mugzy
Mummy to 2 beautiful boys
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- Apr 21, 2008
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Carl Michael Andersson was born on 15 July 2009 at 33 weeks after I was diagnosed with a recurrence of the brain cancer I had 7 years ago. I had 2 rounds of chemo while I was pregnant to get us to a point where it was safe to deliver him, so we werent sure how well he would be when he was born. Here is his birth story.
My c-section was scheduled for 1pm on Wednesday so I was told to not eat anything after 6am and be at the hospital at 11am. I woke up early to have breakfast then slept till 9 and got ready to go to hospital. Once I was booked in and settled, the anesthetist came to speak to me to get consent for the procedure and explain what would happen, and he explained that a spinal block was too dangerous with the tumors as it could cause a change in pressure in my brain so they would need to do a general anesthetic so Dan wasnt allowed to be there for the birth. When I woke up I had a vague awareness that the baby had been born and that I should wake up now, but this overwhelming desire to go back to sleep. I could hear a baby crying, but I think it must have been a child that was having surgery. It sounded too big to be mine. I was also freezing, and my because I was so cold my tummy muscles where contracted and that made it hurt more. I was in recovery for quite a long time because it took them a long time to heat me up again, eventually they put a whole lot of heated blankets around my head since I have no hair to keep the heat it. The nurse came to tell me that our baby was doing well, weighed 1.6kgs, looked a lot like my brother-in-law and was breathing on his own. The doctor told me later that he wasnt breathing when he was born, but that was because of the GA. His 1 minute APGAR was 6.5 and 10 minute was 10.
At 6pm the doctor came to speak to me and told me that the baby was doing well, but there was a problem. He has a birth defect, and the pediatric surgeon would be coming to speak to me about it. At about 10pm he came to speak to me and told me that our little boy was born without an anus, and that his bowel was about 1.5 cm too short and emptying into his bladder. He said its not uncommon and he sees about 50 or 60 cases a year, but the big problem is that our baby is also premature and he didnt want to attempt the full reconstruction surgery at this point. His plan was to put in a colostomy bag and reassess when the baby weighs 6kgs. At 10:30pm they wheeled me through to the ICU and I got to meet my little man for the first time
. They even let me cuddle him for about 15 minutes 
.
On Friday I went for a brain scan which showed that the tumors had shrunk a lot (all the doctors are very surprised), and I would not need to have surgery this weekend, they are going to start me on chemo again next week and see how things go. Carl had his surgery on Friday afternoon and was put on the ventilator. There was a bit of a spill from his bowel into his abdomen during the surgery, so they expect him to get an infection, but hes on antibiotics. The worst case would be if they need to open him up again to clean it out (if he gets an abscess or anything like that). They took him off the ventilator this morning and hes looking much better. Hes still sedated for pain, but hes looking comfortable and very relaxed. Yesterday he looked so fragile and sick, it was so hard to go home and leave him at the hospital.
So thats our story so far. Here are some pics from Carls first few days
https://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo223/mugzy_010/Carl/6300_218467055493_505605493_7781979.jpg
https://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo223/mugzy_010/Carl/holdinghands.jpg
https://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo223/mugzy_010/Carl/pipes.jpg
My c-section was scheduled for 1pm on Wednesday so I was told to not eat anything after 6am and be at the hospital at 11am. I woke up early to have breakfast then slept till 9 and got ready to go to hospital. Once I was booked in and settled, the anesthetist came to speak to me to get consent for the procedure and explain what would happen, and he explained that a spinal block was too dangerous with the tumors as it could cause a change in pressure in my brain so they would need to do a general anesthetic so Dan wasnt allowed to be there for the birth. When I woke up I had a vague awareness that the baby had been born and that I should wake up now, but this overwhelming desire to go back to sleep. I could hear a baby crying, but I think it must have been a child that was having surgery. It sounded too big to be mine. I was also freezing, and my because I was so cold my tummy muscles where contracted and that made it hurt more. I was in recovery for quite a long time because it took them a long time to heat me up again, eventually they put a whole lot of heated blankets around my head since I have no hair to keep the heat it. The nurse came to tell me that our baby was doing well, weighed 1.6kgs, looked a lot like my brother-in-law and was breathing on his own. The doctor told me later that he wasnt breathing when he was born, but that was because of the GA. His 1 minute APGAR was 6.5 and 10 minute was 10.
At 6pm the doctor came to speak to me and told me that the baby was doing well, but there was a problem. He has a birth defect, and the pediatric surgeon would be coming to speak to me about it. At about 10pm he came to speak to me and told me that our little boy was born without an anus, and that his bowel was about 1.5 cm too short and emptying into his bladder. He said its not uncommon and he sees about 50 or 60 cases a year, but the big problem is that our baby is also premature and he didnt want to attempt the full reconstruction surgery at this point. His plan was to put in a colostomy bag and reassess when the baby weighs 6kgs. At 10:30pm they wheeled me through to the ICU and I got to meet my little man for the first time
. They even let me cuddle him for about 15 minutes .On Friday I went for a brain scan which showed that the tumors had shrunk a lot (all the doctors are very surprised), and I would not need to have surgery this weekend, they are going to start me on chemo again next week and see how things go. Carl had his surgery on Friday afternoon and was put on the ventilator. There was a bit of a spill from his bowel into his abdomen during the surgery, so they expect him to get an infection, but hes on antibiotics. The worst case would be if they need to open him up again to clean it out (if he gets an abscess or anything like that). They took him off the ventilator this morning and hes looking much better. Hes still sedated for pain, but hes looking comfortable and very relaxed. Yesterday he looked so fragile and sick, it was so hard to go home and leave him at the hospital.
So thats our story so far. Here are some pics from Carls first few days
https://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo223/mugzy_010/Carl/6300_218467055493_505605493_7781979.jpg
https://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo223/mugzy_010/Carl/holdinghands.jpg
https://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo223/mugzy_010/Carl/pipes.jpg
and huge congratulations - MUMMY!!!!!!!
and welcome baby Carl!!!
