Laney was born on Feburary 17th @ 12:38pm. She weighed 6lbs 15 oz & was 18 1/2 in. long. After 17 looooong hours of labor, (with no pain meds or epidural) she was introduced to this crazy world by c-section...the greatest invention ever...after the spinal block, of coarse. Donny was very interested & watched almost all of the surgery. He was taking pictures of our beautiful baby girl & describing...in detail...what my insides looked like. Leave it to Donny!! :)
After the pediatrician saw her for the first time, he suctioned 17ml of mucous out of her throat. They took an X-ray to check her lungs, which was all clear, and decided the excessive mucous was from being a c-section baby. The next day, it was still there, but there was still no reason to worry. He gave us a few ideas of what could be the problem, but the most common was reflux.
We left the hospital on Sunday ready to begin our new life as a new family!
Monday & Tuesday we were at the doctors office for check ups. Still no need for concern.
Tuesday night my world stopped dead in its tracks. I was feeding Laney & she turned blue & couldn't catch her breath. We rushed her to the emergency room here at Sutton Children's Hospital on February 21st & have been here ever since. The doctors were puzzled by what they saw. A seemingly healthy baby with a little rattle in her chest, no big deal. They decided to do a sonogram to check certain parts of her brain, X-rays to check her lungs, milk studies to see how the milk was going down...all kinds of things.
We met with an excellent team of Pediatric Surgeons who were convinced she was suffering from severe reflux, the worst they'd ever seen. They were prepared to do a surgery on her that would keep her from Refluxing, but it would also keep her from burping, too. They would put an appliance on the outside of her belly that goes directly into her stomach, called a Mickey appliance, to burp. They also call it a button. You attach a syringe to it, and pull the air out. That totally freaked me out!
The only other possibility that it could be was called a fistula. A fistula is an opening...this could be in her trachea or esophagus, but they were certain there was no connection in her airway.
Donny & I prayed...& prayed...& begged people for prayers that our little girl would have a fistula. God answered our prayers on Feburary 29th when they took her back for surgery. Like i said, the surgeons we're prepared to do a bronchoscopy to check for a fistula, but then do the reflux surgery. Around 8:00am, the surgeons called us in the waiting room & were completely in shock. They did find a fistula, & it was connecting her trachea to her esophagus. In other words, every time she drank, the milk would "go down the wrong pipe." this caused her to choke.
Fun fact: fistulas are only seen in 1:4,000. Of those 1:4,000 The type she had, is only seen 1:400. It's extremely rare!
She had her surgery to close it, and is recovering very well!!! We've been here for 12 days, and have seen 100% improvement in little Laney. Tomorrow they will do another test to make sure there are no "leaks" & the milk is flowing properly down her esophagus. We are very certain that the Lord will have Laney I his hands again tomorrow, and it will come back perfect!!
Through this whole experience, Donny & I have learned to rely fully on Him. My faith has been renewed in a way that I never thought possible. I've always loved the Lord, and trusted him, but I have realized you have to surrender it ALL to Him! We have never been more fulfilled than we are now! We know that prayer is the most powerful tool in the world!!
We couldn't have made it through all this without our wonderful friends that prayed, brought us snacks, money, clothes, everything essential to camping out in a hospital. The staff has been great and caring! Despite actually being here, we have had a good experience!
So, keep us in your prayers tomorrow, and hopefully we will be heading home Tuesday or Wednesday!!
