A Memorable Memorial Day Weekend

Welcome Everyone to Baby Landon Joseph Gawel's blog!  I know we have left some friends and family over the past few days in limbo of our family situation, and we decided today it would be a good idea to start a blog of Landon's journey so this way extended family and friends could stay in touch with us as Landon continues his fight.  We appreciate all the support already pouring into our lives as we begin this new journey with Landon.  So I know some of you are curious in what in the world has been happening...so let's get started and get you up to date...

It starts Saturday evening as LeighAnn and I settled down to watch a movie (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty...movie is ok, not as great as i would have thought) after finishing grocery shopping for the Memorial Day BBQ we had planned with some of our friends.  Earlier in the day, we had received a free pregnancy photo shoot from our wedding photographer!  

Once the movie ended, I started watching the Miami Heat vs Indiana Pacers Game 3 while LeighAnn started to fall asleep.  All of a sudden LeighAnn awoke out of nowhere around 915am to find a small gush of water come out onto her sweatpants.  We were not that worried because we thought maybe the baby pushed on her bladder and that she might have peed a bit thinking no big deal.  We talked to the hospital nurse and they told us it was not much of concern because there was no blood but to keep an eye on it.  As 20-30 minutes passed by, we noticed that she kept leaking a bit and began to think that we should go to the hospital just to get checked out just in case for nothing else but for peace of mind.  I did not even bother putting any contacts in, just kept my pajamas and glasses on.  So we took some time, gathered our belongings, let the dog out...and began our journey to the hospital.  

Nothing was unusual about the drive to the hospital, LeighAnn was in no pain whatsoever.  I think we arrived around 1030-11am or so, I dropped LeighAnn off in the Phoenixville ER entrance as I parked the car.  One of the paramedics had asked her if she was about to pop so they could get her a wheelchair, but she insisted no it was just a checkup or so we thought.  We headed up to the 2nd floor maternity wing to find the nurses waiting for us and gave us room number 1.  LeighAnn was happy to see Dr. Dennis who had become LeighAnn's favorite OBGYN doctor during the pregnancy checkups.  She started with a ultrasound then exam and we heard the heart beating just fine.  We waited with anticipation on what she had to say, she was pretty quiet for the most part and as she removed her gloves the next words out of here mouth I will never forget.  "Here's the deal, your water broke."  Then promptly afterwards let us know what to expect and what the next course of action would be.  

Little did I know as it turns out, a baby can survive in the womb when the mother's water has broken for days to several weeks.  I even read babies staying in the womb up to 6-7 weeks when the water has broken.  So the "plan" as of 12:30am was to get LeighAnn on bed rest and transferred to the Lankenau Hospital where we were expecting her to be there for a few weeks.  The reason was because Phoenixville was only a Level 2 NICU certified to care for babies from 32 weeks on and since LeighAnn was at 30 weeks a Level 3 NICU can care for babies 24 weeks and older.  Obviously it was not ideal, but seemed this would be more of an inconvenience rather than anything else. We started thinking on how this was logistically going to work with our jobs and our dog Hunter while she was in the hospital for that long on bed rest.  An ambulance had been sent to come pick us up so we could be transferred, but as the minutes ticked on it was noticeable how much uncomfortable LeighAnn began to feel while her legs consistently shook. 

At 1am, the ambulance finally arrived and the paramedic came up with the stretcher about to enter the room.  The doctor wanted to do one last checkout on LeighAnn before they let her go and again this was one of those moments that I will never forget.  The doctor must have looked at LeighAnn for maybe 2 seconds and said "Honey, you are not going anywhere!  You are going to have a baby tonight!"  For most people, those words are filled with nerves but with happy excitement and anticipation around 40 weeks.  Not for us...one word...Fear.  We knew the baby needed to be in the womb for 10 more weeks.  These were some of the questions that came to my mind...Can the baby even survive?  What issues or disabilities will the baby have if he survived?  Will he even be alive when delivered?  Will he be crying or even breathing?  

I have to mention this because my wife is a rock star!  My wife was in full blown labor at this point with contractions and everything else.  We had not yet even taken our baby classes yet in the hospital.  She asked for some pain medicine but we all knew it was too late at this point, she was going to have to go all drug-free.  An hour later on Sunday May 25th at exactly 2am, our baby boy, Landon Joseph, was born weighing just a tad under 3lbs and at a length of 16 inches.  I know this is clinche but his crying was the most beautiful sound in the world especially not knowing what to expect with a baby this small.  As soon as he was born, he was immediately taken away from us so he could be hooked up to a ventilator for breathing support.  

What were minutes seemed like hours to find out the status of our baby boy, and then finally someone came in to tell us the news that Landon was in a stable state.  We asked a million questions but the good news was that he doing ok for himself at this point.  We were also informed that we would have to get him transferred to a Level 3 NICU and it was determined he was going to have to make his first ride on 422 and the Schuylkill expressway to one of the CHOP network hospitals and in this case the Pennsylvania Hospital.  We were able to go see him at the Phoenixville NICU all hooked up in the incubator.  It was one of those bitter sweet moments where it was absolutely awesome to see him but we couldn't pick him up or really even touch him too much.  

Around 8am, Landon's luxurious ambulance and transport squad came to pick him up for the ride.  You talk about a job that makes a difference...this transport squad was amazing.  There was a male driver, one male icu nurse and one female icu nurse.  They were absolutely incredible, they basically have a tricked out portable nicu incubator on wheels with hydraulics and everything.  It took about an hour to get him re-hooked up on the portable incubator and then situated in the ambulance.  Then we were off and we followed right behind the ambulance.  We're lucky it was a Sunday morning and there was not that much traffic but every moment on the road felt torturous.  Everyone arrived safely at the Penn Hospital and he was re-hooked into his new bed.  

At this point LeighAnn and I had been up 28 hours straight, but I think adrenalin was still kicking in.   Landon was hooked into his new incubator and his oxygen levels, heart rate, and all the other levels were doing outstanding.  The nursing team had decided to remove his breathing tube already, and to be put on a CPAP (basically just giving oxygen in his nostrils instead of a tube down his throat) and was given a binky as well.  Everything seemed great and we knew we had to get some rest because we were physically exhausted and had been up for 32-33 hours at this point.  (Big shout out to our friend Val for helping taking care of Hunter during the day!!)

We arrived home around 5pm, we started to settle in and I showered, and even feel asleep for a couple hours.  I awoke a couple hours later to Hunter barking at the breast pumping machine because he was quite confused on what was going on (he is now used to it now, even fell asleep tonight while it was on).  Around 8:30pm that night, we got news that one of Landon's lungs had collapsed, he had to be given medicine and his breathing tube had to be put back in.  It made sleeping for both of that night more difficult especially on how well he was doing to find we had our first setback with our new little guy.  

This morning (Monday morning) we awoke early and headed down to the hospital to see how he was doing.  We were still a bit worried because of his news from the previous night.  The nurse also had mentioned his breathing was still higher than the normal ranges.  As the day progressed and with more rest, Landon seemed to be doing just fine.  He ended getting another round of x-rays on his chest and they came back great.  He also got to have his first feeding from his mom which included some breast milk fed in through his feeding tube and some cotton swabbed into his mouth!  Also his resting rate had improved into normal ranges again.  

We are quite excited for what the next milestones will be for Landon, with the next milestone being able to breath without the breathing tube onto the CPAP again.  We are hoping to bring that news to you this week!  

Lastly, Landon, LeighAnn and I (even Hunter!) want to say thank you to everyone who is keeping us in their prayers!  We have a tremendous support system around us and we appreciate everyone going out of their way a bit to help us!  We love you all!

Welcome again and stay tuned for more updates!! (some from LeighAnn as well)

Attached below is a picture of Landon during his first attempt off the breathing tube,  I think he has Mom's eyes and she says he may have my nose!