HOW BEAUTIFUL!!!!
Please say a little prayer this morning for this sweet angel, Allie. Alllie is the brand new daughter of our good friends, May and Taylor. She was born on Thursday and is having surgery today. We know that God is good and we know that He hears our prayers. May and Taylor are being incredible brave and we know that God is with their family this morning!
Here is a little bit about the surgery in May's own words:
As many of you know by now, I had an ultrasound on Tuesday to check for sufficient amniotic fluid, and they saw a suspicious fluid collection around Allie's right lung. My OB referred us to see a maternal fetal specialist Wednesday morning. We went into the appointment very optimistic, expecting him to tell us it was just a shadow or nothing of much concern. After an extensive ultrasound, the maternal fetal specialist told us that Allie had a diaphragmatic hernia on her right side. Loops of her intestine and her liver had moved up into her right lung cavity pushing her heart to the left side and obstructing her right lung from sufficiently forming. He was very concerned that once out of the womb, she would be unable to breathe and had a high chance of not surviving, even with ventilator support. You can imagine our initial shock. He informed us that we would have to have a c-section at LeBonheur with specialists of many different types assisting in the birth and initial stabilization of Allie. He wanted me to be admitted directly from his office, but as LeBonheur has no way of caring for adult patients, that was not possible. We left the doctor's office with strict instructions for bed rest and to arrive at LeBonheur at 530 the next morning (her original due date) for the delivery. I'm not sure if it was the stress from all of the news that day, or just the mere closeness of her due date, but I ended up going into labor overnight. I had never even had a single contraction up to that point. Thankfully the specialist had worked that into his intricate plan as a contingency, and he had me admitted to Methodist Germantown for stabilization prior to transfer via ambulance to LeBonheur for my scheduled C-section.
The OR was a very busy place with 2 OB's, 2 anesthesiologists, 2 neonatologists, a pediatric surgeon, 2 L&D nurses from Methodist Gtown, 2 pediatric nurses from LeBonheur, along with numerous other personnel, all with some assigned role during the procedure. I am so very thankful for each and every member of that team. The next few hours are a little hazy for me. I got to see her once she was stabilized, before they transferred her to the PICU. And to my surprise, after recovery, they rolled my bed into her room prior to my ambulance ride back to Germantown, and I got to hold her :) Her amazing nurses had decorated and bedazzled her room with her name and it was covered in pink. The bumpy ride back to Germantown with NO pain medicine, was bearable, knowing she was in such good hands.
Allie has been such a fighter and has exceeded what anyone thought she would in the last 3 days. She remains on the ventilator and while xrays have shown that some of the bowel has come down on its own, there is only about 20% of her right lung there. Her left lung and heart are functioning great, though.
The plan is for her to have surgery tomorrow morning to pull the intestines and liver down, and then repair the hole in the diaphragm, either with her own tissue or external tissue if she doesn't have enough. There are risks associated with the surgery including bleeding, infection, resultant scoliosis from abnormal muscle contraction, and the lungs could go into "shock" from the surgery and quit working. The physicians have said even if things go in our favor, we will likely be here for 4-6 weeks.
We so appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers. I guess specific prayer requests at this point would be a successful surgery in the morning with no complications, no infection, a quick weaning from the ventilator once she recovers from surgery, that her intestines would work properly after surgery so that she could be transitioned to breast milk through her stomach instead of the iv nutrition she's getting now.
It is so obvious that God has been present during this difficult time from the very beginning. He has performed miracle after miracle after miracle. He blessed us with an amazing 8 lb 14 oz fighter. She is so tough! She continues to amaze the doctors and nurses every day. We are so thankful for each and every hand that has cared for us. The medical staff, both at Germantown and at LeBonheur, has been phenomenal!! We have been floored by the outpouring of support and are truly grateful to God and to you guys for helping us make it this far!
14 weeks - 11.2 ounces and growing by the day! We still aren't sleeping past 5 a.m. most days but that's ok. This morning we actually got up and went running before work - Oliver and I used to run before work most mornings but this is the first time since she was born that we've all been before work!
