Meet Ruston

Ruston was born on May 30, 2008. A bit of his story turned up on the Google Alerts. I was intrigued and asked if his family would be willing to share his story. He's had a rough start, but is finally home. I continue to be amazed at how connected we are. I'm sure all of us in Ruston, Washington wish a long, full and amazing life for little Ruston. Here is are the details from his family... ~ Karen

Hi,

I would be happy to share his story with you and the people in your town. When I was about 34 weeks pregnant, my little girl accidentally kicked me in the belly and made me have pains throughout my belly and back for about 12 hours so my husband made me go into the E.R. They ended up admitting me because I was having contractions and I shouldn't have been having that many that early.

After they admitted me, they did an ultrasound to make sure my little girl didn't hurt the baby when she kicked me and they found fluid around Ruston's lungs. They kept and monitored me for 24 hours then let me go home. The doctor put me at high risk pregnancy and had me see a specialist who wanted me to keep coming once a week until my due date.

Well, I ended up going to him twice, on the second time, he sent me over to the hospital to deliver. When I went in the second time, the fluid had accumulated so much that it shifted Ruston's heart sideways and it could have collapsed his lung. So, he sent me right over to be induced. I had to deliver at a hospital with a NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) so they could take care of him as soon as he was born. Our little boy was born the night of May 30, 2008 the day after I went in to the hospital.

Right after I had him they, in the delivery room, had to put a little hole in his chest to try and drain the fluid off his lung so he could breathe. They then let me hold him for about 2 seconds and had to take him back to send up to the NICU. I got to see him about an hour and a half later and they had put him on a respirator and put a chest tube in to drain the fluid and he had multiple IV's. His chest tube fell out two days later so they had to make another hold to put in another tube, which stayed in for 3 weeks and 6 days and they then took it out.

They determined he has a rare condition called Congenital Chylothorax and after two weeks tried a medicine that is so new they didn't really know if it would work and they don't think it did. They tried to feed him when he was two weeks old, but it made more fluid accumulate so they stopped the breast milk and put him on a special formula that doesn't have a lot of fat.

He did fine with that until the day before the fourth week when they finally took the chest tube out and he started having breathing problems again. He was put back on oxygen and they stopped feeds for three and a half days. During that time they thought he was getting an infection because he acted like he didn't feel good and he had so much air in his belly that you could see the rings that the air had formed in his belly just by looking at him. They put him on three antibiotics and took some tests, but everything came back negative so they took him off after 48 hours.

They started him back on food (another special formula that now has NO fat in it), but he only got about two teaspoons every three hours, which is not much as you know. Shortly after he started breathing on his own they hoped to increase his food soon after to see if he could tolerate the feedings without having to put another chest tube in. They still weren't sure how long he would be there, but they said if everything goes PERFECT he still had at least another two weeks before coming home. They said that to us at week 4 day 3. He did fine with his feedings and the Chylothorax began to heal!

They monitored him for a week later then he got a staph infection from his pic line. They told us this two days before he was supposed to come home. It was devastating. They treated him for the infection for seven days and then tried to tell us they needed to keep him longer to monitor him. My husband and I kept getting different things from each doctor, which, as you could imagine, was very upsetting.

Ruston was supposed to come home Monday July 14th. It took me telling the doctors I was going to discharge him against doctors orders before they would listen and let him come home. I told them that Monday early afternoon and Tuesday, after six weeks and four days, Ruston was sent home with doctors permission! He was still on the formula with little fat, but he vomited with every feeding, which made him upset, I'm sure because it upset his belly to puke so much. We waited almost two weeks, but I am giving him my frozen breast milk and am hoping to have him nursing in no time! He had one infection from his circumcision a few days after he came home, but is now doing great and should excel from here!

It was so extremely difficult having our baby away from us, but it was a blessing that my daughter, Lilian, kicked me in the belly. If she hadn't, the doctor, most likely, never would have found the fluid and it could have killed Ruston. They did say that her kick had nothing to do with Ruston's problems, only helped to find them! We're so happy he is better and we cannot believe how strong this little baby is. Both our children are such blessings and we cannot express the joy they bring us!

Ruston Lavar Merrell is the name of our beautiful son and it is the ONLY name that my husband and I could agree on! I had an uncle whose name was Brian Ruston (My husband name is Brian). My husband also had a friend named Ruston and we just couldn't decide on a different name.

I am sorry it took so long for me to get back to you, but it has been very difficult to go through all of this plus have a 18 month old at home.

The Merrell Family