Hungry and doing well, Jaxon Blegen is cuddles in mama (Lindsay’s) arms.
Lindsay Davis and Don Blegen are going to have their hands full raising their son, Jaxon Scott Blegen. He’s been a loveable bundle of trouble since mid-pregnancy. But he also might bring the engaged couple some luck since he was the first baby born in the Lime Springs-Chester School area in 2011 and received a bunch of prizes donated by local businesses.
The first part of her pregnancy started out fine other than “I craved lots of fruits, melons and asparagus.” The trouble started in October/November at six-and-a-half months. She was nauseous. “It was constant vomiting. I was in the ER at least once a week and they had to give two to three units of fluids.” She had several tests done, and it was finally determined she was low on potassium plus Jaxon was making his presence known. “I carried him low. When he kicked, I would throw up!” She was finally given some anti-nausea medicine and potassium and the last month or so wasn’t so bad . . . until Jaxon decided to come early.
“He was due on January 29, but I had him on January 6,” Lindsay commented. He was five pounds, 12 ounces and was 19 and one-half inches long. He wasn’t too small, but, being three weeks early, his lungs weren’t fully developed. He was born at 11:23 p.m. and less than three hours later at 2:00 a.m. he was being airlifted to Saint Marys. “The neonatal intensive care unit nurses came on Mayo 1. They vented him to help him breath.”
How scary is that for a mother? She just gives birth and then her baby is whisked away to another hospital. Luckily her doctor, John Kammerer, was able to help. “I said I wanted to be there with him and my doctor made arrangements for a transfer.” So, at 4:30, Lindsay was being rushed to Rochester in an ambulance to be with her baby. “Cari (Conway) Hoppe drove the ambulance which was very comforting. She was a classmate of mine. (They graduated from Crestwood in 1999.)”
Jaxon was on a ventilator for nine hours. Because he can’t eat while on the ventilator he was given a feeding tube. Then, the little guy contracted jaundice. The chemical Bili Reuben in Jaxon’s blood was 14. “That is a high risk stage of jaundice,” Lindsay explained. “So he had to be under a Bili light, which is almost like an ultraviolet light that draws the pigment back out. He was under that for four days and had the feeding tube for a total of six days.”
The hospital wanted to get him on bottle feeding, but the Bili light made him very tired, so he didn’t have the strength to suck. “On day four, we started bottle feeds. We started at 10 cc and worked our way up to two-and-a-half ounces. He had to take the two-and-a-half ounces every four hours for 24 hours, without the assistance of a feeding tube, before he could go home. He started eating without assistance from the feeding tube at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, January 13 and was released Friday at noon!” He had also gained back the three ounces he lost while he had jaundice.
“Then we came home. It was awesome! He’s doing great.”
That first week of life for Jaxon was very hard on his mother, but Lindsay still finds things to be thankful for. First it was having her mother and sister in the delivery room with her. Lindsay moved in with Cheryl and Luanna around August. Her fiance stayed in North Dakota because of family matters, so she needed family for support. Then Dr. Kammerer who got her to Rochester to be with her baby, then having a friend driving the ambulance and then there was Ronald McDonald House.
“They saved me hundreds of dollars in gas, food, lodging. I can’t praise them enough. They go above and beyond your expectations and needs. They supplied quilts, taxi passes, diapers. Anything you can think of.” Luanna and Cheryl were also able to stay at Ronald McDonald House to be with Lindsay for Jaxon. “They’ve been very supportive.”
It’s been hard to go through all of this without Don, but Lindsay is looking forward to him coming to Iowa shortly. She said they haven’t discussed a wedding day yet. “We have to take it one step at a time.” That first step was making sure Jaxon was okay. Well, now he is, so Lindsay is looking to the future.
“I plan on raising my son in Lime Springs. I can’t wait to be active in the PTA. I can’t wait to teach him how to swim and for him to be Boy Scouts. And I can’t wait for Uncle Seth to teach him to fish!” He will also enjoy spending time with his siblings, Brandy and Samara Blegen and Makayla and Zander Gratton and his grandparents, Cheryl Davis, Robert Davis of Waterloo and Robert and Denise Blegen of Churchs Falls, N. D. and great-grandma Lillian Voshel of Independence, Iowa.
Lindsay also plans to go back to school. She hasn’t decided for what. She is thinking business management or medical transcriptionist. She has a knack for spelling out Jaxon’s medical problems. Whatever is in store for the Davis-Blegen family, Lindsay says she will always support Ronald McDonald House. “Please save your pop tops.”
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