Amelia entered this world in a perfectly executed C-Section. Everything went great. I was feeling fine and she looked fantastic.
She was 7lbs, 10oz and 19 inches long, she scored a 9/9 on her ABGAR and is simply beautiful!
She slept a lot that first day, but woke enough for me to feed her and meet her big brother and sister (who by the way are so infatuated with her).
I had some clotting and bleeding during the day that was typically more than they like to see for a c/s patient and was super exhausted so at 9:00 I fed her one more time and the nurse took her to the nursery.
At midnight it was time it feed again and she did great- she ate a lot and even laid there and looked at me for quite a while. I was loving the intimacy with her that I debated keeping her in our room instead of going back into the nursery, but knew that I needed more sleep, so we called the nurse to take her.
That is when EVERYTHING changed. As the nurse was wrapping her up I noticed her color looked off, but it was dim in our room and newborns color is off sometimes so I didn't think too much of it. I didn't even mention it to the nurse, I just fell asleep.
As the nurse wheeled her into the nursery she noticed the color change and immediately checked her out. Turns out her oxygen level was at 53! Most likely if she had stayed with us in our room there is a very high chance she would have continued to loose oxygen without us even being aware since we were sound asleep and I would have awoke to find a dead baby in our room. I am so thankful to God that I called the nurse to take her.
The nurses came back to our room to let us know what was going on. They called the dr and he ordered a chest x-ray because her levels were not improving enough. When the chest x-Ray came back my dr found what looked to be an exceptionally large heart. The only thing he could come up with was that she has a cardio deformity. Based on some tests he did he felt that there must be a hole in the heart and it is trying to close, causing Amelia a lack of oxygen. The plan then was to air flight her by helicopter to Des Moines to a really good children's hospital where they could confirm what we thought and start some tests.
At this point, the Dr feared the worst, he ordered an air flight because our hospital didn't have the right medicine she needed, so they brought it from Des Moines. He also was worried without this medicine she wouldn't make it there by ambulance.
While we waited for the helicopter to arrive we discussed what our options were, what our future held for Amelia and even the real possibility that she might not live.
There was much sobbing, much fear and much prayer, I praise God we are in a Christian facility who calls on His name in a time like this!
At this point it was 3:30 am, my mom had come to the hospital to be with me, Greg went with Amelia and my in -laws went to be with the kids.
The next few hours while we waited to hear what the Drs at the children's hospital were going to tell us were pure torture. My mom and I crying and praying, but deep down the whole time, I couldn't help but feel that God had protected Amelia by allowing the nurses to catch her ashen coloring, how would He not heal her now. At the same time the realization that there very well could be months of hospital stays, heart surgeries and I had to at least entertain the thought of losing my baby girl.
I've always known that if God was going to test my faith it would be with my children. My worst fear is not losing one of them to this world but having The Lord take one. It's been something that I have been struggling with since Graham was born and up to now I honestly felt I could say, "they are not mine, they are Yours" but when it comes right down to it, that's my baby and I don't know how I could recover from a loss that great.
Greg called when they arrived at Des Moines and told me he'd call the moment they knew anything. Less than 20 min later (which felt like hours, mind you) he called. He said the Dr there reviewed the same heat x-Ray and listened to her heart and he said he believes her heart is PERFECTLY normal!
He said they would run some tests but he believed that she was just having a hard time transitioning from the oxygen levels in utero to the oxygen levels out here, he also said she probably had some fluid in her lungs which caused the sudden drop in oxygen we saw earlier.
Over the past 7 hours they have monitored her, run blood work, done tests and are more confident than ever she just needed a little NICU time on oxygen helping her transition.
The last time I spoke to Greg (about an hour ago) she was on 25% oxygen and at 100 and had been there for three hours, so they were going to take her off oxygen and see how she did, but other than that she looked fantastic. The Dr said her vitals are perfect.
We still are confused about the chest x-Ray, but our dr here said he was concerned and had to make a diagnosis on the information he could gather here and this is why he sent her there- they specialize in these cases and they have the resources to figure it out. He said he'd rather overreact and be wrong than not and lose as baby- I couldn't agree more.
So all this to say we are not completely out of the woods yet, she still needs some oxygen and they will keep her in the NICU for a couple more days to monitor her and help her adjust. BUT, there is not heart defect, she is not dying, she is healthy and strong and will be just fine!!
My Dr is discharging me a day early so I can join them in Des Moines (like he can stop me!) ;) so Lord willing tomorrow afternoon I will be up there with them.
Please pray for Amelia, that her levels look good and she can come home Monday as planned, pray for me, that I don't over do it- I am still recovering from surgery.
But also join us in praising The Lord for his goodness in good times and bad! Praise Him for protecting Amelia and allowing the nurses to catch the problem before we lost her, praise Him for being in control all the time!!
And if you would pray for Greg and I, pray that we would daily give our children to God, they are not ours anyway, He has entrusted them to us for a short time but they don't belong to us. Pray that I remember that! Pray that we don't squander this amazing responsibility He gave us to further His kingdom through HIS children. Pray that Graham, Aliza and Amelia however long or short their precious lives are, that they would be used for eternity and would being honor and glory to God, pray they would come to know Jesus at a young age.
Thank you for your friendship all of you and for your prayers for us! The last 12 hours have been a whirlwind, and I am glad it's passed. I just can't wait to get my hands on that baby girl! :)
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