Jack Patrick Ebbs' first 8 weeks

Jack Patrick joined the Ebbs family to make us a party of three on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 just 2 days after his due date. It's been an interesting chapter of our lives and worth EVERY bit of this part of our journey called the labor of love.

Needless to say, we've been busy and our journey took an unexpected medical detour that derailed our updates but we are back on track. The details of our not so yellow brick road...

May 13, 2009...Following a trip to the doctor's office at noon, b/c Tammy woke up with flu like symptoms, we were informed that we would be having our child that day as Tammy was leaking fluid. We were allowed to go home (around 1:30 pm) to get our bag, which wasn't completely packed. Within the 15 minute ride home contractions started. Unfortunately Tammy skipped the cute intro contractions that feel like cramps and endured the horrific labor pains of contractions that were 4-6 minutes apart. Per Tammy, "it feels like someone blew up your abdomen and twisted it like an animal balloon that a clown makes!"

We arrived at Shady Grove Hospital at 3 pm and Tammy was vowing that a second child was not likely due to the pain. Epidural administered around 3:45 and life was good again... that stuff is like crack and has a place on the black market. It's a wonder that the population is a large as it is for all those women that gave birth without it!

The delivery nurse explained that she was watching the fetal heartbeat and would be paging the doctor due to the baby's alarming irregular heartbeat. Doctor and nurse had concerned looks on their faces, not quite panicked. The stopped my contractions to determine if the cord was wrapped around the baby's neck... not the case and heart rate continued to form a peak and valley picture. Doctor advised that my water had not broken so he broke it... baby definitely on its way now.

Doctor shared that I wasn't progressing very quickly and I would likely need to have a C-section and I could go through labor for about 8 hours then have the C-section or do it sooner than later. Tammy asked, "What is your medical opinion regarding what's best for the baby and me?" Doctor, replied, "C-section sooner than later" Tammy "what's sooner" Doctor "now"! This was 4:20 pm and Tammy was swooped away to the OR, Brian put on his scrubs and came in about 4:50 and our son was born at 5:12 pm. Albeit Tammy did not endure a long labor, it was still painful and she has not forgotten the contraction pain, yet! Our little boy arrived healthy and silent so Tammy told the doctor, who looks like one of her co-workers (John Brady), "smack him on his ass!" Jack weighed 8 lbs, 2 oz and was 20.5 inches long.

Proud Papa - Brian / Daddy just after Jack's arrival in the OR on 5/13/09.

Three's Company... first Ebbs family photo in the OR 5/13/09 .

All seemed to be going well when we left the OR. Tammy was on the way to recovery and Jack on the way to the nursery for his bath and evaluation.

Now visualize a cartoon where the snowball goes barrelling down the hill gaining momentum that's the next 8 weeks for our new family. Tammy officially became Murphy's Law.

Going into labor Tammy was a known carrier for Group B streptococcus (GBS). It's protocol to test pregnant women week 37. Group B strep is a bacterium that causes life-threatening infections in newborns and is the most common cause of blood infections and meningitis in newborns. Most cases of GBS disease in newborns can be prevented by giving certain pregnant women antibiotics during labor. Tammy was given penicillin during labor but the GBS got into her blood. Remember at the beginning, Tammy was leaking fluid and her membranes ruptured... TA DA it got into her bloodstream.

In recovery they ran several tests, including Swine Flu, on Tammy due to the severity of the potential issues from GBS. The complete positive GBS culture takes 48 hours to grow so on Friday, May 15th, Tammy met her infectious disease doctor, 1 of 5 specialists Tammy was to meet in the next 7 weeks. Tammy was given IV antibiotics to treat the GBS and she didn't feel sick, yet.

We had no idea how serious this bacteria was and the affects it could have on Jack or Tammy at this point.

This is Jack getting checked out and flirting with the nurses before they bring him to Tammy's private room, which was nice, especially since we spent 5 nights there.

The private room is also designed to, in essence, force brand new mothers, that have no idea what they are doing, to keep their brand new, helpless babies in the room with them. Good thing they come with a pull out futon so that brand new fathers, that have no clue either, can share in the bedlam of insecurities, questions, and utter amazement of becoming parents. What happened to the good ole days where the baby went to the nursery so the parents could get rest and experienced coaching from the nurses? It's called hospital policy aka induction by fire.

When Sunday, May 17th came we would have given anything to have Jack back in our room. Jack got scooped up and sent to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) around 12:30 pm b/c his blood tested positive for bacteria, which they were concerned was GBS, remember it takes 48 hours to grow and confirm. More on this chapter later on.

Jack's first bed, not quite a sleep number but it had a nice incline. We learned several swaddle techniques. He liked his bean burrito state at first then quickly decided that he preferred his arms free.
And baby makes 3! Our little man still didn't have a name when we got to our room and it took over 24 hours for Tammy to agree on Jack b/c she wanted to get to know him before she gave him this lifelong name. Grand Dad Ebbs couldn't believe his grandson didn't have a name and Brian was patient b/c he knew he couldn't rush Tammy on this one. Jack was the first name Brian selected as soon as we got pregnant and Tammy agrees, it's just perfect. The poor kid already has several nick names... The Bean, Monkey, Buddy Ole Pal, JP, Jack Patrick.

So many people came to meet Jack and visit us, here are photos of some of our guests...

Aunt Tara (Tammy's sister) and cousin Erica having a "Jack attack" (code for snuggle time) at the hospital. Jack is one day old here. Aunt Tara made sure that Brian took lots of photos during Jack's bath and evaluation time. Meanwhile Grannie supervised to ensure that they didn't hurt her special delivery.
Jack Patrick is the first grand child / nephew for Brian's family. A very proud Grand Dad / Brendan holds Jack, who will continue the Ebbs' family name.

Pat Ebbs, Jack's Grannie is a pro as a mother of 3, adores her new grandson.

Uncle Alan (Brian's brother) excitedly welcomes his first and only nephew. Finally, he's no longer the baby. Jack missed sharing his birthday by one day.

Uncle Billy (Tammy's brother) aka Uncle Hillbilly, predicted a boy and he was right. His two sons, Will (13) and Sam (11) will be great role models and babysitters!

Auntie Tanya anxiously awaited the arrival of our baby. As an experienced mother of 3 boys, not only is she a great friend (since 4th grade) she's a fabulous resource. We called her on the way to the pediatrician to ask if we could feed Jack his bottle while driving. Her response, "yes, just don't take him out of his car seat to burp him while moving." Jack's wardrobe also doubled thanks to her kids.

Tammy has know Jamie since she was 5 and was her first friend in Maryland. She will teach Jack how to eat Oreo cookies. Her mom, Dee also met Jack, she's not allowed to perm his hair.

Jamie's daughters, Lainey and Sarah, are potential girlfriends and definitely lifelong friends

Susie is another friend of Tammy's since elementary school and also a wonderful resource as she is raising 2 boys, Brett below and Billy. Her sons are huge sports fans and gave Jack a baseball starter kit including an Orioles outfit, baseball glove and an autographed ball signed by them... surely a collector's item.

Michelle looks good with an infant in her arms, perhaps a second child is in her future yet. She's Jack's fashion consultant and will also keep Tammy aware of the trends to avoid completely embarrassing Jack! She's also Tammy's biggest supporter of "Million Dollar Ideas".

Sharon saved the day when she brought chips and salsa from Rio to us at the hospital. Tammy never seemed to be in sync with the hospital food delivery schedule, not that it's much to miss.

The "other" Erica in Tammy's life. This is Tammy's friend and co-worker who braved the rain Sat. night and brought some of Tammy's favorite candy.... soooooooo delish!

There is no better feeling than becoming a parent... I love being a mom. As of Friday (5/15), we didn't realize that they tested Jack for the GBS and Tammy kept asking when she was going home. Tammy's fever spiked and that concerned the docs... more antibiotics. Jack was doing well and no signs of illness.

Sunday (5/17), Jack's pediatrician examined him around noon gave him a green light then called back 20 minutes later to tell us Jack tested positive for bacteria and needed to go to NICU. It was awful to have our son taken away after we had gotten to know him, love him, feed him, hug him for 4 days. If that wasn't enough an hour later the neonatologist came to our room with a consent form so that they could do a spinal tap on Jack to test for meningitis. Big needle, little guy and we couldn't hold his hand. We thought he had the GBS and that meant he would have been in NICU for 10 - 14 days.

We got to see Jack in NICU around 4 pm and the nurse was so kind to us. Holding Jack at that moment felt even better for Tammy than the first time they put him in her arms. We had to be back in our room for Tammy to meet the IV therapist to have an IV line installed in her arm so that we could administer the IV antibiotics at home.

Monday (5/18) - Tammy got released from the hospital and we went right to NICU to feed Jack then we ran to the store for a sports bra b/c Tammy lost track of nature taking its course and needed to tend to her engorged breasts and we had to be home by 4 pm to receive the IV meds. It was so unbelievably difficult and disturbing to leave the hospital without our son.

Our in-home nurse was scheduled to arrive around 5:30 to teach us how to administer the IV antibiotics. Nurse Carla came to the house and took Tammy's stats, checked the IV port (called a mid line), and gave us detailed and frightening instructions for administering the treatments.

Carla was great. When she asked Tammy who would be assisting with the treatments, she told her Brian and when asked the relationship to him Tammy replied "my baby daddy". You really do have to find some humor.

The IVs were in a syringe push form rather than the bag drip. The antibiotics had to be administered 3 times a day every 8 hours and the medicine had to be taken out of the refrigerate 1 hour a head of time to get it to room temperature... so much fun.

Brian was a super star and a quick study. As if becoming parents and having your new baby in NICU wasn't scary enough, imagine hearing, "if you push the medicine through in less than 5 minutes you could cause heart failure" or "if you let an air bubble get through the line you can cause an embolism, stroke, heart failure any of which can result in death"... no pressure. Tammy was petrified to even try to administer the treatment but learned the technique after a couple of weeks. It wasn't too bad, just time consuming, a nuisance to maintain & shower, and ugly.

As you can see and true to her nature, Tammy took copious notes as nurse Carla coached us through the first treatment.

After the 2 hour IV class, we dashed back to the hospital to feed Jack and read him a good night story. We learned that Jack's blood culture was looking good meaning that the bacteria wasn't looking like GBS and there was a chance that he may be released on Tuesday.

May 19th - Tuesday, Jack did not have the Group B Strep and we got to take our son home in the afternoon. It was warm that day and the sun was shining, however we were determined that Jack would come home in the sweater (jumper as Brian calls it) and booties that his Grannie made. Fortuneately Jack was only in NICU 2 1/2 days & we were only home one night without him.

Jack lookes so ity bity in that car seat and we were so nervous and excited all at the same time.

We also thought this was the last time we'd see Shady Grove Hospital until the next delivery. We were back the next day, Wed. May 20th, this time to the ER b/c Tammy had been having severe headaches since Monday May 18th and 2 of her doctors told her that it was likely a spinal headache from the epidural and she needed to have a blood patch. Sometimes the epidural causes a spinal fluid leak leaving a gap in the fluid between the back and brain. Of course because Tammy has become Murphy's law, it was an unbelievably busy day in the ER so they were there 10 hours (2 - 12). Remember, she's on IV antibiotics still and the ER advises not to take any medicine, eat or drink to interfere with diagnosis so she asks them if she can get the treatment in the hospital or she needs to go home... hospital will take care of it.

It was 4 hours before we were even seen and she continued to remind them about the 7 pm IV treatment. Tammy had a CAT scan and was in tears & nausious from the headache pain and finally the anethesiaologist arrived. He sees the IV port and asked what it was for, so she told him, antibiotics for Group B strep. "Really, well, I can just about guarantee that I won't be giving you the blood patch b/c we don't want to put contaminated blood into your spine as it goes right to your brain." Then the doctor on call asked if Tammy was tested for meningitis. "No". So instead of getting one issue resolved, they did a spinal tap/puncture to test for menigitis. And it gets better... a blood test came back less than favorable and they considered admitting Tammy to the hospital. All we wanted to do is be at home and be parents... seriously! We begged and pleaded to let Tammy go home and they agreed, reluctantly.

Aunt Ann-Margaret (Tammy's sister) arrived from NYC Memorial Day weekend once we were all home. She was a tremendous help, even with an injured back. It was pathetic to watch us side by side with support pillows and pain relievers but it didn't stop her from having her Jack attack. Each of Ann-Margaret's 3 niece's and nephews call her something different as Aunt Ann-Margaret is a mouthful for little people just learning to speak so we can't wait to see what Jack says.

Aunt Martina (Brian's sister) patiently waited across the pond in Ireland and timed her visit around Jack's Baptism. It was really hard but worth the wait. She also hand delivered lovely gifts from friends and family in Ireland. She took him for long power walks and was very careful to keep him protected from the sun.

Bill / Grand Pa Belke meets his 4th grand child, now he has 3 grandsons and 1 grand daughter. Jack is 5 1/2 weeks old here.

Uncle David (Tara's husband and cousin Erica's dad) offered to take Jack so mom and dad could eat dinner. Jack is quickly learning about deck parties and loves to be outside.

A doting Pat / Grannie Ebbs just loves this "little one" to bits. Jack and Grannie became very close and he misses his buddy terribly.
Jack looks darling in the "Daddy's All Star" outfit Aunt Tara gave us... featured here. We agree that Jack looks great in red. Jack is a month old here.