20th July 2003 - news so far

Owen was born on Thursday the 10th of the July 2003, and for the first day everything went well.

We know that many people have been asking about our Owen and how things are going. Here is a brief outline of his eventful life so far. Please don’t take this as absolute and if any facts are wrong we apologise, this is being written sitting next to Owen in the NNU ward of the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. Spelling and source checking are not our priorities right now. This is merely intended to give those of you who are wondering about the three of us, a slight idea of what is happening in our lives and in particular, in Owen’s life.

Our beautiful baby boy has been given an extra challenge (apart from having us as parents!) He is currently in the Children's Hospital intensive care neo natal unit where amazing experts are taking care of him. Tony and I have a room in the hospital and we spend our time divided between being at Owen's bedside and racing home to feed Puss and grab a few hours sleep.

Owen was born on Thursday the 10th of July, and for the first day everything went well.

Our lovely blonde boy was much admired and even got to meet a couple of friends and his Adelaide grandparents. Saturday night Owen was taken seriously ill, he was rushed into the nursery at Frances Perry House and from there into the NICU (Neonatal intensive care unit) of the Royal Women's Hospital. Words cannot describe.

The team of Dr's who worked on him at the Women's were fabulous. We were kept fully informed and were very confident about the care he was getting. Owen has been tested for so many things that there is no point in listing them. The doctors were baffled and the news was not getting any better. (at this stage of the story I feel that it’s only fair to state that this saga is far from over, don’t bother skipping to the end of the page in the hope that it is all over and all is well…)

By Tuesday there had not been any good news, there hadn’t been any news at all really. Our lovely Owen was lying under lights to control his temperature and jaundice (the least of his troubles…) drugged and sedated heavily and attached to many different machines. We wondered where our little boy had gone, and if we were ever going to get him back again.

Intensive care units are now familiar grounds for us and we know exactly how to behave and what all the machines do. Not a situation we would wish on anyone. We have to be careful not to get too familiar and behave as if we’re at home!

It was decided Tuesday that Owen would be moved to the neonatal unit (NNU) at the Royal Children’s hospital. There, there are specialist neurologists and also those experienced and specialised in metabolic disorders. As Owen had been tested for every illness known to man, it was felt that his troubles were probably associated with something either metabolic or neurological.

So Tuesday Owen and Robby got a ride in the NETS cab (Newborn emergency travel service) and Tony followed in a taxi as we traveled the few blocks to the Children’s. There, Owen had an MRI; he had already had an ECG. We waited for the results…

It was discovered that Owen had significant swelling to a large area of his brain. The area affected relates to vision and motor neurons, there was no way of knowing what the outcome would be as the swelling was still visible. Cell death had occurred but only time will tell what impact this will have on Owen’s quality of life. So finally we had some answers, but the cause remains a mystery.

Owen is currently in a temperature control environment. He has had some difficulty with his body temperature, it being lower than desired, but that is hopefully getting better. He has also had a few other problems including low blood sugar levels, but we’re cheering him on and that is also (hopefully) under control.

Owen is due to have another MRI early next week and that should tell us a little more about his condition and what to expect. He has been heavily drugged to control some symptoms and as those work through his system we are hoping that he will become more alert and active. At this stage a slight hand squeeze is enough for us to want to break out the champagne.

Not the beginning to parenthood that we'd imagined, but we love Owen in that earth shattering way that parents have described to us and we know that all 3 of us will be able to overcome whatever is thrown at us and be secure in that love.

We will update this site every couple of days so that you may follow Owen’s story if you wish, feel free to let other members of our family and friends group to have the address to this site, though I stress that this is a very personal journey and as such, a personal site.