Cylas was born on Christmas Eve. I had to deliever him by C-Section due to an placental abruption. He weighted 11lbs. & 8 ozs.. I didn't get to see him until Wednesday afternoon because they were afraid that I was too weak to make the trip to the NICU. I had lost a lot of blood and I just recently found out that the doctor didn't even expect Cylas to be alive, but he was.
Cylas spent a week in the hospital after his birth. He was having breathing problems and his oxygen levels kept falling. Even though I was released from the hospital and I was able to stay with him. However, I did go home on New Years Eve to spend time with his big sis, Prairie. The next morning I was ready to go back to the hospital and be with him. I knew that my daughter would be taken care of and at the time I wanted to make sure my son would be ok. But when I called to check on him I heard the best news ever, the Dr. told me that he could come home. I couldn't have been happier, I was finally going to have both my babes home with me.
He was home a little over 10 days before he got sick. On January 11th I started noticing that the area around his umbilical cord was swelling and it was draining some brown looking fluid. Fortunately he had a doctors appt. that morning so I just figured I could get some answers then and I continued to clean that area diligently. He was scheduled for a circumsion but the doctor wasn't able to finish it because there was a problem with the positioning of the opening on his penis. So instead, Cylas received a partial circumsion and would have to go see a surgeon like a week later. I felt so bad for him and if I had known that I wouldn't have put him through such torture. I did tell the doctor about his belly button and he proceeded to show me how to clean that area "correctly." He showed me what I had already been doing.
Well on January 12th at 5:30am I ended taking him to the emergency room. He wasn't eating and with each movement he would cry out in pain. After fussing with a nurse who refused to get his vitals, claiming he was too small, we waited for about 2 hours for him to be seen. The ER doctor came in and looked at him and asked questions, then she proceeded to call the pediatrician on call and that's when I really started wondering about how my baby. I knew that it meant something I didn't want to think about. It meant that he would be in the hospital again!! And I had just got him home so I didn't want him to spend more time in the hospital.
Dr. Nations ended up sending us to Mission Hospitals in Asheville. The doctors kept telling me that they didn't know what was wrong with him and they continued to do this until he died. They kept telling me that he had a skin infection and he was receiving like six different medications but there no change. On Monday, January 14th he turned 3 weeks old and they put a central line in his left shoulder because they were afraid his IV wouldn't last much longer before he kicked it out of his foot. That was when in my eyes they slowly started to "kill" my son. He returned from surgery at 1:30, and he was mad and hungry, but he wouldn't eat. The nurse that was on call asked the doctor what she do, and he ordered Cylas' IV fluids be upped to 75cc's an hour. I questioned that move and the nurse did say that it would only be for a little while. That little while turned into 10 hours.
Cylas went into the hospital weighing 11lbs 3 ozs and when he died his weight was 17lbs. 6ozs. Another doctor came in at 11:30 pm and ordered his IV fluids changed to 20 ccs and then 12ccs. By this time the damage had been done. All that fluid was just sitting in his system not making it's way out. They worked all night to try and get that extra fluid off of him but nothing worked. Cylas had a rough night (Jan. 14th)
On Jan. 15th, they worked with him again. This time they placed a catheter on him but his bladder was dry as a bone. And with that went my last hope for him. Around lunch time he was moved to the NICU, and they put him to sleep, his body and heart were having to work too hard while he was awake, and I never seen him with his eyes open again. His little arms were raised above his head, he couldn't eat, and he wasn't peeing by this time. He had gotten so big, it was just unbelieveable. I cried the whole time I was there with him.
At 7:00 PM we were informed that there was nothing more they could do for him. We were told that his organs would shut down and they could not do surgery to get some of the fluid off because he would bleed to death. He had lost his ability to clot. We were given the choice to take him off the respirator or just to let things happen naturally. We chose to let thing happen naturally. I just couldn't believe that this was happening to me. I could not be losing my little boy. I was in a complete daze and unable to stay in one place for long periods of time. I was devastated and felt so lost.
Cylas passed away at 9:10 PM and we were able to stay with him until the funeral home staff came to pick him up. Right after he passed I was at his side taking off all the patches and stickers. And I was rubbing his belly, feet and arms. At first I didn't want to hold him, but I am glad that I did. I would have probably never forgave myself if I didn't.
Cylas' funeral was on January 18, 2008 and his burial took place at my mom's family cemetery. He was buried by his great grandpa.
