Day 4

Chris and I have been rotating who goes home and gets a good night's sleep and I was the lucky one. When I got to the hospital there were doctors and nurses swarming her room. Chris was standing in the hall and told me not to go in. Her blood pressure had dropped really, really low and everybody was frantically trying to stabilize her. They gave her dopamine and epinepherine to help with her heart function, extra fluid in case she's dehydrated, fentanyol to help with her profusion (blood flow), antibiotics, hydrocortizone (a steroid), calcium and potassium, a blood transfusion, and completely paralyzed her ALL to increase her blood pressure. They also drew blood to test for any infection and took a chest x-ray to see if her lungs had collapsed. Fortunately they hadn't! The doctors don't know what caused the drop in blood pressure so they covered all the bases to be sure. She's been resting peacefully since.



I asked her cardiologist why delay the surgery. He said they were waiting for the baby things (jaundice, infection, different ultrasound things) to go away. When she was in the NICU she was started on antibiotics but looked like she didn't need them so she was taken off. Now they've started her back on them in case there is infection and we'll have those results in a couple days. We're beginning to think she won't come home without first having her surgery which is good and bad. Good because she needs it, obviously, and we'd very much like to have this all behind us sooner than later. Bad because we want her home to grow bigger and stronger. As I'm being educated with her condition I've learned that although she has a heart disease her biggest problem will be lung disease, not being able to breath. I understood initially there'd be breathing problems but I was under the impression once her heart was fixed her lung problems would disappear. Not exactly. It could take years before she might function at a normal level, possibly never.

I find myself playing the "I would rather" game. I would rather have her healthy than deal with...it's a vicious game that never seems to end happy. So many times through out the day I catch myself.

We know everything she is going through is completely necessary and that it will get better but when we look at her and she's so beat up it's impossible to remember that. She's where she needs to be I know but the other half desperately wants her home, snuggling on my shoulder or screaming at 2 in the morning. I've never changed her diaper or kissed an untapped cheek or held her for longer than 3 minutes. I feel very robbed but at the same time so lucky. There's way to many emotions to sort through. It's quite the roller coaster!

Equipment Upgrade

How are things going? Well...here's what her room looked like when we came: 2 monitors-1 to measure her heart rate, CO2 levels, blood pressure and the other is for her ventilator. She had one drip which is her nutrients and one pump to give her something, I'm not sure.

Today has been quite the day. Now she has 4 screens, 7 pumps, 2 drips, and she has been completely paralyzed. She's demanded several doctors, nurses, respiratory therapist ALL day and usually all at the same time. We knew this wouldn't be easy but there's NOTHING that could've prepared us for this roller coaster.

Crystal, this one's for you! We named her Sophie.

Love At First Sight

The troops got to come down Thanksgiving morning and see their long awaited sister. Tatum was thrilled! She practiced all night how to hold a baby and how to be soft and gentle. She immediately fell in love, she talked and sang songs to her, rubbed her head and kissed her little legs. I felt really bad she couldn't hold her but she seemed content enough with what she was able to do.

Tucker was also excited to see her, just not as excited. He looked at her for a minute or two and was done after that. He was more interested in his chips and the play area. This is the best picture I could get.

T&T worked really hard on this art work and couldn't wait to show her. They each chose where to hang their picture. Tatum's are on the right and Tuck's are on the left.
Tucker enjoying some much needed Dad time.

After the visit we were off to try

and enjoy some yummy food.
Tuck and his dad being silly. Tuck
really needs his Dad!

Jersey, Day 2

We FINALLY got to hold her!! It's quite the process to hold her, there's SO many chords and wires but it's worth it! We've only been able to hold her twice and it seems that will be it for a while. Sniff, sniff.

Here she is snuggling with her platipus, we named it Wilma. I love to snuggle so hopefully she'll be a snuggler.

This is the one and only time she's opened her eyes. We spent half of the whole 4 minutes taking pictures rather than enjoying the moment. Her best picture yet!!

Some of her very special visitors. Bishop Guttery.

Grandma (Chris's Mom) Grandpa (Heidi's Dad)

We got lucky and a spot on the pediatric cardiology floor opened up so we were transferred. Here's Jersey's new home for the duration of her stay. This is where, when she has surgery, she will recover, basically this our home away from home. Look at all her fancy equipment.

After a very long, very exhausting, very emotional day we came home to this, pink balloons tied to forks stuck in our grass!! SO, SO cute!! Thank you very much whomever you are, it really helped to lift our sagging spirits, you have no idea.

She's here!!!

This afternoon at 2:22 pm our little baby Jersey Anderson was born. She was 5 lbs, 9 oz, 18 inches long and tons of dark hair. Heidi's labor was long, but towards the end it went very quickly. Heidi handled it like a champ and everything went smoothly.

Jersey had a more difficult time. When she was born there was an army of people around. She was having a very hard time breathing so she was immediately hooked up to a ventilator. Once the team had stabilized her she was moved to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Unfortunately for Heidi she didn't get to see Jersey for more than 5 seconds before she was rushed away with the doctors. A terrible thing for a new mother.

Upon her arrival in the NICU a series of tests were run. Heidi and I weren't allowed to be with her so we had to sit and wait in our hospital room until our cardiologist came in to tell us how everything was going. He explained that her pulmonary arteries are dilated to the point that it is blocking her airway (this is why she couldn't breathe when she was born). He also said that her right ventricle wasn't working properly. Because of this she will be monitored for the next 7 to 10 days. After that they will have a more definite answer on when they will do surgery. Either way she will have surgery, it’s just a matter of when. Ideally we would like to wait until she is a little bigger and stronger, but there is a possibility that the surgery needs to be done sooner rather than later.

At this point Jersey is stable and seems to be responding well to her treatment and meds. She is adorable and has Tucker's mouth and Tatum's nose. She's perfect!!! Heidi has been a trooper throughout this whole ordeal. She didn't get to see her newborn daughter for almost 4 hours and handled it very well. We are grateful for everyone's support and hope to keep everyone updated.
Below are some pictures of our day...

It's time...

This is Chris, Heidi's husband. I decided to make a post in honor of Heidi. Currently we find ourselves in a hospital room at St. Joes in Phoenix, AZ. Below are a series of events that lead us to where we are today.

Heidi goes to her doctor every Monday and Thursday to do a stress test and an ultrasound. This is done to make sure the baby's condition doesn't worsen or if there are any issues. So today at Heidi's doctor appointment our child failed her "stress test" and they noticed something irregular with the heart beat. This caused concern because of the diagnosed heart condition. Our doctor decided that we should go to the hospital to be monitored.

After we got here and got all settled in they hooked Heidi up to monitors to make sure the baby is okay. After about an hour and a half our doctor came in and explained they were going to induce labor. Since Heidi is almost 36 weeks pregnant the doctors determined it would be better for the baby to be out of her body than in. So to make a long story short, here we are.

Hopefully sooner rather than labor (get it?) we will welcome our little baby Jersey to our family. We are excited and nervous and we will welcome her with open arms.

BEAD PARTY IS CANCELLED

I regret to inform everyone that the bead party scheduled for tomorrow, November 25th, will be cancelled. Why you may ask??? I'm in labor at St. Joes Hospital. More details to come...

IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO IS PLANNING ON COMING, AND DOESN'T BLOG, PLEASE LET THEM KNOW.