NICU Day 118 ~ (April 15th)

Yes, you read the title correctly, and we are counting NICU days again as Noelle had emergency surgery last night and was readmitted into the NICU at Baptist for recovery.  She is doing well overall, but the last 30+ hours have been quite the ride, and this post will be a little lengthy in catching up the details.  I have debated many times in my mind as to how much I should share, but ultimately we desire for people to pray specifically for Noelle and hope that these details will fade in people's minds as she grows old enough to understand herself all that has happened these first several months in her life. 

~The sweet baby cupcakes that Travis & Tawn made for our baby shower~

 Yesterday began with the joyous occasion of a baby shower for Noelle at the generosity of sweet friends from our church family, and I enjoyed a wonderful time with many of the women in our church while Tom stayed home with Noelle.

~Four Generations~

We then said "see you later" to my mom who had been able to visit while  out here for an event in Greenville, SC.  My grandparents had also come over for the morning so my grandma could attend the baby shower, so we were able to get some special pictures before everyone left.

~My grandparents & Noelle's great grandparents~

~Our little family~

Soon after that, we headed up to the NICU at Forsyth to deliver leftover cupcakes, to visit, and to also have Noelle's nurses check out her inguinal hernias.  Before we had been discharged on April 2nd, they had taught me how to reduce her hernias and what to watch in regards to them.  Last Thursday we saw a surgeon who was unable to reduce her hernia for the first time.  I had not had any issues prior but we left with the instructions to let her know if it still was not reducing in a few days.  I knew what else to watch from the Forsyth nurses, so when it started turning pink on Friday night and even more red on Saturday, it was time to get it seen.  We received confirmation on Saturday afternoon when her nurses took one look at it and told us to go get it checked out, thus beginning our "bump in the road" of the last 30+ hours.

~Waiting in our triage room in the ER~

We arrived at the children's hospital ER around 6:00p.m. and while we spent some time waiting through the next six hours, the majority of the period was involved with evaluations and many attempts to reduce the hernia.  Finally, after a combined effort on the part of several doctors and the pediatric surgeon, they determined that they had no recourse but to proceed with emergency surgery.  The concern was that something was caught {often intestine}, and when it reaches the point which Noelle's had, it usually means something has been compromised.  She went into surgery at approximately midnight and was out of surgery and into recovery in the NICU within 2 1/2 hours.  The surgery went well overall, but they did discover that one of her ovaries and fallopian tubes had been caught and twisted in the hernia and had died, requiring removal.  While the results saddened us, it honestly was good news in light of the entire picture and all the possibilities that had been present.  Had it involved compromised intestine, the surgery would have been much more difficult and the recovery much longer.  Her body should adapt and operate very well with only the one ovary, and we are very thankful for God's guidance and protection through the process.

~Noelle recovering after surgery~

We were able to see her shortly after she was admitted into the NICU, and it was heartbreaking to see her tiny body after so many hours of trauma.  She was extremely pale and still under the influence of the anesthesia, but she did hold onto our fingers and showed faint signs of her normal self. 

~Holding onto Daddy's finger~

~Holding onto Mommy's finger~

We went home and slept for a few hours before heading back up to the hospital and were encouraged to see more signs of improvement as the afternoon progressed.  They expect her to be extubated sometime tonight or early tomorrow, and we hope to be home by Wednesday at the latest.  Ultimately, we know that God had this timing already planned and had everything in place for her to receive the care He desired on this specific day.  We knew she would eventually need this surgery, we had just planned for it several months down the road and were not expecting this to happen in the manner that it did.  Still, we are very grateful that we can "check this off the list" of things to be accomplished in Noelle's tiny life and pray that she will recover quickly and be back to her normal self.

Tonight, she looked much better than she did nearly 24 hours previously, and we cannot thank you enough for your continued prayers.  Our biggest concern right now is her breathing and the need to come off of the ventilator as soon as possible.  She already has CLD {chronic lung disease}, and each day on the ventilator only adds to the issues with her lungs.  We will continue with daily updates while she is in the NICU and look forward to the day we can again bring her home.  Thank you so much for you continued love and support and your faithful prayers before the throne of grace.  God has been faithful to see us to this day and will not leave us for one moment of this process.  We are ever grateful that He holds our days in His loving hands.

NICU Day 69 ~ (February 14th)

Well, our Valentine's Day ended up being pretty rough, to say the least.  It started out well with no changes being made to Noelle's care, and she had a good morning although her acid reflux was still bothering her quite a bit.  Still, I was able to hold her for a short while and spend some sweet time with her.  However, everything changed this afternoon after her eye exam.  I had left the hospital for a few hours to get some things done and received a phone call from the NICU.  My heart always skips a beat when I see that number, but they informed me that she was okay but that they wanted my consent to transfer her to Baptist for laser eye surgery.  The vessels in her eyes are growing too quickly and need to be dealt with as soon as possible.  Tom and I gave our consent and rushed to the hospital in time to meet the transport team and say goodbye to our Forsyth NICU family.  They have assured us that we will be allowed to return once she has been cleared after the surgery, but we're still looking at a week or two being away from our "home."  I knew I would have mixed emotions the day that Noelle moved to NIC 2, so being transferred completely out of the hospital in which we have lived the past 9+ weeks was/is extremely disconcerting.  We had lots of hugs "goodbye" with promises that we would see everyone again soon, and we're praying that that will indeed be the case.

 ~Exhausted Sweet Baby Girl~

Noelle seemed to handle the transport fairly well, but by the time she was starting to get settled into her new place, I could tell she was getting very tired.  She had been awake for quite some time, and since she was being admitted into another hospital, she was constantly being touched, poked, and prodded.  She had to have yet another eye exam, and shortly after that is when she decided she had had enough.  She clamped down, quit breathing, and as Tom half jokingly put it tonight, "she proceeded to take another 10 years off our lives!!"  She has done this once before, but today the episode lasted longer, and they had to do some chest compressions and bag her for about 30-45 seconds.  They almost intubated her again, but thankfully she recovered and started breathing on her own.  The evening still has been up and down as she has had one "brady" (dropping of her rate) after another.  She is absolutely exhausted, and it is obvious that she knows she is not in familiar surroundings.  I never thought I would be wanting to hear the alarm sounds from our old NICU, but after the new monitor sounds all evening, I found myself just wanting to hear the normal alarms to which I am accustomed.  I know what every one of those sounds mean, but here, everything is different.

 

 ~Holding Mommy's Hand & Trying to Get Comfortable~

She finally seemed to settle down late tonight, and we are praying she gets some good rest and can adjust well to her new environment.  She will have to have another eye exam tomorrow, and from there surgery will be determined.  I know it is probably harder on us than it is her, but she is definitely aware on some level that these are not her regular nurses, and this is not her normal space.  It was incredibly hard to leave her tonight.  At "home," all of her nurses know her, her likes and dislikes, her history, her tendencies, and they really do love her and care for her incredibly well.  The nurses here are good as well, but the atmosphere here is completely different than what we had before.  Honestly, I dislike it all very very much, and God is teaching me patience and a new level of contentment like never before.

 ~Noelle's New Corner~

There are still blessings through this.  Her doctors are exactly the same, since all of her neonatologists at Forsyth are actually from Baptist.  It is also a huge blessing that she is here for something more "minor."  Twice, they have had her papers ready to transfer her when they thought she was developing NEC and another time during all the issues with her heart.  Thankfully, this issue is not as serious in many respects.  Still, it's scary and disconcerting, and we're praying that she can do well through this and be back "home" at Forsyth very soon.  We are now readjusting our schedules and plans again so that we can be available to her as much as possible through all of the transitions and procedures. We should learn more tomorrow about what is exactly happening with her eyes and what the ramifications are for her, and we will definitely continue to keep everyone posted.  Thank you so very much for praying for us.  I know that you have not stopped even through the good days, and that is an incredible encouragement to us as we hit the "rougher" days.  God continues to make Himself real to us and show us that He is in control, not us, and we know He will continue to see us through.