I went back to sleep and told Will to wake me up when they got back, after about 30 minutes he came back to our room...but without Weslee. I immediately knew that something was wrong and a million things ran across my mind. My husband tried to explain to me what they said but he was just as scared as I was so not much was making sense. All I knew that our sweet girl was now all by herself being monitored in the nursery. After what seemed like an eternity, but I am sure was only a few minutes, the pediatrician came in to talk to us.
The pediatrician told us that Weslee's oxygen levels were low and that she had some type of infection. When she was born she had a temperature of 101 but no one really seemed to think that was a big deal. The pediatrician spouted out a million different reasons that her oxygen levels could be low and why she had an infection but it all just sounded like "blah blah blah" to me. They told us that they were going to monitor her for the next hour in the nursery and have a neo-natologist come check her out and then we would decide what to do from there.
After about an hour the doctor came back and told us that she was not improving and they would be taking her to the NICU, cue water works. Weslee's oxygen levels were in the upper 60s and low 70s, when they should of been 98-100. They were not certain what the infection was or where she got it from but were going to begin running tests on her, and they started blood work. The sweetest nurse brought her to me before she was taking to the NICU. I was so happy to see her since the previous night was the last time I held/seen her and that seemed like such a blur.
My husband went with her down to the NICU to see where it was and to make sure our lil chickadee was okay, and not alone! It was so very hard to watch them take her away and not be able to go with her, silly c-section! Though I was determined to get down to her as soon as I could, so I think that helped me recover from my c-section fairly quickly! (at least enough to walk..waddle..down the hallway to her!)
The hubby took this oh so sad picture of her when they got to the NICU, and it took me 2 days before I could look at it!..just kept telling him I didn't want to see all the wires. Poor girl and all of her wires and bruises!
Friday night my brother and sister-in-law came in from Oklahoma! I was SO excited to have them there!! Something about having all your family there when you are so scared makes you feel a little better. My brother is finishing up his residency so it was so nice to be able to ask him questions about what everything meant (even if he kept saying he doesn't know anything about newborns, he is studying cardiovascular stuff)! We took both of them back to see their niece and it was so much fun! I can't wait for their sweet girl to be here in October!!
They continued to monitor sweet girl's oxygen levels and the amount of oxygen she was on to help her breath. At first they thought she may have swallowed meconium because of the c-section causing her oxygen levels to be low and have trouble breathing, then they did a couple of chest x-rays and found that she had amniotic fluid in her lungs, also due to the c-sections. When babies are born normally this fluid is pushed out because of the birth canal and squeezing of the baby and Weslee didn't have that happen to her. In order to figure out what the infection was they took a couple of blood cultures. The blood cultures took 72 hours to come back each time but they kept telling us no new was good news! Then they told us that they wanted to do a spinal tap on her to rule out meningitis. I knew what a spinal tap was because my brother had to have it when he was little, and I just couldn't imagine them doing that on a baby! Of course the water works begin (in front of the doctors no less) and I was just sure they were going to send me to the psych ward with as many times as I had cried in front of them. They were going to do that spinal tap Saturday and we should have the results back Sunday morning! The PA was going to perform the Spinal tap and would come and tell us when they were done. It was the longest wait ever and then the PA came in, he told us that they got a "dry tap" which means they missed the mark and were going to have to do the spinal tap again. My heart just sank when he told us this, and then anger set in because they were going to have to repeat the spinal tap. It was terrible to think about Weslee having a spinal tap but now she was going to have TWO!!! They wouldn't be able to do the spinal tap till the next day, so we were back to waiting.
The next evening they did the spinal tap and so we then had to wait 24 hours for the results. In the meantime they had already started Weslee on an antibiotic that would help with 98% of the infections in newborns so they were pretty sure that they were already treating the problem. Sweet girl's oxygen levels were becoming more stable and they were able to turn down the amount of oxygen she was receiving. I think she knew that her oxygen levels were getting better because she kept trying to take the oxygen out of her nose! Monday morning came around and we got her spinal tap results and they were great and she did not have meningitis!! This was such amazing news and they told us then that as long as her oxygen levels kept improving and that her blood work came back normal each time (they were watching her white blood cell count) we might get to go home on Wednesday. This was the first time that they gave us an end date so we were beyond excited!
Tuesday rolled around and her white blood cell count was back to normal and she was completely off oxygen!!! Her daddy and I prayed so hard for her as well as many many other people. She was such a strong little girl and quite the fighter according to all the nurses! We still had one more blood test to pass on Wednesday morning but it looked like we were going home Wednesday!
Side note: My sweet hubby began his summer classes that Monday (he is getting his mechanical engineering degree) and was trying to keep his sweet family together! He was absolutely amazing!! We stayed at a hotel that is connected to the hospital through all of this after I was discharged (thanks to my wonderful parents again!) so that I could feed Weslee and so we could be close to her! So Will was going to class all day and then coming back immediately to spend time with her and to make sure I was still holding it together. He got up with me at night and early in the morning to go and feed her too! He was exhausted but put Weslee and I before anything else! I knew he was going to be an amazing daddy but this completely reiterated how lucky us girls were!
Wednesday morning my mom and I went to see sweet girl bright and early! I was trying so hard to not get my hopes up about going home that day but it was hard! We got there and the buzz around the NICU was that we were going home!! It was quite the big deal because they said normally babies don't get discharged from this section of the NICU that they usually have to work their way down the NICU levels (apparently they are three levels and we were on the middle level) before they get discharged! Weslee's doctor came about 10 minutes after we got in there and told us that her blood work still looked great and that her oxygen levels stayed perfect all night long!! She was GOING HOME!!!!! Weslee needed one more dosage of the infection (which we never knew exactly what it was, but she probably got it once again from the c-section) and we would be on our way home!
A little photo shoot before we headed home! Sweet girl looked so so precious! Since Will had school my mom and dad took us home from the hospital! I am such a lucky girl to have such amazing parents that will drop anything to help me and to make sure we are all taken care of!
Here we are in our carseat ready to go home! It was such a sweet moment to finally be going home after 6 days at the hospital! I know that we were also so blessed to be going home so soon! Some of the sweet families we met in the NICU had such a long road ahead of them, and I can't imagine how hard it is for them! We feel incredible blessed and thank God for taking care of our sweet girl! Will and I truly had to lean on God and that fact that he was watching over Weslee and guiding the doctors the whole time!
Weslee Grace came home on June 4, 2014 for the first time and we have been loving every moment of it...even those nights that we don't get any sleep, or the days she just cries to cry! Having our sweet girl stay a little extra time in the hospital really opened our eyes and made us realize we need to cherish and enjoy every moment with her!
No comments :
Post a Comment