Isaac Coleman's Blog

Everything you ever wanted to know about the goob man.

Well, now that you’ve seen Isaac’s pictures from his birthday, we have to break a little news. Luckily for everyone reading this, the ‘bad’ news is now offset by fantastic news, so please read on without fear!

Isaac was born (at 2:33am) with lots of mucous in his mouth and throat. He kept coughing it up and we had to suction him out a lot. By the time he was 5 hours old, I got a little more concerned about the mucous and sent him to the nursery for investigation. Within an hour, our pediatrician, a nurse, and the hospital’s neonatologist came into the room to talk about what they were seeing. They wanted to take him up to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to monitor him, get him on antibiotics to protect from pneumonia, and just see what was up. This was very difficult news for Jason and I to handle because we were so looking forward to being with him non-stop, but we knew it was best and sent him right on up.

Within a few hours, the neonatologist, Dr. Vebert, came back and explained what she suspected was the problem. She had done chest xrays to reveal that his esophagus and trachea had defects. She diagnosed it as TEF (Tracheoesophageal fistula). This defect requires surgery and she recommended he be transferred immediately to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in North Philadelphia. The good news was that ALL of his other vitals were perfect, including his respiration, heart rate, blood pressure, blood counts, and oxygen. He’d already had his first bowel movement only 30 minutes after being born! [Jason: and then peed on the nurse.]

We got ourselves ready and went up to spend a short time with Isaac in the nursery. They let me and Dad hold him while we were up there. The grandparents were allowed in to see him too. The transfer ambulance came around 2:00pm and Joe from St. Chris’ packed Isaac up in his little bed and took him on his first car ride to the city of brotherly love.

Jason and his family left Reading right away to get down and be with Isaac. I stayed at the hospital, waiting to get the OK from my obstetrician, Dr. Peterson, that I could leave the hospital early. He said yes, and I left the hospital around 7:00pm the same day Isaac was born (11/16).

Jason met with the head surgeon at St. Chris’, Dr. Prasad, on Sunday (11/16) evening and discussed his case. Dr. Prasad told him that he wanted to personally do the surgery and had traded another case with a surgeon so that he could accommodate Isaac.

You can read more about TEF here, but basically, Isaac had the Type-C, which meant that the surgeon had to go in and detach a branch connecting Isaac’s stomach and trachea. This branch was then connected to his esophagus, which previously ended in a dead end. (Dr. Prasad did a sketch that we’ll try to upload.)

There was some uncertainty as to how large the gap was between the top of Isaac’s esophagus and the part connected to his stomach. If the gap was too large (and some x-rays indicated that it might be), the surgeons would do some “tricks” to encourage growth and then try the operation again in 3 months. Isaac would need a feeding tube implanted. If the gap was small enough, they could attach it now and no further surgery would be needed.

Dr. Prasad stressed that Isaac was not in immediate danger. He basically just couldn’t eat. But with modern medical science, people (including babies) can get by fine on IVs. It was important that other tests be done to see if there were other complications that might need to be addressed before surgery and that the surgery was done with a fresh team. That said, they still were able to schedule surgery for the next day, Monday (11/17). (All of Isaac’s tests were coming back A+)

Monday morning, I arrived at St. Chris’ with my family, and Jason and I spent some time with Isaac before he was taken into surgery at 11:00am.

The surgery began around 12:30pm and Isaac was out around 3:30pm. Dr. Prasad came and found us all in the waiting room, with his two thumbs up to let us all know that Isaac’s surgery had the best possible outcome and was a complete success.

We’ve never been happier in our entire lives. In only one day this little guy became the most important thing in our lives, and we were so relieved to hear that he was okay.

Isaac is recovering phenomenally. He has had very little pain medication (everyone is impressed), and is mostly cycling between active, happy awake time and peaceful sleep. He’s being fed through IV fluids and can’t eat anything until after a (swallow) test next Monday! Today we began to see the profound pain a body goes through when suffering from hunger. We’re comforting him with words, songs, kung-fu, and gentle cradling. He can’t be moved from his bed, but we are placing a gentle hand under his head and just simulating the full-body rocking movements that will soothe a baby.

Jason and I are holding it together through the AMAZING support of our immediate family. They have all put their lives on hold to be there to take care of our every need and we are eternally grateful for their love.

Everyone is very worried about me, since most moms get a few days to recover from the demands of labor in a cushy hospital environment. I’m healing well and taking naps when I can. Even though Isaac can’t yet eat, we’re storing up all of my pumped breast milk for him to enjoy as soon as he is allowed. The NICU staff is very interested in keeping me pumping so that Isaac gets all the benefits of mother’s milk, and they’ve probably frozen about 30 bottles with just a few tiny drops of milk in them. I’m starting to flow a bit more every day, so the fruits of my efforts are much more evident and keep me motivated to continue pumping even if it makes me feel a bit like a machine.

Right now, his prognosis is EXCELLENT and he’s expected to need to stay in the hospital for around 3 weeks. Jason and I are staying at the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House which is right on the hospital campus within a short walk (even for a 3-days postpartum woman) to our baby boy. We’re able to stay here until Friday and will then likely get back in on Sunday night. Keep your fingers crossed! After Sunday night, we will hopefully not have to leave again until 24 hours after Isaac is discharged from the hospital.

Please post comments with any questions you have about Isaac’s current status. We’re too overwhelmed to take calls, but comments on the blog are the perfect way to show your support and love.

And, one more thing you can do, please support Ronald McDonald House Charities. We all pass that donation box at the drive thru, so next time, throw a few coins in and know that you’re supporting people like Jason and myself, who have found an amazing resource that gives so much to so many during such a challenging time.

Peace and love to everyone,
Kim (a.k.a. Mommy)