Son, born 9 weeks premature in 2009, to celebrate 2nd birthday after overcoming obstacles
Two Christmases ago, as most families basked in the glow of fellowship and presents, John and Tracey Carden of Woolsey were in a north Georgia hospital.
Little did they know their Christmas present would be coming that day, nine weeks early, in the form of their son Tristan.
Tracey had been admitted to the hospital five days earlier because of complications with the pregnancy. When a technician wheeled in to perform a twice-daily ultrasound exam, the Cardens were familiar with what to look for: a reversal of blood flow in the umbilical cord. And that’s just what they saw on the monitor.
The technician “didn’t want to tell us what was coming,” Tracey Carden said. “She said the doctor would call us. But we knew where this was going.”
Soon, the Cardens were wheeled off to emergency surgery and Tracey underwent an emergency C-section.
The Cardens were comforted by the fact that Tristan was “loud” as he entered the world, even though they’d been warned he might be pretty quiet. Also, he was being attended to by a host of doctors, nurses and technicians who literally filled the operating room, the Cardens recalled.
“We heard him when he came out, but I think the only other thing I heard before that was my own heartbeat waiting to hear what was going to happen,” Tracey Carden said.
At two pounds, 10 ounces, Tristan Carden was an itty-bitty thing. But there was plenty of fight in him, which he would need in the weeks and months ahead.
From the outset, he was tough enough to forego a ventilator, just getting oxygen through a nasal unit. It was expected that he would stay in the hospital until February around his regular due date.
But then “somebody threw us a curveball” just a week later, Tracey said. Tristan needed intestinal surgery, which involved a brief stay at Egleston Children’s Hospital in downtown Atlanta. Several days later and Tristan was back to his original NICU where he was well on his way to his main job: growing as much as he could.
Tristan made it home in February, finally able to bond with his big brother Jacob, who was unable to be at the hospital much because of medical restrictions.
That wasn’t quite the end of Tristan’s ordeal. In June he developed a likely complication from the intestinal surgery and had to go back for a follow-up surgery at Egleston. Just over a week later, he had recovered and was at home.
And John and Tracey said they will forever be indebted to the March of Dimes organization, which played a big role in the neonatal research and also the medical equipment that helped save Tristan’s life.
The couple also plans to start a support group to help parents who are caught in a similar situation. There are so many things that are different with a severely premature birth, Tracey Carden said. She didn’t get to hold Tristan in the operating room, as he had to be attended to and then rushed off to the neonatal intensive care unit. There was no time to pose for pictures.
And there were no flowers and balloons in Tracey’s room, as friends were unsure how to react to Tristan as his young life hung in the balance. But the Cardens met other couples who went through the same trials and tribulations who were able to help them. Now, they hope to offer the same comfort and understanding to others.
Although it was delayed several months, the Cardens did celebrate their formal “non traditional” Christmas in February after they came home with Tristan.
Jacob was a real trooper during the whole ordeal, staying with his grandparents while his mom and dad were at the hospital around the clock and having a Christmas without his family. He also had to deal with seeing his parents in bits and pieces over the proceeding several months, “and he kind of barely saw us in our exhausted state,” Tracey Carden said, recalling the times she and John would come to their Woolsey home to rest.
Today, Tristan Carden is as charming a 2-year-old as anyone could hope to meet. He loves having company, and has a cute mischievous side too.
He looks just as normal as any other kid his age. Save for a scar on his belly, it’s impossible to tell the ordeal he went through.
Tristan’s Christmas birth and the Cardens’ subsequent delayed Christmas will be a part of their family lore forever.
Tristan, indeed, will go down in the record books as the Cardens’ favorite Christmas present ever. They do say, after all, that the best things come in tiny packages.
