Erb's Palsy MRI Update

As I've mentioned before, Nathanial has Erb's Palsy, a condition caused by shoulder dystocia which is essentially when a baby becomes stuck and lodged in the birth canal causing trauma when delivered.


Whew.


Anyway, yesterday we had an MRI done. Lee and I were so very nervous. We were nervous about the fact that he wouldn't get to eat 6 hours before. We were nervous about what the MRI would find. But mostly, we were nervous - let's say terrified - about sedation. Why? Well there are risks whenever sleep is drug induced and this is a baby we're talking about!


The night before we kept him up as long as possible and fed him at 10:00 pm. We then woke him up at 4:00 am to give him a bottle of clear Pedialyte with a bit of water and juice so that he would have something on his stomach first thing in the morning. We woke up at about 5:30 am, got ourselves ready, and put Nathanial, still in jammies and a wet diaper, into his baby carrier.


We arrived at the hospital when we were told 7:00 am. Nathanial was still sleeping in his carrier, peacefully, wonderfully. We then waited almost an hour (our appointment was at 8:00) and were finally called. He slept for a bit longer and then woke up with NO idea where he was. He was so confused, but pretty much content. The nurse weighed Nathanial, I changed his diaper, and we waited until a machine was available.


When it was time for the sedative, I was nervous. What if my baby was that 1 in however many babies that had a problem with the sedation? I was thankful that it was oral - though it tasted horrible and made him really mad, especially as he was now incredibly hungry! He didn't cry too badly, but he did fuss. After about 10 minutes of rocking, he was out.


I'm not going to tell you that it was easy watching them put my little tiny baby in a big, BIG machine. They did put little ear plugs in his ears and padded them well so that he would not stir. We stayed in the room with him and listened as the machine made crazy noises. It lasted what seemed like forever. I read a magazine on running while Lee read one on home improvement. Then I read a parenting magazine. Then People's In Style magazine. Finally, the nurse and the tech came in and said "We're finished. We got what we need!"

It was over. He woke up fairly easily and we fed him his bottle, which he was desperate for. We then were discharged, stopped for some lunch, and got the little guy home. We took a brief nap and Lee went on to work. The day progressed with many long naps and one night interuption. Overall, the day went well. We'll hear soon about the results.