Praying

Praying

Saturday, June 25, 2011

18 days old

Zoe is 18 days old today and doing much better. We've had a few rough days but she's getting better. She had a small blood clot in her heart but the doctors say it super tiny and she's on medication to get rid of it. She's been up and down on her oxygen but she seems to be getting better. They did an x-ray of her lungs today and they look much better.

They've started feedings again and if everything works out she will have the oxygen tube from her mouth removed and her oxygen will be though her nose. I'm so excited because once they do that she can cry, make sounds and all that good stuff. And it's also a step up in her progress. Yea for better days.

We can never express how thankful we are for all the love, support and prayers we are getting, thank you.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Our first week...

Zoe was doing good, there were a few problems we ran into (which are common in micro preemies):

PDA: Patent (meaning "open") Ductus Arteriosus which is a fetal blood vessel near the heart, which is suppose to close in the first few days after birth but because she is a preemie it doesn't. Well this causes too much blood flow through the lungs, this makes breathing hard and increasing rick for chronic lung damage. She was given medication to close her PDA, it went from large to very small. It's not completely closed but it will be monitored via x-ray's to check her lungs. She as placed on a high frequency ventilator for the first week or so.

She also had jaundice and was placed under a bilirubin light. You might see her with sunglasses on and the picture might be blue, well that's the light (see picture below). She will be on and off this for a while.


She also had a head ultrasound to check for any bleeding in the brain. This came back all normal, no problems. She's had 2 blood transfusions but this is also very common in preemies.

They've lowered her ventilator and one of her eyes is open. She has a minor infection but she's on antibiotics to take care of that. But everything else is good. She's a very active baby kicking around and swinging her arms. As far as me, I'm doing alright. I'm recovering from a c-section which has been hard. I've been struggling to sleep and eat. But I feel so worn down because I'm pumping, not sleeping or eating well. But I'm getting through this the best I can. Thank you everyone for the love, support and prayers coming our way. Zoe knows all the love coming her way.

Zoe's Grand Entrance, 6/7/2011

Zoe my micro-preemie was born at  on June 7th 2011 at 12:54 Am at 23w 6d via c-section. This started about 2 weeks ago. I was in and out of L&D for contractions, bleeding and a UTI. We thought the medication I was on would fixed everything but didn't. On Friday June 3rd my bleeding was worse and the contractions had come back. They did an ultrasound and come to find out my cerclage (It was placed at 17 weeks) wasn't holding and I was already 6 cm dialated. My OB placed me on hospital bedrest til at least 24 weeks, which was 6 days away. They tried everything to stop the contrations and the bleeding but it wasn't working. By Monday night into Tuesday morning I had passed a clot about the size of a baseball, the contractions had got worse and the bleeding was out of control (sorry if this is total TMI). She was breached and her feet were already hanging out of my cervix so a c-section was the safest way to go fo both of us.

I called Henry and told him I was being rushed into the OR to have the c-section done, he was working so it would be about 20 mins til her got there. My next call was to a few family members, My sister in law Nani who rushed to be by side while Henry was making his way to the hospital. Henry made it the second they started and was by side during the c-section. I was in the OR by 12:15 AM Tuesday morning and she was born at 12:54 AM Tuesday morning. She was 1 lb 7 oz and 11 inches long. Henry rushed over to CHOC (Childrens Hospital of Orange County) with her to make sure everything was going well. She was placed on breathing mechines and was stablized.

At this point it was just a waiting game and all we could do was pray that she was going to be okay, it was all in gods hands. Thank you to everyone who was praying for our little angel.