Availeth Joy: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

November 21, 2011
If you haven't read Avey's birth story you can read it here.
Today we had a little girl. When we arrived at the hospital we were immediately hooked up to fetal monitoring and shortly thereafter were told that Avey was having some pretty massive heart decells. The hospital staff wasted no time. We were in and out of the OR within the hour. A few weeks before I went into labor I noticed decreased fetal movement but I thought that it was because sister was growing and because she was bigger she wasn't able to move around as much. I googled it and other mothers noted that they had decreased fetal movements in the last few months of pregnancy so I didn't think much of it.


I had a friend who went to the ER multiple times during her pregnancy for decreased fetal movement and it never amounted to anything. It was my greatest concern that I would be a bother. I didn't want to be that girl but looking back I wish I had been.





When Avey was born she was swimming in a big pile of meconium (a baby's first bowel movement) they theorized that she'd been in it for quite some time. Her umbilical cord was  stained dark green. The doctor said that she was stressed because my placenta was not functioning like it should have. It had weird purple, rubbery, lesions on it. The doctor said that it looked like swirls or waves. After 20 years in the medical field she had never seen anything like it.


During Avey's birth I remember her commenting "The placenta looks old." After having the placenta sent to the pathologist's lab they still were unable to determine what happened exactly. One thing is for sure-- sister was not getting the nutrition she needed. Which was why she was so small. 5 lbs 1 oz and term.


"They took Avey to the nicu because her blood sugar and temperature is low. I only got to see her for ten minutes today."


November 22, 2011
Brady and I received a phone call from the nicu this morning saying that I could try to give Avey a bottle for her 9am feeding if we made it down to the nicu in time. My nurse almost didn't let me go. They had just removed my epidural and my legs were still a little numb. It was hard to stand up and make it to the wheel chair but I was determined. I hadn't seen Avey in 18 hours.





We only stayed in the nicu for a short amount of time because my nurse told me not to overdue it. They told me I could come back for every feeding if I'd like to. 3,6,9,12. Avey's blood sugar and temperature are still low. They gave her an IV to boost her sugars. I just hope we can take her home when we leave Thursday. I might beg them to let me stay till Friday if they don't let her come home Thursday.


Avey had her first bath today. She is so beautiful and her little cry is so funny!


"I have the most incredible husband in the world. Can not believe how well he takes care of me. Avey Williams is blessed to have such a loving Daddy."




November 23, 2011
8:42am-- Things are looking good! They told us we may have be able to have in her in our room as early as tonight! "Thank you everyone for your kind and encouraging words. I am feeling much better and I'm getting around really well. Still very sore but the incision is healing well. Avey is a champ. Her blood sugar has been perfect for the last 24 hours and she is maintaining her body temp all by herself. We are so in love."






5:12pm-- Received some pretty devastating news. Aveys platelet count is very low. They never mentioned it. I guess they've been keeping an eye on it all this time. I was shocked when pediatrics told us that they were going to have to give her a transfusion. This isn't fair. They said that sometimes when two people who have different platelet types have a baby the baby inherits the dominant platelets, which sometimes belong to the Father. If the baby's platelets are different than the mothers than after 
birth the body attacks the foreign  platelets.


If this is what had happened it could take up to two weeks for her body to get rid of my platelets. I feel like this is all my fault.  




"Keep praying. Baby girl is having a platelet transfusion. She'll probably be in the NICU for awhile."




November 24, 2011
Happy first Thanksgiving baby girl!






"Meet Availeth Joy Williams. This is right after her feeding tube came out so she still has tape on her chin. The nurse was rushing to get the tube back in so the video is a little shaky. Baby girl is so brave. She is doing so well in the NICU."













I was overjoyed when they took the tubes out of her nose and put her under a humidity hood. No more stuffy nose for baby Avey!


Still no improvement in her platelet levels. Doctors still don't know what is causing this. 







November 25, 2011
Four days old and she is so alert! They were able to remove her feeding tube today she is eating all by herself now. All we are waiting on now is her platelet count which still remains very low. The doctors are a little baffled.









November 26, 2011
The doctors no longer believe that Avey and I have different platelet types. If we did the IV IG would have fixed the problem. They don't know what is causing this. 


I was discharged today. We stayed at the hospital in the nicu all day. I refused to go home. Around 8pm we went to Target to pick up a couple things. I broke down in the parking lot. I sat in the passenger side of Brady's truck and cried because things are so different then I thought they'd be. I am not supposed to leave the hospital without my full term baby. 


I wasn't suposed to have a c-section. 


I wasn't suposed to have to ask for permission to hold my baby and change her diaper. People were supposed to ask me. I'm jealous of the nurses that get to love on her all day. I'm jealous that they get to spend all night with her while I am sent home. This is not how things are supposed to be. 


10:26am-- "Availeth is off her humidity hood, feeding tube, and everything that was wrong is perfect now except for her platelet levels, that even though she had a transfusion and IV IG, continue to drop. Please keep praying. Brady and I left the hospital at 10 last night. Pumping and feedings are keeping us busy. I am at peace and on a mission. Baby girls gonna get better."






November 27, 2011
5:14pm--"Ok. So. Here's the deal. After another transfusion yesterday Avey's platelets are at 121. Great! Now. They are going to test her again tomorrow. If the count goes up... she comes home! :) If the count stays the same... she stays till she normalizes. :/ If the count goes down... they transfer her to Medical City. :( Prayers are being answered. She is doing so much better. believe with us and for us that our little girl is healed and coming home tomorrow!"

November 28, 2011
7:39am--"Happy One Week Birthday Baby Girl!!! We will be celebrating one week of life at Baylor Frisco. Her levels stayed the same. I am a happy momma."

November 29, 2011

7:15am--"Prayers have been answered! Avey is coming home today! On her due date!"

Avey's favorite nurse!

Her going home outfit was 2385713745 times too big!

Such a proud papa!

Putting the car seat class we took to good use!

The most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

Hmmm... I wonder where I'm going?

We were so excited to get her home! I video taped the walk from the nicu to the car. 

I'm home!

Whirlwind

normal.
Three months postpartum and I'm back to normal. My body feels back to normal. 7 more pounds and I'll be back to pre-pregnancy weight.
Avey went with me to my annual physical and was as happy as a clam when we arrived at the doctors office.

Unfortunately the doc got called away on a delivery and we ended up spending two and a half hours waiting. At first we waited in the waiting room then a nurse called us back, took my weight, blood pressure and a urine sample. She ushered us into a room, told me to undress, and let me know that the doctor would be in shortly.

Note to self: Shortly means 55 minutes spent sitting buck naked on a table while your baby cries because she's hungry and needs a diaper change.

I cannot even put into words how happy I am that I wont have to do that for another year.

lunch date.
This past month has been a whirlwind. Every week my calendar has been full of lunch dates, dinner dates, weekend trips, visits from friends, and game nights. Brady and I are homebodies. Neither one of us was ever big on having a social life. I know it's one of the reasons why we fit so perfectly together. We learned early on in life how to be content in our surroundings. Every day doesn't have to be an occasion, we're solitary people, we like to be alone, we like the peace and quite.

I thought that this month would be a challenge for me because typically after a day spent with friends I need two spent at home, without plans, recovering. This month I was fueled by the steady stream of the ones we love and the ones that love us back.

It was nice to meet a friend after a terrible morning at the doctors to get my mood back on track. It was needed. It was greatly appreciated.

great grandma.
My Dads mother and I have always been close. A couple years ago she moved to Texas and the bond we've always shared became even greater. I was at her house, on her couch, gushing about the new boy I started talking to the night before I went to On the Border, the night that Brady and I sat in his truck till 4am talking about our lives, getting to know each other, laying the ground work for our relationship.

Throughout my life I remember many times sitting on her couch, confiding in her, talking to her about boys, parents--life. She was always there, always close, and always ready to take me out to the movies--to revive our spirits and renew our zeal--our passion for life.

Sadly, because of a misunderstanding after Avey was born my Grandma Sharon had not been over to see her yet. This month all of that was rectified.

yes. our christmas tree is still up. yes. i am aware that it is almost march. 

oklahoma.
We hadn't seen Brady's family since Christmas so we decided to take a quick weekend trip to visit and catch up. It was Aveys first road trip and she rocked it out. Slept the whole way there and the whole way back.

I love Brady around his family. There is a side of him that comes out that I don't get to see very often and when I do get to see it I relish every second.

It's that part of a person that only comes out around the ones that know you best. The ones that have been there since the beginning. The ones who've seen every piece of you and love you anyway. It's that part that I get to see when he's with them. It was that part that convinced me that I couldn't share my life with anyone else.

The Williams family does this thing that used to make me feel left out--they love to quote movies--not meaningful quotes but the funny, stupid, i-can't-believe-that-just-happened quotes.



They like to do it often. I used to smile and laugh along with everyone else because I didn't want anyone to know that I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about but I'm past that now because they don't do it to get the obligatory nod and laugh. They do it because it bonds them.

My family bonds while sitting around watching the movie and his does it whilst remembering them. It's a beautiful thing if you're willing to sit back and watch it all happen. My family sitting around the television while my Dad pauses to make comments for the hundredth time and his family gathered together in the living room spouting off silly quotes through laughter-- it all says the same thing. 

"I really enjoy being with you."

"No one understands me like you do." 

"I wish we could do this forever."

the sneeze.

We always have a wonderful time when we're with his family.

And slowly but surely-- the more time we spend around them--they're becoming mine too.