After a day of long, hard labor Cy Jackson was finally born at 10:30 pm on Thursday, January 24th. As soon as he came out it seemed clear that all was not well...the nurses were having hushed conversations, and the tension in the air rose...they laid Cy on alex for only a few moments, but then they immediately took him to the nursery where he stayed throughout the night. Cy was having a great difficulty breathing on his own and the nurses concluded that he had breathed in muconium (I have no idea how to spell that word.) Muconium is what we would know as a #2. When that happens the lungs are stained with infection and breathing can become difficult if not impossible. However, the nurses seemed confident that he would breathe his way through the problem as the night passed. We were awakened at 7 am on Friday morning when our pediatrician came into the room and began her sentence this way... 'Well your son is not doing so well...' As you can imagine our hearts sank and our stomachs were in knots. She continued to say that a helicopter was on it's way to transport Cy to the children's hospital in St. Petersburg...the prognosis seemed bleak. Twenty minutes later the helicopter arrived and Cy was taken away from us. It was literally one of those moments where our breath was taken away, we felt like we had been kicked in the stomach. Mommy had to stay behind because she wasn't in the best shape herself, but daddy immediately began the hour and a half trip to St. Pete. The whole trip I was expecting the worst. When I arrived at All Children's the nurse said, 'Are you Cy's daddy?' I said, 'Yes, he is mine, tell me what the outlook is...' She said, 'Your son's a turkey! He just wanted to ride in a helicopter. He is going to be fine.' She went on to explain that his breathing had already improved dramatically and the outlook was very good for Cy. I was able to hold him for the next several hours, the nurse said that would be the best way to heal him.
Alex was finally discharged and was able to travel to St. Pete on Saturday afternoon. It was so powerful to see mommy and Cy back together again, it is just what all of us needed. By the time she arrived he had already had his oxygen tube removed, which was a comforting improvement.
We are taking it day by day but it looks like we will be taking our baby boy home in a matter of days. These last few days we were given a blunt reminder that life really is so fragile...we do not take a single moment with him for granted!
You may be wondering how his prognosis improved so quickly and dramatically??? Well, we know already that there were literally hundreds if not thousands of people praying for lil Cy. Also, God allowed him to be under the care of some of the best doctors and nurses in the country at All Children's Hospital...and so we are thankful to them, but we give every ounce of glory to God, Cy's creator, Cy's father, Cy's friend!
