Announcements

I have been slow in announcing the birth of my son, Trystan. He arrived at 12:52pm on Thursday, March 22nd by C-section. He was 7lbs 12oz and around 21inches long at birth.

We knew that Trystan had two issues that the doctors had been watching during my pregnancy--a 2-vessel cord (usually there are 3), and at least one kidney that was dilated (too big). Once he was born, however, we found a few more issues. The most immediate one is called an imperforate anus. Basically, he had no anus and therefore could not poop. The doctors did not catch it immediately upon his birth, and I actually got him breastfeeding for the better part of his first 24 hours of life before a nurse was checking to see why he had not had his first meconium. He was immediately transferred to St. Louis Children's Hospital for evaluation, and they scheduled a colostomy for Saturday afternoon. During a colostomy, they bring a piece of his intestine outside his belly so that he can pass stool into a special bag, called an ostomy bag. That will allow him to eat and poop relatively normally until he grows a bit bigger and can have more surgery to construct a new anus and get the intestines/colon/etc attached. He should be able to go home with the ostomy bag.

In evaluating him, the doctors also found that he does indeed have irregular kidneys--one is smaller than normal, and the other is a kidney + a "stem" (a partial kidney). He also has two ureters on the larger side, instead of the normal one. So far, his kidneys are functioning fine, but they will be watching and evaluating htem in the weeks/months to come to see how well each side is working and if there are any issues.

Cardiologists evaluated his heart and found a defect that causes a heart murmur (I don't have the name of the defect in front of me), which may fix iteself as he grows. They also found an anurism near one of the valves which requires more watching and will probably be fixed at some point. The anurism is a type which rarely ruptures in babies or small children, but is found sometimes when an otherwise healthy young adult dies suddenly.

My OB released me from Missouri Baptist, where I gave birth, early on Saturday so I could go to Childrens' for Trystan's first surgery. For myself, I'm doing rather well--much better than I did at this point after Charlotte was born, which is good. Trystan is holding up quite well, and yesterday had the tube in his stomach (that was helping to remove excess bile/meconium/etc) removed, and his catheter removed, and spent the day in a crib instead of a warming bed. He still had an IV in his head. Today they should OK him to start eating again, and I have an ample supply of breastmilk waiting for him. My milk came in rather fast, and I was well-versed in pumping from my experience with Charlotte, so I am currently able to pump more than he will probably be able to drink for a while. Hopefully they will let me return to breastfeeding him soon after he starts eating and they're sure he's processing the milk without trouble.

I will have plenty more updates later, but for now, I am headed off to the hospital to see my son.