Monday, August 20, 2012

A Series of Unfortunate Events - Part 1

 *Note: Some of the things that have happened to us are somewhat shocking and very crazy. I have been told that I need to sort of prepare people when I tell them of these events, so this is your warning.

So. We have had quite the eventful year. I guess I will start with the good stuff and go from there.

 First off, on January 14, Meagan Claire Autry was born. As always I was induced. We did pretty good other than Meagan had the cord so tight around her neck that I had to stop pushing so that my awesome OB could cut the cord off of her neck. She did really well, but then got a fever, so she got to stay in the Level 2 nursery and was released a day after I was. She is such a precious little one and is truly a miracle child.

 Right after she was born.

She had a little bit of Jaundice, so they decided to put her under the bili lights so she wouldn't have to come back.


Getting reading to go home for the first time.


When Meagan was one month old we had an accident. When getting back into the car after Western Day at the elementary school, I tripped and fell with Meagan in my Arms. I am sure that about 50 parents had a heart attack when they saw us hit, and at least 5 parents were there in like 3 seconds. The school called 911, and we took an ambulance ride to Texas Childrens Hospital, West Campus.

Here she is after our first ambulance ride.  They taped her head down, which was so sad.  The tape made it so that she couldn't open her left eye, which kind of made us worried until they cut the tape off.

While at Texas Childrens, West Campus, we got a CT scan to see if there was any damage to her head, since she looked like she fell straight on her head. And there was. She had two fractures to her skull and a little bit of bleeding in between her brain and her skull. Because of this we took our second ambulance ride downtown to Texas Childrens Hospital, Main Campus. We stayed there all night for observation. Meagan stayed in the Neonatal Nursery, and I went to the Ronald McDonald house for some sleep. That morning they said that she was doing well, and we were released.

I just want to share a little of the beauty I found while going through this particular trial.  This fountain is located at the Ronald McDonald House - which is actually located just down the hall from the NICU.  It was so great to have a bed to sleep in so close to my little one, and to have a quiet place to sit when I went to get breakfast from their snack area.  I love how at Texas Childrens they have these little places of comfort and beauty for the patients and their parents.  It helps to brighten an otherwise cloudy day.

 We went to have our follow-up a month later, and they were very impressed with her. It appears that she doesn't have any residual damage from the accident. The first five minutes of the visit Meagan had here own conversation with the Nurse Practitioner. The nurse told me that we were really lucky, and that it was a very unusual break. She would have been very interested to see how we fell(so would I, because I think I closed my eyes). She said that Meagan must have bounced or something to have had the two fractures the way she did. One thing I have learned through this is how very lucky we were that we had the witnesses, because of the unusualness of the breaks. The Neurosurgeons automatically call CPS when an infant had a fractured skull. I guess they did in my case as well, and the CPS people stopped to talk to me at the hospital, but I had already left. I am very grateful that I didn't have to talk to them.

 For all of what this little girl has gone through in her short little life, I truly believe that she is a miracle. Things could have gone a lot worse, but they didn't, and for that I am truly, truly grateful.

In my next post, I will tell you more about how a car crashed into our house in April, and the fall out of all of that.

2 comments:

Amber Shoemaker said...

She is such a sweet baby. I really enjoyed holding and playing with her. Glad to see you blogging again! :)

Unknown said...

She is so beautiful (rather like her Mom I'd say). So glad the two of you are well and okay. So glad you didn't have to deal with CPS.