He was born on Wednesday, May 15th, at 5:41 p.m. weighing 8lbs, 4oz and was 21" tall. Jenny was scheduled to be induced as her doctor thought the baby was going to be around 10lbs, and both Jenny and the doctor didn't want to have a big baby, so Jenny and Brian checked into the hospital the night of Tuesday, May 14th, which was two days after her due date (May 12th). After a couple of pills and monitoring through the night, they started Pitocin the next morning, which kicked off labor. It was a pretty easy labor and delivery. Thank you to modern technology and medicine! Jenny only had to push twice and out Traccor came with a head full of dark hair! We had such a hard time this time picking out a name for our little man. Nothing really stuck out, but we finally decided Thursday night right before he was transported. His middle name 'Cade come from a trip we took to the Cascade Mountains.
Ariana and Trac
Titon and Trac
Diesol with Trac
He seemed healthy at birth, but we learned by the next morning that he had developed spontaneous Pneumothorax, which most likely happened at his birth when he took his first breath. During that first breath, it was so much force going down through his little body, that it made a tear in his left lung, causing it to collapse and the air pocket to form. They believe his lung wasn't fully developed. Even though he was a full-term baby, his lungs looked like a 37 week old.
Poor little guy had it rough. He was breathing at least twice as hard as he really should have been. They tried to treat him with Oxygen therapy throughout that day at St. Peters, but it had no effect, so with the guidance of Seattle Children's Hospital Doctors they decided to transport him to the University of Washington NICU, while he was somewhat stable before the next procedure. That was probably the hardest thing to say goodbye to him and let three strangers take him away as neither Brian nor Jenny could ride along. Once he was on his way to Seattle, Jenny still had to go through the discharge process and then home to gather a few more things and spend a couple of minutes with the rest of the family before we left as we didn't know when we would be back.
We arrived at the NICU about three hours after Trac arrived. We were met by his nurse and doctor as we walked down to his room, telling us they were about to do an emergency procedure to place a chest tube down through the ribs to the air pocket, which would continuously pull the air out of the air pocket allowing his lung to heal and restore itself. This news was definitely a shocker as we thought this was the last resort procedure, we soon learned that they had already tried another procedure where they stick a small needle down through his chest to let the air seep out. When they did that one, the pocket just filled back up with air again. After that, Trac wasn't doing so good. His coloring wasn't very good and he was pretty lethargic. As they were prepping for the chest tube, we were able to go in for a few minutes to see him. It is not an easy thing to see your baby, who seemed healthy at birth, and who just went through additional procedure without us, hooked up to several monitors, IV, and tubes.
It was good though to see him and let him know we were there. We had to step outside the room for the procedure, which didn't last long at all. Our emotions were running pretty high, but during the procedure Jenny really felt peace and comfort know everything would be okay. She knew the prayers that were being said on our behalf and felt that the priesthood blessing Trac received before he was transported was taking place.
The chest tube placed Friday morning worked wonderfully. The air pocket was gone and his lung seems to be healed by Saturday night, so they were able to take out the chest tube. It was just a matter of weaning him slowly off the oxygen and additional air flow. We had two wonderful nurses who stayed on top of it and ensured we moved to the next step of his recovery as soon as he was ready. By Monday morning, we were taking our little man home. Brian and I stayed in the room with him, taking turns sleeping between the couch and a reclining chair. Needless to say, we were all glad to be going home with our little man!
Since being home, he has been doing great. He went from 7lb 11oz right out of the hospital to 9lbs 8oz about two weeks later.
We love this guy. He is strong and has been such a trooper with his rough start to life. We are so grateful prayers were answered and that this little one is still around. Ariana, Titon, and Diesol all love him and the boys are especially loving being big brothers.
He was born on Wednesday, May 15th, at 5:41 p.m. weighing 8lbs, 4oz and was 21" tall. Jenny was scheduled to be induced as her doctor thought the baby was going to be around 10lbs, and both Jenny and the doctor didn't want to have a big baby, so Jenny and Brian checked into the hospital the night of Tuesday, May 14th, which was two days after her due date (May 12th). After a couple of pills and monitoring through the night, they started Pitocin the next morning, which kicked off labor. It was a pretty easy labor and delivery. Thank you to modern technology and medicine! Jenny only had to push twice and out Traccor came with a head full of dark hair! We had such a hard time this time picking out a name for our little man. Nothing really stuck out, but we finally decided Thursday night right before he was transported. His middle name 'Cade come from a trip we took to the Cascade Mountains.
Ariana and Trac
Titon and Trac
Diesol with Trac
He seemed healthy at birth, but we learned by the next morning that he had developed spontaneous Pneumothorax, which most likely happened at his birth when he took his first breath. During that first breath, it was so much force going down through his little body, that it made a tear in his left lung, causing it to collapse and the air pocket to form. They believe his lung wasn't fully developed. Even though he was a full-term baby, his lungs looked like a 37 week old.
Poor little guy had it rough. He was breathing at least twice as hard as he really should have been. They tried to treat him with Oxygen therapy throughout that day at St. Peters, but it had no effect, so with the guidance of Seattle Children's Hospital Doctors they decided to transport him to the University of Washington NICU, while he was somewhat stable before the next procedure. That was probably the hardest thing to say goodbye to him and let three strangers take him away as neither Brian nor Jenny could ride along. Once he was on his way to Seattle, Jenny still had to go through the discharge process and then home to gather a few more things and spend a couple of minutes with the rest of the family before we left as we didn't know when we would be back.
We arrived at the NICU about three hours after Trac arrived. We were met by his nurse and doctor as we walked down to his room, telling us they were about to do an emergency procedure to place a chest tube down through the ribs to the air pocket, which would continuously pull the air out of the air pocket allowing his lung to heal and restore itself. This news was definitely a shocker as we thought this was the last resort procedure, we soon learned that they had already tried another procedure where they stick a small needle down through his chest to let the air seep out. When they did that one, the pocket just filled back up with air again. After that, Trac wasn't doing so good. His coloring wasn't very good and he was pretty lethargic. As they were prepping for the chest tube, we were able to go in for a few minutes to see him. It is not an easy thing to see your baby, who seemed healthy at birth, and who just went through additional procedure without us, hooked up to several monitors, IV, and tubes.
It was good though to see him and let him know we were there. We had to step outside the room for the procedure, which didn't last long at all. Our emotions were running pretty high, but during the procedure Jenny really felt peace and comfort know everything would be okay. She knew the prayers that were being said on our behalf and felt that the priesthood blessing Trac received before he was transported was taking place.
The chest tube placed Friday morning worked wonderfully. The air pocket was gone and his lung seems to be healed by Saturday night, so they were able to take out the chest tube. It was just a matter of weaning him slowly off the oxygen and additional air flow. We had two wonderful nurses who stayed on top of it and ensured we moved to the next step of his recovery as soon as he was ready. By Monday morning, we were taking our little man home. Brian and I stayed in the room with him, taking turns sleeping between the couch and a reclining chair. Needless to say, we were all glad to be going home with our little man!
Since being home, he has been doing great. He went from 7lb 11oz right out of the hospital to 9lbs 8oz about two weeks later.
We love this guy. He is strong and has been such a trooper with his rough start to life. We are so grateful prayers were answered and that this little one is still around. Ariana, Titon, and Diesol all love him and the boys are especially loving being big brothers.
