Day 1

Little Bodee came out having a bit of trouble breathing. We knew something wasn't right because he was immediately surrounded by 3 doctors. I couldn't see really well but Mark was right there with him. Mark got to hold him for a minute and he brought him over to me. I gave him a kiss but couldn't hold him yet because of how I was laying and I was anxious to have them get him back to make sure his breathing was alright. Mark went with them and then returned later to let me know that Bodee may have Pneumonia. We didn't know all the details but I was going crazy not being able to hold my little one. I wanted Mark to be with him so I sent him back down to the nursery.

I was taken to my room at around 3:15am and Mark came back in shortly thereafter to tell me the news. Bodee had a hole in his diaphragm which had allowed his intestines and stomach to travel up into his chest cavity. They were putting pressure on his left lung which made it difficult for little Bodee to breath. He was still breathing on his own, just not as well as they would like him to. I was told that the process had begun to find a hospital near with a surgeon available to do surgery on him. I couldn't believe it...my little one was going to have to have surgery on his little body.

I finally got to go down and see him and it just broke my heart to see all the wires all over him. The next step was going to be to intubate him to prepare him for his Life Flight to Duke University Hospital. Mark had another member of the church come up to the hospital and he gave him a blessing. Bodee was Life-Flighted at around 1pm on Sunday. He had his first helicopter ride before he was even 12 hours old! I was released at around 2pm as they wanted me to be able to go be with my little one. Mark drove me home and then headed out to Duke to be with Bodee.

Bodee was still doing well despite his condition which had now been described to us as Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia or CDH. It is a birth defect that affects 1 in 2000 babies and is usually detected during pregnancy. The report we got was the Bodee would need surgery to put everything back into place and to sew up his diaphragm. It would then be a waiting game to see how he responded and to see how that left lung had developed. We heard weeks to months... wow what a whirlwind over just the past 24 hours...

Next Post