ok..I am so sorry I had to kind of cut everyone off in my last post, I was at work and the sirens started going off because we were under Tornado warnings! So we had to all go down stairs...for about 10 minutes! anyways...
So Meconium Aspiration....Reagan made a bowel movement in the womb and swallowed it a day before she was born. When she swallowed it it got down in her lungs and when she was born, she was pretty much suffocated. They immediately took her out of O.R. and to the NICU so they could put her on a ventilator. When that one wasn't working sufficiently they needed to transport her to Baptist South (she was born at Baptist East). At South, they had something called an osolator (I'm not quite sure how to spell that!?) which it's a little bit stronger, better type of ventilator. While I was in recovery they wheeled her in her incubator next to my bed and I hardly got to see what she looked like because my bed was risen high enough for me to peak in....but I did get to touch and hold her sweet precious hand! :o) That was such a blessing for me, nobody else, not even her daddy, could touch her! (I felt realy special.) I only got to visit with her for a little bit before they had to take her to South. That morning around 3:00 AM My husband and I were sound asleep in my hospital room and a NICU nurse came in and told us that they were going to transport her to Children's Hospital in Birmingham! I was devastated. They were moving my sweet angel, of whom I hadn't got to hold, 1 and a half hours away from me!! They needed to take her to Children's because they specialize in things such as this. Reagan had to be put on an ECMO machine. (Shwon Below)
Bacially this machine has tubes attached to it, which are surgically placed in the two arteries on the right side of your neck the two tubes pulls out old blood, oxygentaes it and then enters it back into the body. Naturally I was freaked out by the concept, but what you don't understand is that I had soo many people praying for me, my husband, and Reagan that a sense of peace just washed over chad and I through this whole experience. Reagan with the tubes shown below.
Bacially this machine has tubes attached to it, which are surgically placed in the two arteries on the right side of your neck the two tubes pulls out old blood, oxygentaes it and then enters it back into the body. Naturally I was freaked out by the concept, but what you don't understand is that I had soo many people praying for me, my husband, and Reagan that a sense of peace just washed over chad and I through this whole experience. Reagan with the tubes shown below.
3 weeks went by and Reagan was still not off of the ECMO. They had it weaned down super low and they were ready to take her off that next day, but a clot had formed in the "bladder" of the machine and they had to switch it out with a new one. Because they ahd to do this, it caused a huge set back with Reagan's progression. She was almsot there and then all of a sudden it just got worse! She started gaining weight trmemndously because of fluid that was running through her. It eventually seeped into her chest cavity and was putting pressure on her little heart and lungs and not allowing them to work properly. A couple of days later, the nurse noticed she was having seizures during the night and they did a head ultrasound onher and found a small bleed. That was a very hard day for me. The head bleed is a risk factor when babies are on ECMO for a long time like she was. But, as a mother, I wasn't really expecting something like this happen to my baby... From then on we started expecting the worse in each situation and when the best case scenario became reality we praised God even MORE!
A few days later a ton of our family and a few friends came by to just visit with Reagan. It was a Tuesday afternoon which turned into night. My aunt and I walked back to see her and when we did the nurse asked us to give her just a few minutes and she was doing something with Reagan's ECMO tubes. We sort of just stepped back, but still in eyesight of what they were doing...she then looked at us and asked if we would step out of the unit for a minute and we did. I was freakign out, because I had NO lcue what was going on! We went back in the waiting area where all of our family was seated and talking and laughing and I walked in and todl them what had just happened. A few minutes later a receptionist came back there and asked for Chad and I to come with her and wait in the "Family Room"...apparently this is where they take famkilies when they need to tell them something really serious. So we, not so patiently, waited in the the romo and a Dr. came in (can't remember her name!?) and told us that they were going to have to do an emergency removal of the ECMO! Apparently an oxygen bubble got in the tubes with her blood and destroyed the machine!? We walked back into the waiting area and everyone was laughing and carrying on...when we got to the door and everyone became real silent and just stared at us...and I looked at Chad and told him to tell everyone what the Dr. told us. So, after he said that everyone began to pray. we joined a circle in the middle of this tiny room and prayed out loud for God to be with the Reagan so she won't be in pain..to be with teh Dr.s and nurses to get them all sturdy hands and knowledge of what to do. Later on the Surgeon came back and told us the surgery was over and everything went perfectly!! Reagan was tolerating coming off of ECMO just fine! and that now they can sleep better! haha. My family and I think this was God saying..."Ok people, it's time for her to come off of this machine now! If you just take her off she will be just fine!!" and she was! God is definitely good...ALL THE TIME! He just amazes me how mighty He is! Here is another picture of me and Reagan while she was on ECMO...in these pictures you can really see how swollen she became! I called ehr "Ms. Piggy" ! :o)
Iam going to finish my updates in another post. :o)
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