30 Aug 2006

My name is Jenny Heagy and we are from a small town in central Illinois.  My son Alex was born on Aug 6, 2006 after a full term, no problem pregnancy.  

Right after he was born he had trouble breathing and would barely suck.  By the 9th he was having apnea episodes and was transferred to a NICU in Peoria, IL.  After we got there they just kept finding more and more things wrong with him.  

On Aug 12th he had his first surgery for malrotation of the bowels and his appendix removed.  He recovered nicely.  On Aug 16th his I.V. kept coming out so they called at 2am and asked if they could put in a central line - we said o.k. and drove the hour and 15 min to the hospital and at 4am we got there just after his surgery.  That day he had a few more serious apnea episodes (his worst ones yet).  That is the day we put a DNR on.  He did not have any more apnea.  

After a few days the doctor said there was nothing else they could medically do for him and as soon as we got him eating he could come home.  Well he couldn't really eat out of a bottle - he would choke, so we decided to put in a G-tube, we felt it would be best.  He had that surgery at 4:30 pm on August 23rd.  He was fine for about an hour after that, no respirator or anything.  Then his oxygen level and heart rate started to drop.  

The nurse tried to stimulate him a little bit and asked if she could give him oxygen, but my husband and I just looked at each other crying and said no.  The hardest thing we ever had to do.  We just took turns rocking him for the next few hours, crying, telling him good-bye and we're sorry.  That was the shortest, but longest 17 days of my life!!!
  
The only things really getting me through all of this is my 2 girls, Ashley who is 4 1/2 and Peyton is 2 1/2.  I can't believe how much love a 4 year old has for a baby brother that she barely knew.

Jenny Heagy
jlheagy@yahoo.com