It all started when I was 20 weeks pregnant, I was so excited to go and get an ultrasound done. My husband and I had an adorable son named Xavier and we were overjoyed that he would be getting a baby brother or sister.
At the ultrasound, things seemed fine. My husband and I decided not to find out the sex because to us it didn’t matter as long as the baby was healthy. Wow, were we in for a ride. That day after the scan I came home to a disturbing phone call. The nurse on the phone said we found something. “What do you mean you found something?” I said. Well there seems to be a bit of excess fluid surrounding the baby. I did not understand. I was sent to a bigger hospital 3 hours away for a more in depth ultrasound. As soon as the doctor came in I knew it was not going to be good. He told me that this might go away on its own, or it could possibly get worse but we had to wait it out to see which direction it was going to go. At this point it wasn’t that bad he had seen much worse. My husband and I were making the 3 hour drive there and 3 hour drive home once a week to keep an eye on things.
New years eve we were sitting at the doctor’s office after our routine ultrasound when the doctor came in and said bad news, it’s getting worse. I can’t tell you what else she said. I was blank inside. We were told that this pregnancy was probably going to end.
As much as I didn’t want to we found out the sex of the baby. “It’s a girl” the ultrasound tech said. I didn’t even smile what was the point my perfect family was not going to happen I rolled onto my side and let out a tear. I was told to come back in a couple of days now instead of a week. It was literally a waiting game now to see when this baby would pass. Finally the doctors were not happy with me travelling from so far away so I was admitted because the baby was getting worse but they were too scared to deliver so early. I had to leave my 3 year old son while I sat in a hospital room awaiting the birth of a baby I was told had very slim chances of survival.
February 15 came. I went down for my regular ultrasound and the doctor said, “We are going to try to do an in utero tap to drain this excess fluid”. It had gotten much worse in the course of one day. Something went wrong, they punctured something. I was put on a stretcher and put out. When I woke up later that night I was told I’d had the baby. I was numb all I said was “Did She Make It?”. “Yes she’s very sick right now but she made it.” She came out blue not breathing but they were able to stabilize her. Little did I know what I was in for.
The next morning I was allowed to go see her. She was beautiful. She was perfect. She was still here. I was given the news that she was very sick and they were doing everything they could to her but the outcome seemed very grim. She had 3 chest tubes and she was draining this gross yellowish fluid. Her oxygen levels were at 100% she was intubated and she was on too many drugs to start naming. Her little room had about 20 machines keeping her alive. All I wanted was to hold her to kiss her. I was told I could touch her hand but that was all. A week went by of this and things seemed to be going ok, until a greenish brown fluid started coming out. At this point she had been still draining fluid from her chest and it didn’t seem to be slowing down. Finally her fluid was so much of a concern, they transferred her to a more surgical hospital because they felt she would probably need surgery. We got there after midnight and we told she didn’t have long to live, she had a perforated bowel and it was the worse the doctor had seen in a while. Are you kidding me? She not only is battling hydrops but now a perforated bowel.
They performed her surgery that night when we got there and we waited in the tiny room crying what was happening. Finally the doc came out and said we will see what happens tonight you can go see her now. Omg I can’t even begin to tell you how much I cried. The next morning she was still here she had made it through the night. Thank god!!!!! Now we waited day by day to see when her fluid would stop.
Finally after about a month they removed her chest tubes they felt she was finally done draining. Relief we thought it was coming to an end. No not even close! One day she was starting to have sudden dips in her heart rate and her breathing levels and oxygen levels were all over the place – I didn’t understand what was going on, the nurses finally told me to go back to my room and if anything happened they would call – this was at midnight. I got the call at 6 am that something’s very wrong. I raced to her bedside. The doctors were waiting for me. Chloe has gotten very sick and we feel this is it for her. My husband and I were brought to a tiny room and asked to pull the plug on her. NO I said we will wait it out. She had gotten an infection and was so sick that only 1 out of 10 babies that got as sick as she did survive. We were told she would probably pass away that night.
I can’t even begin to tell you how much I prayed. She was now on full life support nothing else could be done, we waited until she was to take her last breath. The next morning she was still here. The team of docs came over to her bed and were shocked. One doctor told me she was amazed by Chloe – babies as sick as her usually pass away right away. After about 2 days, they started taking her off some of her drugs, she was reacting well to all the medications she was on. After about a week she was off all the major life support drugs. She was doing so well they were able to extubate her (take her of the breathing machines). She was still on oxygen but she had made so much progress. At this point she had been in hospital for 2 months.
Boy was she ever!!! Finally we got transferred to another hospital. It was for less severe cases. We stayed there for a month to make sure the fluid didn’t reaccumulate and that she was eating and growing.
I could go on and on about her hospital stay but I think I’d have to write a book! There is too much to write, this is the downsized version so my little fighter battled hydrops, a perforated bowel and suffered septic shock and made it after we were told it was all going to end. Well Chloe is a fighter she is my miracle and she is beautiful and I can’t even begin to tell you how overjoyed I am that I get to kiss her every day. Chloe was born at 31 weeks, and spent 91 days in hospital. She wasn’t held till she was 25 days old. She is now 5 months old.
