Charlie Is Here!

So it turns out that Charlie is going to share his birthday with his Grandpa Rekowski!

Charles (Charlie) Andrew Garcia arrived at 3:57 am on Thursday, August 15th, 2013.  He weighed in at 8 lbs 4 oz and was 20.8 inches tall.  He  is remarkably pink in color for being a heart baby and has a solid set of lungs that have already done plenty of screaming.

The doctors started mom on Pitocin around 4pm on Wednesday.  Labor progressed as expected with only a few little blips along the way.  Charlie seemed rather finicky regarding what position Jean was laying in so she spent a lot of time rolling over to different sides and using the oxygen mask to make sure Charlie had enough oxygen even when his heart rate would slow down.  As with both of Jean’s other deliveries, the end of labor moved very quickly.  With Charlie the nurse checked her and we were told she was 5 or 5 1/2 cm.  Because of Jean’s past pregnancies the nurse said she would go ahead and call Dr. Vlastos to let him know he needed to head back to the hospital.  However, a mere 17 minutes later the resident on duty caught Charlie after they rushed Jean down the hallway to the operating room for delivery.  (Nothing like hearing one nurse yell at the next nurse – No!  We need to go now!) 

Charlie was delivered in the operating room and immediately taken to the resuscitation room.  There they cleaned him up, warmed him up, weighed and measured him and gave him a relatively clean bill of health.  He needed a few extra rounds of suctioning to clear his nose and mouth but did great in his transition to the real world!

Because he was doing so well, Mom got to hold Charlie before he was taken to the NICU and Dad got a few kisses on the forehead.  It was precious but short time!  Charlie then spent about 2 hours in St. Mary’s NICU getting his IVs set, having a few tests run, and getting some meds.  

Around 6am the transport team deemed that Charlie was stable enough for transport and brought him to our recovery room for one last peek before he headed off in the ambulance to Cardinal Glennon. It was by far the hardest part of the whole delivery!  He seemed so perfect in the eyes of Mom and Dad and when the transport and resuscitation team wheeled him it was a stark reminder of the long road that lies ahead of Charlie and how medically fragile he really is right now.

Charlie had some trouble in the ambulance with apnea which was most likely caused by all the meds he was placed on at birth.  The transport nurse said they did have to stir him a few times to remind him to breathe.  But overall the transport was uneventful and he settled into Cardinal Glennon pretty quickly. 

The staff at Cardinal Glennon tweaked meds, oxygen, IV lines, and ran loads of tests yesterday.  The cardiologist even FaceTime’d with us to give us an update after Charlie’s echocardiogram.  The neonatologists, cardiologists and respiratory therapists have decided that Charlie is stable enough to wait until next week for surgery.  They have scheduled a meeting for Monday with the cardiothoracic surgeon, cardiologists, neonatologists to go over Charlie’s case and schedule him for surgery. 

Short and condensed – he transitioned beautifully!  He’s doing great!  Mama is headed over to Cardinal Glennon on a day pass this afternoon to kiss that precious forehead!  And we’ve got a baptism scheduled for later today!

Oh yeah…don’t you ABSOLUTELY LOVE those photos above?!?!?!  Our friend June from Reflections by June Hallowell Photography came to the hospital with us and captured our whole journey.  How awesome is she?!?!?!?  Make sure to check out her other work at www.reflectionsbyjune.com

HOW BLESSED ARE WE?