Update on Anna 11 days old

If you follow me on Facebook then you know that I asked for prayers for Anna on Saturday because she wasn't doing well. I didn't elaborate on Facebook because I updated my status from my phone since my internet was down all weekend.

My friend, Emily and I headed to the hospital to see Anna on Saturday. I don't call and check on Anna on the days that I go to see her, I figure I will wait and let them tell me what is going on when I get there. On the way there I got a phone call from her doctor in the NICU. He explained that Anna was on a special ventilator and that we would talk more in depth when I got there. Emily and I walked in and I was immediately scared. Typically, when I go for a visit, her nurse is sitting in a chair in front of the computer in between Anna and another baby's incubator. A nurse was sitting in that chair, but there were also 3 other nurses present surrounding Anna's incubator and then there was Anna's neonatologist for the day. The first thing I asked was if Anna was o.k., they all spoke and said "yes, she's fine". And I immediately started crying, if she was o.k. then why were all these people surrounding my baby? The doctor took us over to another computer and brought up her chest x-rays from that morning. Her right lung had air bubbles in the tissue around the lung. He explained that our lungs are filled with air, but not the tissue around it. Her left lung had collapsed. They had her on a high frequency ventilator so that she is getting 345 breaths a minute and basically doesn't have to work at breathing at all. He also said that her heart murmur was back. That he hadn't heard it for a day or 2, but when he checked that morning it was definitely back. He couldn't say if it would go away again or not.  I tried to process the information as I was getting it, but I couldn't. I was definitely glad Emily was with me because shortly after that they asked us to wait in the waiting room because they were going to try to insert an arterial i.v. so they could pull blood from it and get all the information from her blood that they need. It took about 30 minutes and they weren't able to get a vein. She's just so small and her veins are too little. We left, however, I went back later that night to spend some time with her. I left that night with her resting and doing well.

Sunday morning, I was on my way to church when I got another phone call. I thought I had prepared myself for anything and everything that was going to happen to Anna. I was wrong. Her doctor called and told me that Anna had coded and was down for about 20 minutes before they were able to bring her heart rate up and re-intubate her. He said it looked like she had aspirated some formula and when he pulled the breathing tube out, he then tried to suction as much of the formula out of her lungs as he could. He said it took about 4 times before he was able to get her to take the tube again, but that her x-ray that morning showed that her right lung was collapsing as well and through all of the intubations, her lungs re-inflated. When I got to the hospital, her doctor said that her blood work looked good and that she was resting comfortably. And she was. I could tell that she was exhausted, but she looked peaceful and her chest was rising a lot better than the day before. She is a very sick little girl and we are hopeful that we won't have anymore episodes like that again. But there are no guarantees. Her doctors and nurses are doing everything they can to make sure that one day we can bring her home and I'm very grateful to them.

We are looking at a long, bumpy, hard road ahead. More so than we thought. We are also looking at a longer stay in the NICU than anticipated, but I don't mind as long as one day I'm able to hold her, put her in a carrier, and bring her home to meet Nate and Abbie. I know God is going to care of her and give her the strength she needs to fight. He is giving us all the strength we need to fight. I just ask that you all continue to pray. Pray for her. Pray for her family. Pray for the doctors and the nurses.