Asher's first week of life

Asher's first week of life was not what we had expected for our sweet, special little guy. First off, when he got rushed to the NICU after he was born we figured he'd just need to be there a few hours. But as time went we were getting word that he was having a harder time breathing than we expected. This was a surprise because the twins weren't born that early and I had had steriod shots to help develop their lungs early in case they were born early since I had pre-term labor issues. So when they did the C-section is surprised everyone, including our Doctor who had been delivering babies for 30 years, that he was struggling. 

It was really hard not having him with us in the hospitcal room I was staying in and not being able to see him that first night, but I knew the doctors were doing what was best for him and I was willing to do whatever it would take to help him get better. Finally the next morning I was able to be wheelchaired down to the NICU to visit him for the first time. It was so sad to see him hooked up to so many cords and to be able to tell that he was visibly struggling. I wasn't able to hold him that first time because they were worried it would destabilize him, but over the next day or two I was able to hold him for the first time, which was so wonderful. He had such a sweet disposition and I loved him so much right away. 

The doctors were telling us some very worrying things like he had an infection they couldn't identify, so they did a panel of bloodwork to try to determine what he had but started him on an antibiotic before the test results came back to try to get ahead of the infection. When the blood panel came back and the infection wasn't bacterial, but we were glad we had started him on the antibiotic in case it could have helped. 

It was discouraging because each day that went by in those early days he seemed to be having to get hooked up to more and more things and needing more support. However we were so grateful for amazing doctors and felt he was in such good hands, and had a lot of hope that he would be able to come home soon.