Proud parent of a....pooper?

On July 4th, 2007 my due date was a week away and Kyle called into work because I was having pretend contractions...ok really I wasn't having any contractions and I felt fine but who wants to work on the 4th of July?! The plan was that kyle would go to work the next day and claim it was false labor. But the joke was on us because at 5:30 that evening, as we left to go to the fireworks, my water broke! I just think God didn't want us to be liars!

At 11:27 pm we welcomed our little guy into the world. We got settled that night and fell in love with our baby boy. The next day brought tons of visitors. I started getting the baby blues VERY badly. I didn't know what was wrong with me but it only got worse once Greysen began to gag and choke. I was confused because I didn't know newborns did that (fyi they don't). People would be holding him and he would start to gag and I would wanna cry and grab him and tell them to get the heck out of my room. I refrained. Then along with the gagging he started to actually spit up bile. Now Im not a nurse but have worked in the medical field and was also a nursing student for 2 years. It really doesn't take a genius to see that something wasn't right. I told the nurse he was spitting up bile and her response was to hand me some wash cloths and tell me that it was probably amniotic fluid. Here is where my frustration with the medical field begins. #1 that nurse could have at least pretended to care and actually look into the situation. #2 she could have consulted the doctor instead of making her own diagnosis. I have 4 kids and now know that babies don't generally spit up amniotic fluid. Should't that have been a concern too if thats what she thought it was? I was a first time mom so I had no idea. Looking back I see so many mistakes but I guess hindsight is 20/20 right?


I wanted Greysen in our room but couldnt sleep a wink. I would hear him gag and jump up frantic that he would choke and die. I would hold him and just cry as I watched him gagging.  I remember looking at his tiny body and apologizing to him for bringing him into this terrible world. At 24 hours old Greysen still had not had his first bowel movement. The night nurses were wonderful! They didn't seem concerned but offered to keep him in the nursery and put some heat packs on his belly. I still remember the nurse, her name was Bobbi. She worked so hard that night to get him to poop!

The doctor came in the next morning and spoke with us. I honestly don't remember much but I remember that he didn't know what was wrong with our son. He thought maybe his rectum was too tight to poop and thats why he hadn't had a bowel movement yet. Nothing serious. Really the whole hospital stay was a blurr to me. I was on a high from the excitement of our first baby, worried about our baby, and trying to not cry in front of people, all while dealing with the interruptions of visitors. I wish someone would have told me it was ok to cry for no reason. I wish I would have said no visitors. At one point Kyle said they were gonna do an xray to see if maybe there was a blockage. The xray came back fine. Then Kyle informed me that if Greysen didn't poop soon they were going to fly him to Denver! Thats when I realized how serious things were. I cried, and prayed, and begged God to release whatever was keeping him from pooping. I don't remember the moment but I remember someone informed me they finally got him to go! I knew Greysen would do a lot of things in his life that would bring me joy but I never thought pooping would be one of them!

After that he seemed to be fine so there was no more mention of flying to Denver or any follow-up for that matter. Even at his 4 day check-up there was no mention of his issues after birth and eventually it would be a forgotten occurence....

Advice and lessons learned:

#1 If you visit someone after having a baby, whether you are friends or family, don't stay for longer than 20 minutes
#2 If you are a nurse, you are more important than a doctor. You are the patients advocate and voice!
#3 If you are a parent, you are your childs advocate and voice. Fight for them. Fire doctors that don't.
#4 Follow your gut even if it makes you seem over protective.
#5 No matter how advanced medicine has become, things are missed.

And lastly, remember that there is only so much you can do as a parent, let God step in and do the rest!