Brandon followed the NICU team to the NICU, there they placed IV lines through Graysons umbilical cord. Dr. Gerday, Graysons doctor, talked to Brandon about needing to do blood transfusions for Grayson. Grayson was extremely anemic and they were trying desperately to keep his blood counts up and to try to keep him from bruising badly.
They also finished with Jessica in the OR and sent her back to her delivery room where they were staying that day. The nurses asked what Jessica wanted for her snack after having Grayson, and immediately she replied chocolate cake and chocolate milk. The nurses couldn't find cake, but they were able to find a chocolate cake doughnut. It was so good, but she was only able to take a few bites because she wanted to see their new baby Grayson.
Being wheeled up there was a string of emotions; excitment, joy, sorrow, happiness and sadness. Having Jessica see her child for the first time in an incubator instead of in her arms was very hard to see. She wasn't able to do much, but her and Brandon were able to touch his little foot, his tiny, little, beautiful foot and just cry and smile at the miracle they brought into this world.
The nurses soon told Jessica she needed to rest, but having a child in the NICU had given her an adrenaline rush. She didn't need the sleep recommended and she didn't want it. She wanted to sit by their sweet baby the entire night and just watch him. He was beautiful, the tiniest most incredible thing she had ever seen.
Then Dr. Gerday came and talked with Brandon and Jessica. He told them of how he was very very premature (micro-preemie) and how he was still unstable, and they were worried about a number of things, in particular acidosis, a hole in his heart (that usually heals before babies are born), and how anemic he was. He also told them of all the medications he was on and what pain medications he was on, he showed how the ventilator was vibrating his chest and breathing for him, but the times his chest contracted was actually Grayson trying to breath on his own. He told of how his eyes were not yet open and how they needed to keep his oxygen saturation lower than 95, but above 85 to keep him from becoming blind. It was a lot to take in, but they were going to try as hard as they could to keep little Grayson alive and well. But still the outlook was not great. Even if he survived this, there could always be huge life changing events with him. They weren't sure if little Grayson would have cerebral palsy, along with a few other life altering complications for him.
The nurse then said it was finally time to get some sleep. So regrettably Jessica and Brandon had to go and rest. But not with out letting the 24 hour nurse and Dr. Gerday know that if anything happened, even the slightest to have them call them so they could come up.
They were finally in their room and needed to get some sleep. Patti needed to get home for Graysons aunts and uncles, and Diana wanted to give Brandon and Jessica the night to themselves. So they started getting ready for bed. Jessica still had to try and pump to get her breast milk kicking in so she could give antibodies to Grayson. It hurt like heck for her, but she would do it a million times in order to keep Grayson healthy and strong. After pumping they pulled out the guest bed (a fold out chair that turned into a bed) for Brandon, said family prayer and finally closed their eyes. But soon Brandon was by her side, sharing the little bed because being 2 feet away was just too far. By 3 am they were settled in for the night, Brandon fell right to sleep from pure exhaustion. Jessica on the other hand could not sleep, her mind was racing, hoping that little Grayson was fighting with all of his might and strength. She felt like something was going to go wrong any minute, and that her hospital phone would ring with that ear splitting scream any second.
But with faith, and saying a small prayer in her heart she asked a blessing that everything would be okay in the end, that their would be peace in the family and that they might be strengthened and be able to put this into the lords hands and be able to accept his will. She then was able to fall asleep for a good 3 hours.
