First arrival ....

He was eager to explore his world, so he made his appearance a few weeks early at Holston Valley Hospital Birthing Center. He made just a small cry and Grandma became a little alarmed when Doctor Jackson took a few minutes to bring him into view. When he did lay the tiny bundle on his Mom's abdomen, my alarm increased though I tried not to reveal it to Liz. He was quite mottled, dark and light, all over. The nurses hustled him over to the nearby incubator and when they brought him back over in a few minutes, wrapped in a blanket, he had pinked up some, but his little face was still mottled. At the time we were given no explanation, but learned later that the cord had been wrapped tightly around his left leg.

After our brief look at him, Bryce was taken to the NeoNatal Intensive Care Unit. His tiny body was hooked up to tubes and monitoring leads. He had to be placed under ultraviolet light for a number of hours to get his billirubin count down so he wore a little mask across his eyes.

He weighed in at 4 lbs. 14 ozs and lost down to about 4 lbs. 4 ozs. He was given formula through a tube through his nose and down to his stomach, but Liz could also try and nurse him. We could visit him, hold him, and give him bottles. But we had to be careful and hold him upright, if we held him on a too horizontal plane, the monitors squealed as his heartbeat slowed ominously. While he was in the NeoNatal Unit, the Children's Miracle Network telethon was going on and they brought cameras into the unit. I recorded it on VHS. I still have the tape showing our little star.

         

We thought he would have to gain up to 5 lbs before we could bring him home. But when he reached 4 lbs 15 ozs after a couple of weeks and all his vital signs stabilized, his pediatrician released him and we brought our tiny bundle of joy home for the first time.

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