Part 2:Blue
Everything was normal. Ten fingers, ten toes. Nice healthy cry. Tipped the scales at 2.95 kilo (6.49 lbs) and even had a little hair. One of my sisters has this theory that a baby’s head always smells like a potato – sure enough he smelled like a potato. He had these big beautiful eyes. Perfect.
They took us to recovery and I eventually settled into a room in the maternity ward. The nurses took my perfect kid to the nursery and my now ex-husband (another story, another time) followed them there to get a bracelet identifying him as the father. I was exhausted and my mom – a woman who has mastered the art of motherhood – told me to rest. I closed my eyes and fell into a deep sleep. Get it while you can.
On Thursday morning Aug 1st, a nurse brought Amichai into the room. (That’s what we eventually named him – pronounced Ah-me-chayi, meaning “My Nation Lives” in Hebrew). I could see that his right eye was a bit swollen and looked infected. The nurse told me not to worry, a doctor would be in soon to check him out. I wasn’t panicked. The doctor came and deemed it serious enough that she wanted a consult with the pediatric optometrist. OK. I felt a slight wave of panic but nothing major. The doctors were on top of it.
Looking like a fighter: Amichai’s swollen eye
A short while later we met with the pediatric optometrist. This doctor also deemed it serious and said we should start him on anti-biotics. The doctors were quite confident this would do the trick, but they said that instead of being discharged on Friday morning, Amichai would need to stay throughout the weekend until the eye cleared up. (I was discharged but we stayed at the hospital hotel.) They put the tiniest of IV lines into his arm to administer the anti-biotics and by the next day his eye looked much better. Problem solved. No need to panic, things are coming together.
On Friday evening August 2nd, after Shabbat dinner, we went to visit Amichai in the nursery. When we arrived, the nurses said everything was ok but he had turned blue for a second. They burped him and now he seemed to be fine. She said that happens, especially if the baby hadn’t been burped properly before. Great, I made my kid turn blue. First fail for Mom. Except that on Saturday Aug 3nd, we returned to the nursery early in the morning to learn that he had a few more episodes of turning blue. The doctors were on their way down. I’m sorry – what????
As we were standing there listening in shock to the nurse, I watched Amichai turn blue. And then again. And then again. They had the oxygen out. There were all types of beeping noises going on. And he was turning blue! Where the @$%* were the doctors?!
Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath and as an observant Jew, I refrain from activities that we do during the week – like riding in cars, using the computer, or talking on the phone. But in cases of life threatening emergencies, all rules can and must be broken. The doctors weren’t moving fast enough for me, so I sprinted (literally, 50 yard dash style) back to my room and grabbed my phone. I called my very good friend’s father who was the head of the ICU at the hospital. In Israel, any connection you have can help and, well – let’s just say he’s a pretty big deal there. I knew he would get things going, except… no answer. I called my sister. Rule of thumb: If you get a call on Shabbat, its an emergency. She didn’t even say hello – What’s wrong? I told her what was going on. I told her I needed speak to our friend’s father ASAP but I couldn’t get through. (Turns out he didn’t recognize my number on his cell. It was Shabbat and he wasn’t on call, so he didn’t pick up. Since then, his wife has made him pick up all calls on Shabbat because as she says in her very thick New York accent, you never know when you’re needed. She also berated me for not having their houseline to call…good thing we’re like family.)
My sister bolted over to their house and caught him right before he was about to go to synagogue. My phone rang. A calm voice – Tell me what is going on. I told him my kid was turning blue, they didn’t know why, and the doctors were on their way but where were they?!? He told me to give the phone to nurse. He stated his name. The nurse’s mouth dropped, her eyes enlarged. In a stern and extremely authoritative voice, I heard him say – Get that kid up to the NICU NOW. I don’t know if he actually instilled the fear of Gd into the nurse and I am quite certain the doctors really were on their way, but she moved very quickly after that. Suddenly Amichai was being rushed to the NICU.