Still In The Hospital (Update)

In light of recent developments we're sorry that we've been unable to post anything fun in the past few days. As some of you may already be aware, we were discharged with Ava from the hospital on Sunday night around 6:30 pm, excited to finally be heading home after a long, arduous labor. However, at 10 pm as Emily was about to get Ava ready to eat Ava became dusky and was having difficulty breathing with brief apnic spells. We were able to stimulate her enough to return to normal breathing, and upon advice from our doctor, headed to the ER. She was admitted to Peds for monitoring, but quickly had several more "spells" accompanied by bradycardia while being monitored.

Due to these spells, it was decided by Peds that she would be best monitored in NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) along with other tests to figure out what the etiology of her apnic breathing, accompanied by oxygen desaturation was. She has not had a "spell" in over 48 hours and for that we are incredibly greatful and relieved. They have done nearly every test possible including testing her blood, urine and spinal fluid. She had a brain MRI and this showed a small subdural hematoma more than likely caused during childbirth (likely common in a lot of vaginal births, only they never present with complications.)

Neurology is suspecting that this very small bleed (rather the inflammation response to the bleed) may have been the cause of these apnic spells. This is relatively good news as this will heal quickly and should present with little to no further problems or complications. However, her team cannot verify this for sure and feels that we may never know the true cause of her spells. Tomorrow she will undergo a 24 hour continuous EEG to monitor her for possible seizure activity. Again, it is not felt that she is having seizures, only another thing to rule out.

She is on a very small amount of oxygen due to occasionally having some low oxygen levels (nothing dangerous or life threatening, just lower than average). They are unsure of why this may be as well. She also has an IV for antibiotic therapy, a feeding tube for when Emily is not here to feed her (but since we’re staying in her room now they may not need it any further). Her heart rate, respiratory rate and oxygen levels are monitored continuously through electrodes and she is still under bilirubin lights (although they should come off very soon...I HOPE...she prefers to be swaddled when awake.)

So, this is the scoop for now. We are very exhausted, stressed but trying to keep up a positive spirit. We are unable to have our cell phones on while we are in her room (and for us that is 95% of the time.) As much as we may appreciate emails at some other time, it just adds another level of stress in that we feel that we have to respond. So, given the circumstances, please be understanding that we cannot respond to everyone and it would be best to just post a quick comment on here. We will try to update things on here as they develop, but again, it takes energy and we have so very little of it.

We appreciate all thoughts and prayers that our friends and family can provide. In the coming weeks when we get her home we will likely welcome help that we may have otherwise turned away simply due to the increased stress and demands that will be placed on us since she will be monitored by machine at home as well.

Thank you all for your support.

- Chris & Emily (& Ava)