I (Shelly Talma) gave birth to a beautiful baby boy (Jordan Michael Eli Talma-Weber) on June 27th, 1999 in Edmonton Alberta. He was 7lbs 11oz and 20 in a half inches long.
He was what I thought to be a healthy baby. The hospital discharged us the following day without me knowing that he did not stool. I brought him home and for the next day and a half he did not stool and he barely ate. So me and Jordans aunts (Donna Carleton, Michelle Embleton) & grandmother (Arlena Weber) brought him into the ER at the Grey Nuns Hospital to get him checked. The pediatrician on call took one look at his distended belly and ordered some x-rays. The x-rays showed that he had a bowel obstruction. They transferred him to the NICU at the University of Alberta Hospital. He was there for two days when they finally diagnosed him with "Hirschsprungs Disease" after doing a rectal biopsy.
"Hirschsprungs Disease" is when the nerves of the bowel are dead. That prevents him from pooping on his own. The surgeon said that when Jordan is 6 weeks old that he will do an operation where they will give him a colostomy. In the meantime the nurses had to give him enemas everyday. Everyone from his dad, aunts, uncles and grandparents came to visit him each and everyday. For the next 3 days that he was in the NICU he gained back the weight he lost and he started to breastfeed. So the following day he was discharged. The doctors gave me instructions on how to do the enemas. They told me to look for 3 things...if he gets a fever, if he does not poop with his enemas,and if his belly gets hard and more distended. And if that should happen then I was to bring him back in.
I took him home and for the next 4 days he was doing great. He was a happy baby that ate and pooped with his enemas. Then on the 5th day he seemed to stop eating and was more sleepy. I layed down with him and woke up to him throwing up bile on himself. So me, Donna, and Michelle took him back to the ER. The nurses and doctors took one look at him and they hooked him back up to everything again. But this time he seemed worse than ever. The surgeon never told me he would get this worse because if he did I would of never walked out of that NICU with my son. They admitted him up to the Pediatric Ward. he seemed fine that day but by evening he started getting seizures.
The next day they finally did some tests and they found out that his bowel was infected that caused the seizures. So they transferred him into the PICU. Once they unbundled him he started to have a 6 minute seizure. So to stop the seizures they hooked him up to oxygen to breath for him and that seemed to work. That night he made a turn for the worst. I called everyone to come to the hospital and everyone came. Me and Donna were in with Jordan when the surgeon came in and told us that his only hope for survival is to do the operation now. We all waited in the family room at the hospital and after about a hour and a half they told us he made it. We all one by one went in to see him and then went home for a little rest but I stayed at the hospital. The next morning I went in to see him and he never woke up yet from the anestetic. The doctors did a Cat Scan to see what was causing this. And right before thier eyes his brain cells were dieing. The doctor pulled me aside and said to come with him into his office.I knew something was wrong. And I was right they said there is nothing they can do he is going to die soon.They put him into a private room in the PICU so family and friends could have one more night with him. I phoned everyone and that was so hard to tell everyone that he was dieing. So everyone came and stayed at the hospital with Jordan all day and night.
The next day after hours of discussing it me and the father of the baby (Wesley Weber) decided to donate his organs. I wanted to prevent any mother to go through the pain I was going through. In came the hope team to test his organs and to find recipients. Finally at 2:00 am they did. His heart was going to Toronto and his kidneys stayed here in Edmonton.At 3:00 am on July 14th he was taken to the OR to take his organs out. After the procedure they lead us all into a room where they had Jordan,bundled up in blankets and laying in a bassinet. Me and Wesley went in and took turns holding him, singing to him, and to say good-bye. He looked so peaceful and beautiful lying there in my arms.
My beautiful little boy was an angel. I knew he was in no more pain and that he was in heaven with God. Then one by one everyone else came in to hold him and to say goodbye to him. I walked out of that hospital without my baby. That was the worst experience that I ever felt. I know that he saved 2 lives and that helped me to start to heal.He was laid to rest on July 18th 1999 with his Auntie Dayna Mae Weber, who also died as a baby 27 years ago.
