Sunday, August 8, 2010

She's Here

Baby girl arrived on Friday, August 6th.  She weighed in at 8 pounds, 6 ounces, and was 20 inches.  She was alert, and absolutely beautiful (not that I'm biased or anything).  I am hoping to write out her birth story very soon, but we're a little preoccupied with helping our baby girl fight.

Things have taken a turn for the worse.  I realized she wasn't acting right as of last night.  We were to be discharged this morning, but after expressing my concerns to the nurse, one thing led to another and our baby girl ended up in the NICU.  The hospital quickly informed us that they could not handle her, and transferred her to a major teaching hospital in Baltimore.

She is currently in the NICU where they are trying to get answers.  It seems that she has a very rare metabolic disorder - one that means she cannot process certain proteins.  Because of her body not breaking down proteins, ammonia levels are very high in her little body and are toxic.

From here, the hospital's plan is to 1) lower the ammonia levels, 2)determine which enzyme she is genetically missing to determine which type of protein she cannot tolerate and 3) find a diet that will work so that she can thrive.

Things are very serious.  The high ammonia levels can have very severe consequences.  We are extremely blessed that we picked up on some early signals that something just wasn't quite right.  We are also very fortunate that the hospital acted so quickly, and that she now is with a team of fantastic doctors.

Please pray to whatever or whoever you believe in.  We are reaching out to anyone and everyone to please pray.  We need things to go well over the next few days and for her little body to get rid of the toxins.

And here's a picture of our cutie:

14 comments:

  1. I am so sorry to hear that there is a health issue, really sucks :( I am keeping you in my thoughts and prayers and hope that the problem protein gets identified quickly and you can take your cutie home to enjoy being a new parent and bonding with her before you have to go back to school!

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  2. She is so beautiful! I've been thinking of you three all day and have been doing some major praying. Jon, my hospital guru says she is at the best place to be so I know she's in good hands. Hoping they lower her ammonia levels tonight...xoxo

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  3. Look at your sweet baby girl! Congrats, mama! I'm so sorry to hear that it's been a rough start, but I'm very happy you were all able to notice something was off. I'm sending lots of healthy, healing thoughts your way.

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  4. She is so gorgeous. I am glad you noticed something was wrong and alerted the nurse, and that they jumped to address it ASAP. You'll be in my thoughts.

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  5. She is absolutely gorgeous. We will certainly pray hard for little Miss and hope that they figure out the best course of action very soon. Keep us updated if you can.

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  6. Hey sweet girl, sending big prayers your way! She is absolutely beautiful!

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  7. Your daughter is beautiful, congratulations!

    I am so sorry to hear about her metobolic issues. I will be thinking about your family this week and hoping for the best.

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  8. Oh, Katie, she is such a gorgeous girl and I'm sending many prayers your way.

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  9. She is beautiful! I will be praying for you and Baby Girl and hoping that you guys get some answers SOON!

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  10. She's beautiful!! Congratulations!

    I am so sorry about the health issues, but it sounds like she is in great hands now and will be on the mend soon. Sending tons of prayers and positive thoughts your way!!!!!

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  11. Your daughter is absolutely gorgeous! I will definitely be saying A LOT of prayers for her as well as you and Ian. Stay strong for your little girl, I know she'll come out of this healthy!

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  12. Oh she's gorgeous, perfect, wonderful! I'm so sorry for the bad news, but all kinds of good vibes are coming your way from me.

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  13. She is beautiful! I am thinking healthy thoughts all the way for you guys!!

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  14. so many prayers being sent your way! hoping your sweetie gets well very soon!

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