Taylor was born in Heidleberg, Germany in the Frauenklinik Ruprecht Karls-Universit�t Kliniken. She was born with no complications by scheduled c-section. (I had 2 previous c-sections and my German doctor said it was a "given" to have the 3rd baby that way) Taylor was born on March 25th 1997 at 11:02 am ..she weighed 8 lbs 7 oz. I had no problems I was very apprehensive because I didnt speak german and the entire hospital staff was German! Lucklily Wayne did all my translating!
When Taylor arrived, she looked fine, Wayne watched the entire surgery and didnt faint! He was such a support standing at my side doing his part (giving me oxogen) and told me the play by play (I couldnt see because of the surgery partition) When they took Taylor out..the cord was around her neck twice, so they immeditately unwrapped her. They lifted her out and she looked fine! Even the kinderartz gave her the once over and thumbs up which is such a relief. Wayne and I were so happy! They let Wayne hold bundled Taylor and she was so content. The nurse then wanted Talor to go upstairs to get cleaned etc...and I told Wayne to go with her as I had to been stitched up and I would see him when I got settled in Recovery. When I got up to recovery Wayne came into see me and he had such a sad look on his face and I asked him what was wrong and did he call my parents and his parents? He said nothing was wrong but I knew something was bothering him..he assured me nothing was wrong and gave me a kiss as the nurse told him he had to leave. I slept for a bit ..then a few hours later I was being wheeled up to my room and we saw Wayne in the hall but without Taylor again, this time he looked very upset and told me we had to talk. "Talk?!?!?" what the heck was he going to tell me?? As soon as he started to tell me my Dr. walked in and said Frau Woollard "I am so sorry about your baby" and I looked at Wayne and said what happened...and he said Taylor was born without a backside..I thought he had said backbone..but then I knew that couldnt be possible with all the ultrasounds we had ...then he said Taylor has no anal opening..and she is being prepped for transport to another hospital for surgery. They needed to create a stoma for a colostomy for her. I couldnt imagine...and I was basically in shock. Nothing in the world could have prepared me for this. In a few minutes there had to be about 8 german staff in my room telling me what they would be doing to Taylor the options etc.. The odds of this happening to children were 1/400,000 births. All I knew was I wanted to see Taylor and hold her as I hadnt been able to as of yet. So they promised before they transported her they would bring her in to me. Which they did in an incubator, and left me with a polaroid of her. She was so pretty...so content looking. Wayne went with her across town to the Chirurgische Klinik where she would have surgery the next day. The surgeon told us that children born with this would be incontinent for life. They next few days were horrible horrible horrible....My mom was at my house holding down the fort watching Shawn and Brendan. My mother in law in California called and we shared tears...My stepdaughter called and I wasnt ready to tell her..as she congratulated me. I was numb.
Wayne would go home at nite to see the boys and my mom would have dinner for him (nothing like having your Irish mother in law cook for you!) and he researched for me Taylors diagnosis. He came up with alot of sites and one connection to a Doctor in New York. He Emailed this Doctor who had a procedure named after him called the Pena Procedure to correct imperforate anus. He printed out all the information for me as I was getting no results from the German pediatricians and Surgeons.
I was determined to get out of that hospital , in a German hospital when you have a c-section you have to stay in for 2 weeks. I was ready to roll in 3 days! After arguing with the nurse and determined to shower myself and get mobile I pursuaded my Dr. to discharge me. Boy I loved the reaction on that nurses face! LOL
I had Wayne take me over to see Taylor and my heart just broke as I found her all alone in a room, very different than childrens hospitals in the US which I was more used to.
It was wonderful to finally hold her in my arms even with all the monitors and such on her. She was just beautiful. I was shown her colostomy bag and shown her supplies so I could clean her and change her. One good thing to look back now..no poopy diapers!
The next day Taylor had to undergo a procedure called a contrast ultrasound, which involved a bladder puncture, Wayne had to hold her legs and I her arms onthe table while they pushed a needle thru her abdomen to fill her bladder with dye to see her bladder and check for any problems. That is when we discovered Taylor had what is called a cloaca.
Everday we would go and visit Taylor and brought her brothers to visit her and Nani (Kyms mom) All our family called and was so concerned . Grandma Audean was burning the midnight oil trying to get medical data on Taylors diagnosis.
One evening Wayne gets a call from Dr. Pena (the dr he requested information from) he explained to Wayne what Taylor had and the procedure he performs on children when they are 2 yr old to correct the anus. Its is where they go in and literally pull down the anus and create an opening. So we knew she would eventually have the surgery, but not for 2 years and thought she would be fine with the colostomy until then.
A few weeks later we brought Taylor home to our house in Hockenheim. We didnt have her home but 1 day and she got really sick, I told Wayne I wanted her in an American Hospital, NOT the German one. So Taylor was admitted to the US Army Hospital in Heildelberg. She had a really bad infection from the colostomy. The colostomy that the German Hospital had done was a double barrell loop which caused the stool to reenter her system |
