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 Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 7:00 pm
I need prayers for a friend.
There is this woman I worked with at the Family Nurturing Center (Nikki). Well, I didn't necessarily work with her, I took her spot while she was on maternity leave. Everything went well with the pregnancy until she developed Pre-Eclampsia. Ella was born thirteen weeks early on May 10th, 2007. She weighed 1 pound, 3.6 ounces and was 11.5 inches long. In the beginning Ella did all right, but soon was diagnosed with Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS). She was doing well with RDS treatment when they noticed that she had blood in her stools. On May 31, 2007 Ella had a surgery at 4:00am and then another at 5:00pm. She made it through both surgeries and was stable, so Nikki and Chad went home. They weren't even home for 20 minutes when the hospital called and said that Ella wasn't doing well and they were resuscitating her. They went back to the hospital and they tried 15 minutes before her heart rate diminished and they turned off the machines.
She only lived three weeks. =[ She was a beautiful little girl.
Nikki and Chad decided to try again in November to have another baby as soon as they were ready to try again. She did get pregnant, and her due date is August 8th (08-08-0 cool but they were going to deliver four weeks early by c-section. March 7th they found out she was having a boy, and that the baby was measuring up small. March 18th, she went on bed rest because she had +1 protein in her urine and her blood pressure was high. She had two good appointments afterwards. Then on April 17th they told her that Ethan (that's the baby's name by the way) does not have much of a chance at survival. He had not grown any for 2 weeks and was already several weeks behind. Nikki's amniotic fluid is also very low. They told her and Chad that his heart would probably just stop because he was not getting anything from her placenta. He was too small to be resuscitated even if he could survive delivery. She was admitted to the hospital on 4/18 to basically wait for his heart to give out. They put her on IV fluids to see if it would help the amniotic fluid and check for a heartbeat 2x/day.
They checked the fluid on 4/25 and it was a little better but still very low. No changes in treatment.
This past Thursday she had another ultrasound. Ethan has grown 100 grams (4 ounces), but her fluid had dropped again and now the flow of blood through the umbilical cord was 'absent', meaning there were interruptions in what should be a smooth flow. A doctor from the NICU came in to talk and told them that Ethan is big enough to resuscitate now and put in the NICU if his heart can handle the delivery. My doctor gave them a choice. They can increase the monitoring (longer heart monitoring to ensure no decelerations and daily scans to check for cord flow) and stay in the hospital and deliver as soon as one or the other go bad. Or she could go home and continue with growth scans every 2 weeks to see if he is still growing, but we would not know if he stopped getting anything at all and died in utero. They obviously chose the monitoring and delivery to at least give him a chance.
So now they wait. The doctor doesn't think it will be more than 2 weeks, but can't say anything for sure. Nikki says it's like it was when they were waiting daily for Ella to be delivered, except she's not sick at all this time. All of her labs are normal, her blood pressure is down since being on bedrest in the hospital and she feels fine.
Anyway, Ethan is still alive, Nikki is still in the hospital , and I haven't heard a new update, but they REALLY need your prayers.
So, please keep them in your thoughts and/or prayers, please.
Thanks for any prayers, I hope I don't offend anyone asking for prayers
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Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 8:18 pm
i will keep nikki in my prayers.
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Blessed Conversationalist
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Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 10:05 am
Thanks. It's such a hard time for Nikki and her husband Chad since yesterday would have been Ella's first birthday, today is Mothers Day, and she's in the hospital since Ethan probably won't make it. They're just waiting to see if he passes away or not. It's so sad. crying
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Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 10:30 am
Biyanka Thanks. It's such a hard time for Nikki and her husband Chad since yesterday would have been Ella's first birthday, today is Mothers Day, and she's in the hospital since Ethan probably won't make it. They're just waiting to see if he passes away or not. It's so sad. crying To think that Providence would take a child from her mother while she prays is appalling.
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Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 11:26 am
I will pray for them. So sad bad things happen to good people.
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Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 12:19 pm
It's awful, such a hard time for Nikki and Chad. We've been praying for Ethan to grow, and for Nikki and Chad to have strength through this difficult time. And of course, for Ethan to make it.
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Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 3:14 pm
Praying for Nikki, Chad, and Ethan, of course. Nikki is such a lovely person, I had the pleasure of working with her and she was truly fantastic. It's awful that this is happening to her again. sad
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 5:35 pm
Any new word on how Nikki and the baby are doing?
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Blessed Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 8:09 pm
yeah Biyanka, any news? i have been keeping them in my prayers.
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Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 11:25 am
Quote: Good news...still pregnant! But I'm getting aggravated with what feels like constant change in plans. Over the weekend the doc was really confident that the baby would continue to grow at least what he had at the scan 2 weeks ago (100 grams). She said that her plan was to leave him baking until the doppler flow was reversed, I got sick, or the NST's became concerning. She even took me off daily doppler flow checks and now I'm doing NST's every day, BPP's and doppler flow and AFI checks 2x/week and still doing growth scans every 2 weeks. More testing on the baby since I'm almost 28 weeks. She said she thinks we can get another 2 weeks and maybe a month in before delivery. So then yesterday a different doc came in (now I love my docs and they are 99% of the time on the exact same page) and asked if I was okay with doing another round of steroid shots since my growth scan is Thursday and they may consider delivery if he hasn't grown. I had specifically asked the other doctor "what if he doesn't grow at all" and she had said what I mentioned above about him maybe still being better off in, even if he isn't growing (for maturity purposes). Now I do understand all the reasoning...that he may grow better on the outside and they have to make that determination, but there have been no changes in anything and now they're talking about delivering if he hasn't grown. I don't understand. I'm glad about the steroid shots but I'm afraid to deliver if he is still so small and all of his tests are still okay. Yesterday was my first BPP and he scored 6/8---only missing points for no practice breathing, which they didn't expect him to do anyway because of his gestational age. All of my labs are still normal and I feel pretty good besides being sore from being in bed for 8 weeks now (4 at home before the hospital). I plan to try to clear this up with my doc today but I know it will be someone different (there are 7 in my practice). Quote: Just a response to a few things. I was given the first round of steroids at 24 weeks exactly and they feel like this may be another boost "in case" they decide to deliver. Talked to a different doc today and he really didn't give me a concrete plan or answers either. I'll keep asking. As far as asking my primary OB...I only see the MFM's...so they are my primary. I am going to ask them to consult the neonatologist. One thing to remember is that I am not sick at all...NO symptoms of PE or HELLP and my BP is completely under control with my medication...it's even down since being in the hospital. So my condition is not even a factor, which makes it a little harder even. I struggle with being a very concrete person that wants ALL the answers and I'm impatient. They say admitting it is the first sign of recovery, right!! wink I know they can't tell me anything until after the scan...my issue is that one day they tell me they think we can get another 2-4 weeks and the next day they're preparing me for delivery when the baby still looks good and nothing has changed. I trust them and their decisions...mostly it's just an emotional thing for me. I guess I'll just pray for growth and then hopefully we won't have to worry about delivery for another two weeks unless something goes wrong. Ethan is a champ...he truly is strong like the meaning of his name. I'm just so scared, especially after losing Ella. Thanks for all the support! Taken from the emails Nikki sent. The first one is from yesterday, the second from earlier today.
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Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 3:40 pm
Glad to hear that Ethan is still hanging in there. I hope he continues to grow. Still praying.
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 1:57 pm
Thanks <3
I will check my email soon and see if there is one from her.
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 5:46 pm
All right. smile I hope all is well.
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 7:56 pm
she sounds very optimistic from what i gather from her e-mails, which is really good. i am still praying for her and the baby and hope everything works out.
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Blessed Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 1:38 pm
Well, baby Ethan is here. Nikki sent me this email yesterday (May 15th) at 11:50PM Quote: So I had my scans this morning and I had no measurable amniotic fluid and Ethan hadn't grown at all. I had a c-section and he was born at 1:49pm. He weighs 15oz. I cannot believe how small he is...it's so scary. He is doing some breathing on his own but is intubated with fairly low oxygen settings, which is good. We are hoping he will stay this way, but we have experience with this 24-48 hour honeymoon period the baby's have too (from Ella). I am trying so hard to be positive but I don't understand how a baby this small can make it. I am a nervous wreck. My surgery went pretty smoothly. I am in some pain tonight because I don't like to take the pain medicine because it knocks me out and then I can't go see him. Hoping for a decent nights sleep. Thanks SO MUCH to the ladies who sent the flowers...they are beautiful. Funny how you can feel like people you've never met before are like your best friends. And thank you all so much for all the support throughout my pregnancy. I'm sure I will continue to receive it. I'll keep you updated. So, keep the prayers coming. <3
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