When I saw my brother Joey and his wife Amy last Sunday, we were sharing photos from our trip to Europe, drinking wine and laughing. Obviously, Amy wasn't sharing the wine since she was pregnant. We got to see the nursery and felt the excitement of the upcoming week. Baby Julien Joaquin Stevens would be born on Friday, August 1. Amy was more than ready to get the difficult pregnancy over and welcome her first child into the world. The gestational diabetes had taken a toll on her body, and she wasn't feeling very well.
Come Tuesday, she was going in for her final sonogram. Her doctor detected very high blood pressure and protein in her urine, both symptoms of preeclampsia, a potentially fatal disorder to both mother and son. They immediately went to the hospital for more tests. Fortunately, her blood pressure stabilized, and she didn't have preeclampsia. Instead, they suspected she had HELLP, which stands for Hemolyptic anemia, Elevated Liver enzymes, and Low Platelet count. Thankfully, doctors decided to hospitalize her that day and would induce Wednesday morning.
By Wednesday, they had given her a pill to soften the cervix, which caused her to go into labor without inducing. It seemed pretty good. However, they kept monitoring the baby, and the compications kept rising. His heart was overworking, so they did an emergency Caesarean section.
All was going well, and baby Julien was born healthy, immediately looking like his mom and favoring the latino in his blood. Instantly, I felt tears. Pride of being an uncle again. Having a new nephew. Happy for Joey and Amy. Happy for being there when he was born. I couldn't believe he was here, and he was born safely. I had worried about him.
However, Amy wasn't doing so well. She was in immense pain, and her skin was turning yellow. By that night, they discovered that her blood wasn't clotting like it should as a result of the c-section. Elation over the arrival of a newborn turned to an unsettling preoccupation over Amy's health. There was possibility of having to go back into surgery to repair the lack of clotting.
But first, they gave her plasma and blood transfusions to see if that would help. That evening, it appeared it had and surgery wouldn't be necessary. But the night was not kind to her. The pain increased. By morning, they decided she would need the surgery to help recover sooner. Meanwhile, during this whole time after giving birth, she hadn't been able to hold Julien due to her weak state. Sure, Mommy did "hold" him with the help of family, but unfortunately, Amy couldn't be alone with him because of her medication and state of health.
On Thursday morning, I received a call from Joey. They were going to take her into surgery at 2 pm. I took care of some errands at home, and then I headed up to Lewisville. She looked a little better, but you could still tell she wasn't feeling well. Just like the previous day, she was weak and doped up on meds.
When I got there, she was about to go into surgery. Thankfully, I got there in time despite the holdups with traffic. She was in the OR for a good hour and a half. During that time, I remained in the room with Edie, her mother, and Julien. I held him for an hour, rocking him as he slept.
If there's one thing about this calming and peaceful boy, it's that he has an amazing energy and spirit. He doesn't cry or fuss much. When you hold him, you feel as though an angel has descended from heaven and touched you. Everything about him, from his long fingers, small ears, full head of brown hair, to his long legs, feels angellic. I guess angels do exist on Earth.
Around 5:30 pm, Joey came back from the day surgery waiting room to let us know how things went. They found out that she had lost a liter of blood, which explains why her blood pressure dropped so much since the c-section. Thankfully they went in to correct the clotting problem, or else she would have eventually started to hemmorage. When she came out of recovery, it was like seeing a whole new person. She was already feeling better.
As of today, they're still having to give her more blood. She's become anemic. I can't wait for her to enjoy her beautiful just as the rest of us have already done. To even see her hold him and capture that moment in a picture will be beautiful! A moment where both parents can hold their son at the same time without having to worry as much as these past several days.
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