My mom was on the phone and said that they were in a car accident, Matthew's leg was broke, they were taking Heather in for an emergency C-section (she was 34 wks along), and her leg might be broken as well. Relief came for a minute, knowing they were alive and ok, but then the fear for Baby Dodger came to me. I just kept thinking.....He's going to be sooo little, his lungs won't be developed, he hasn't developed the sucking reflex....yes random thoughts, I know. As I sat the phone down after talking to my mom, I heard someone saying "Hello? Hello?", and I realized I had accidentally called someone, and by this piont it was around 1:00 AM. I picked up the phone and realized it was my sister-in-law, Jessica, who just so happened to be in St. George with Coby for the weekend. We had her and Coby go over to the hospital to see what was going on, because we were having a hard time getting information.
They got to the hospital, and we got the news that Dodger was born, and sent over to the NICU, which is a different hospital. Heather was in recovery and Coby and Jess were with Matthew as he waited for an MRI, because he was going to need surgery. Coby was able to give Matthew a blessing, and keep us filled in on what was going on.
Some of Heather's family was there and they went with Dodger and sent us these pics....
He was born at 12:01 AM 3/24/13, 6lbs, 19.3 inches.....big boy for 6 weeks early.
Coby and Jess were there with Heather when she came out of recovery, and She was in so much pain because she didn't have an epidural, they just knocked her out for the c-section.
My parents drove all night to get to them, I couldn't go until the next morning, which was killing me!!
When I got there at around 11:30 the next day, Heather was still in the ICU and Matthew was a floor above her in his own room. They got Heather ready to transfer her over to the Mommy/Baby center where Dodger was, but they wheeled her in to see Matthew for a few minutes first.....then Heather and I rode in the ambulance to the other hospital, and she finally got to meet her new baby boy!! I face timed Matthew so he could be apart of it as much as possible.
As I was in there and talking to the NICU nurse, she explained to me how lucky Dodger was to be alive. She said he had no heartbeat in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, and he had no heartbeat on the ultrasound in the ER. The on-call Dr. wanted to hold off on doing a c-section and get Heather scanned first, but Heather's doctor was there and insisted on getting Dodger out right then. He was born dead, white and limp, and they worked on him and revived him. This still gives me chills and a stomach ache every time I think about it.
He is one strong little Nelson! He was intubated initially, but not for long, and required very little oxygen. He picked up on nursing really fast and only had to stay in the hospital for 8 days!! Amazing!!
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| DODGER THOMAS NELSON |
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| Here are some pretty neat photos......{top right} Little Dodge in his incubater, {top left} First family photo a few days later when Mattew was released, {bottom right} When Matthew was released, they moved a hospital bed into Heather's room for him, {bottom left} Matthew passing Dodger in the ER right after he was born when they were taking him to the NICU. |
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| {i might get some of the details wrong} Matthew's knee cap was shattered, his Tibia was broke in half long ways, and his ankle had a compound fracture...... Their car was completely TOTALED! |
I feel so bad that this is the way they became parents, but this little family was so incredibly BLESSED....Dodger is a little Miracle Baby!!
