eligable for services. As of right now, Cody is up to 8lbs 9oz and is doing okay. He still has trouble eating sometimes and I still have to give him a bottle at times but as long as he is getting breast milk and gaining weight, I am happy. We are following up with all his doctors at Children's and I will update when I know anything else but for now we are just watching him and making sure he is growing and getting better.
The doctor told me I should get checked out, mostly because it was my second child and they usually come much sooner then the first. We packed our bags, called our parents and headed to the hospital. I still didnt feel sick or anything so I wasnt sure if it was real or if they would send me home. We got to the hospital around 2pm and they started me on the monitors. I saw the doctor shortly after that and he said I was 3cm and 100% effaced. The previous Thursday I was only 1cm and 50% effaced. He broke my water and almost immediately the contractions became much stronger. I ended up with an epidural pretty quickly and then I felt great. I was hungry and didnt feel much pain. At 5:15 the doctor re-checked me and I was fully dilated and by 5:45 I started pushing. At 6:15pm, my beautiful son was born. He will definately be a sports fan because he came flying out just in time to see the superbowl kickoff. Its a good thing the Patriots werent playing because Ryan would have been having a heart atttack.
Cody Ryan Guilfoyle was born weighing 8lbs 5oz and 20.5 in long. When he started crying it was very hoarse sounding and no one knew why. When they took him into the nursery to do his initial evaluation, they noticed a heart murmor. The nurse informed me that most of the time heart murmors go away on there own, sometimes within just a few days. They continued to monitor him for the next day and it was still there each time they listened.
Two days after Cody was born, they brought him into the nursery to weigh him and do a little check up. The nurse brought him back to me, almost in a hurry and put him on my chest. She said, you need to feed him immediately, he has lost almost a pound. At this point, Cody was down to 7.6. This was considered a lot in just two days. We noticed he wasnt doing that good with breastfeeding so I spoke to a lactation specialist and worked on different ways to suplement. We managed to get the breast milk in him but he was still not gaining that much weight. A cardiologist examined Cody and felt it necessary to do a chest x-ray and EKG on him to make sure nothing serious was going on. It took way longer than it should have to get the results but we finally got them and they seemed to be pretty normal.
On Wednesday morning, Cody saw a pediatrician who examined him and took into account his weight loss, hoarse voice, heart murmor, and poor eating. As I stood in the nursery watching him examine my newborn son with a questioned look on his face, I had to do all I could not to cry. I was devastated and never imagined anything would be wrong with my baby. He looked at me and said, "we can do three things. You can go home and follow up with your pediatrician, You can stay here and we will continue to monitor him or we can transfer you somewhere else where he can get all the care he needs." I couldn't understand why he would offer me to go home or to another hospital, they seemed to me like such different options. I didnt really know what to say and just wanted to cry when he looked at me again and said "if this was my kid, I would go to Childrens in Boston." I agreed and we started the process to be discharged to Childrens Hospital Boston that afternoon.
My whole world came crashing down. I didn't know what to expect, I didn't know what I was going to do with Hailey and I certainly did not know what was wrong with my baby boy. I made some phone calls to make sure Ryan could go with me and make sure I had someone to take Hailey. Thankfully, my family is amazing and my sister took Hailey for the entire time we had to stay there. Ryan met me at the hospital with Hailey so I could see her for the morning and then Ryan met Kristy at our apartment so Kristy could take her home and Ryan could meet me in Boston. I went in the ambulance with Cody and we traveled to Boston to the NICU. When we got there, I saw so many sick babies fighting for their lives. There were babies there with no one by their side and I couldnt imagine ever leaving my baby there alone. It broke my heart. I watched as nurses and doctors came swarming in our tiny little room and hooked Cody up to all these machines. I had no idea what any of them were and I met so many people I couldn't remember any of their names. Within a few hours Cody had already had seen a cardiologist and an ENT (ear, nose and throat doctor). The cardiologist did an echocardiogram and told us she would be back in the morning with the results. I knew she had read it and was just waiting for another read but I was desperate for an answer so I asked what she saw. She said he had a moderate VSD but would be back the next day to explain what all that meant. Of course I googled it and researched it all night long. The ENT doctor did a scope to see why his voice was so hoarse sounding and said he had a small cyst on his vocal chord and thought it was from acid reflux. He also said they would be back to have someone else do another scope to see if anything else was going on. They said that his vocal chords didn't come together all the way and it was red and inflammed so they would put him on prilosec to help with the reflux.
All the days turned into one and I cant remember what happened on what day and who we saw when. Eventually, Cody was also seen by neurology and genetics. They did a head ultrasound and a brain MRI which were both normal. Genetics did some blood work to test for a few diseases but we will have to follow up in April to discuss those results because they take about 6 weeks to come back.
We spoke with cardiology and Cody has a moderate membronous Ventricular Septal Defect. This basically means he has a hole between the right and left ventricles and some of the blood that is supposed to be pumped into his body will go back through his lungs causing him to have trouble breathing, eating, gaining weight and may turn blue at times. These are all signs I will have to watch for at home. We will be following up with cardiology every couple weeks and depending on his symptoms, he may need medication and eventually may need open heart surgery. The thought of that makes me sick.
While at childrens, we worked on feedings and Cody ended up with a feeding tube and I was pumping and giving him bottles along with breastfeeding. He was getting so sleepy with eating, it was really difficult to get him to eat. He finally started gaining weight and they kept telling me we were going to be able to go home. That was until his oxygen saturation levels were dropping and every time he had one of these episodes with eating he had to stay 3 more days without one and if he had one while sleeping we had to stay 5 days without one. So, the day we were ready to go (on February 15th), he had another episode while sleeping. They said we could be transferred to a hospital closer to home or stay there for 5 more days. We decided to go closer to home.
At 2pm on that Friday afternoon, Cody's nurse and I followed two EMT's to the ambulance and started on our way to Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, NH. Because it wasn't an emergency and Cody was breathing on his own, we didnt need lights or sirens. When we got out onto the road we realized it was going to take quite some time to get there, as there was a lot of traffic. About half way there, The nurse and I began smelling exhaust and I started to have a headache. Before long, the carbon monoxide alarm went off and I was ready to have a heart attack. The nurse gave Cody oxygen and the EMT's pulled over and called their supervisor. He said that 99% of the time its just the battery. I was still nervous because of the smell but they said it was going to take hours to wait for another ambulance and I didnt want Cody to have to be out in the cold. I didnt really know what to do, so the nurse said put the lights and sirens on and get us there as fast as you can. WE were there withihn 15 minutes and everyone was fine. They wheeled Cody in and the nurses did their evaluation on Cody, despite his irritability and need to eat since it was now an hour later then he should of been fed. The room was much bigger and nicer at CMC and the nurses were all very nice. They monitored Cody over the weekend and he had no episodes. They said he looked good and on Monday, we were sent home. Since being home, we have been to the pediatrician quite a few times, a visiting nurse has been coming in twice a week to weigh him and early intervention came in to interview me to see if Cody will be eligable for services. As of right now, Cody is up to 8lbs 9oz and is doing okay. He still has trouble eating sometimes and I still have to give him a bottle at times but as long as he is getting breast milk and gaining weight, I am happy. We are following up with all his doctors at Children's and I will update when I know anything else but for now we are just watching him and making sure he is growing and getting better.
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