After the Birth: Brock John Tenkely

Mr. Brock was hiding something from us and it would take a good day and a half to find out.

We were having trouble latching and getting him to nurse. He was basically just not interested and way too sleepy to latch very well or continue to suck once he did latch. I was busy checking off the boxes of logging his diapers, watching the movies required to check-out and thinking about how long we would really need to stay in the hospital. I was group B strep positive which required 48 hours of observation of baby before we could go home. Nana spent the night with me on Sunday night so Daddy could be at home with Brodie and a 2:15 p.m. diaper change showed what we thought was stool - so check that box.

Monday was lazy with a few visitors and again a very quiet baby. He only fussed a few times and when he did it was more to burp or spit up a little saliva but that was about it. He was pretty stuffy the whole time so the nurse had left saline solution to drop in his nose every few hours. When daddy left for the night he told me to make sure I called lactation in on the next feeding to make sure we got a new latch. I begrudgingly did thinking that I would check that box off the list but thinking that he was just too sleepy to eat. When the nurse came in I requested lactation and she thought she would try one more thing to get him a little less stuffy so maybe he would eat better. She wheeled him off to the nursery and came back with a little concern asking if he had spit up. I told her yes, it had been mostly saliva but Thomas had seen some bright yellow. She left and came back again stating that they had evacuated his stomach and it was full of green bile and she was calling the NICU doctor. I tearfully called Daddy and told him he needed to come back to the hospital so he loaded up a sleeping Brodie and hustled over.

Brodie was a little disoriented and I wasn't using all my brain power so we snuggled up together in the hospital bed to sleep while Daddy waited for an update. Dr. Phillips came in sometime in the middle of the night to give an update and let us know they were doing x-rays and bringing in a surgeon and then we would know more in a little bit. Dr. Greenfeld came in around 6 a.m. to let us know they had determined Brock has imperforate anus - a defect that is present from birth where the opening of his anus is missing. So whatever we thought the bowel movement was in his first diaper was impossible. Dr. Greenfeld drew some pictures to try to explain but I honestly have no idea what he was talking about. The next firm directive received was that Brock was slated for surgery by 10 a.m. Thomas had already been to NICU to visit him but I blearily had no idea he had been moved. We made our way down the hall to NICU, met our amazing nurse Jessica, had some rushed explanations about possibly getting a spinal ultrasound on the way to surgery, pre-op would be sometime between 10-10:30 a.m. and the surgery would last about an hour. All I could grasp was that I had a job to do, pump the milk. So as he was getting ready to be moved to pre-op I went back to my room to pump and wait. Wait and pump.

We got a call mid surgery saying they found a twist in his colon and it was going to take 1-2 hours longer due to the complication. Pump and wait. While waiting I got discharged and felt completely kicked out. I had a baby coming out of surgery and nowhere to be. There was talk about a nesting room in the NICU but a lot of uncertainty from everyone about whether or not we could stay, how long we could be there and generally what the heck was going on. We "checked-in" to the creepy nesting room which consisted of a bed, chair, nightstand and a bathroom down the hall from B pod in the NICU for more waiting. My mom stayed with me the first night until Thomas got there after putting Brodie to bed.

The next few days are a blur. Dr. Greenfeld met us in the nesting room for an update. They ended up having to remove a section of his lower colon due to the twisting but there was more than enough good colon to bring up to make the stoma. Then three months down the road would include reconstructive surgery for the anus. Then at 6 months, another surgery to connect the colon and close the ostomy.

Post-op recovery for an infant is no joke. He had a breathing tube to keep his lungs open, another tube in his mouth to help the bile and gas expel from his stomach, IVs and a warming bed to keep everything in check. Talk about terrifying. Then come the milestones to going home - which no one really gave a firm date on but my mom brain couldn't grasp the concept of him being here for potentially weeks and not just a few days. Each milestone has been a helpful little checkbox until we take a step back. The night the breathing tube was removed he had an adverse reaction to morphine given for pain and when apneic no less than three times. Thomas witnessed the first and we were both there for the second and third. Watching your baby stop breathing is the worst thing I have ever seen. Fortunately, once the morphine ran its course the tube was able to come out without issue.

Updates:
May 4