Midday on Friday, May 2, we had to let the nurses take Ella Cate to NICU so that they could monitor her closely. The doctor told us that they would do another Echo on Monday to see if the ductus had closed and they would then let us know what we would do next. There were many possibilities at this point. There was a possibility that when Ella Cate's ductus closed, she could begin to experience heart failure and if that happened, they would immediately fly her to Cleveland, OH to perform open heart surgery on her to fix the problems. If that were to transpire that would put me (Aaron) flying with her and that would have left her mother (Laura) in the hospital in MS recovering from childbirth. Another possibility was that Ella Cate would have no symptoms of heart failure when the ductus closed and that would mean that it would be an issue that wasn't near as urgent. The latter is what we were praying for! So, here it is Friday and we know we have to wait til Monday to run the test and meanwhile, we have to watch Ella Cate closely to make sure she doesn't go into cardiac arrest. Saturday and Sunday were two of the most miserable days of our lives! Thankfully, we had friends that visited and family that stayed and experienced it all with us.
During this time, as I mentioned, Ella Cate was in NICU. Over the weekend, Lau
ra and I made countless trips down the hall and were allowed to visit and feed our new baby while she remained connected to machines that monitored her heart condition. There were a couple times that we were allowed to bring our other daughter, Caroline, in to see her sister. It was very difficult each time we had to leave Ella Cate in NICU and could not bring her back to our room with us. It was beginning to set in heavily that we had a sick child and this is not the way it was supposed to happen.
Again, our family, friends and our faith was our strength! Over the next two days, we began to get calls from numerous people from all over the place wondering how our baby was doing. Folks began to tell about how many people and how many churches were praying for her and for us during this time. It was incredibly humbling to hear that so many people cared and were concerned for us during this time. We felt the prayers! We felt the Lord give us strength! It's strange how in such a hard time that you can be so blessed...we were feeling the good come out of a bad situation.
During this time, as I mentioned, Ella Cate was in NICU. Over the weekend, Lau
ra and I made countless trips down the hall and were allowed to visit and feed our new baby while she remained connected to machines that monitored her heart condition. There were a couple times that we were allowed to bring our other daughter, Caroline, in to see her sister. It was very difficult each time we had to leave Ella Cate in NICU and could not bring her back to our room with us. It was beginning to set in heavily that we had a sick child and this is not the way it was supposed to happen.Again, our family, friends and our faith was our strength! Over the next two days, we began to get calls from numerous people from all over the place wondering how our baby was doing. Folks began to tell about how many people and how many churches were praying for her and for us during this time. It was incredibly humbling to hear that so many people cared and were concerned for us during this time. We felt the prayers! We felt the Lord give us strength! It's strange how in such a hard time that you can be so blessed...we were feeling the good come out of a bad situation.
Still, it was hard. We had to hold to little victories along the way. Everytime we went into the NICU to see Ella Cate and everytime we saw that her oxygen levels and her heart rate were good, we would thank the Lord. It was still constant worry. The fear and pain was horrible at night when we had to leave her for the evening and knew anything could happen while we slept. We felt guilt. But, once again, God gave us strength and understanding.
Finally, Monday came. It came time to do her Echo and see if her situation had gotten worse or maybe it had gotten better. Maybe it would be that her ductus closed with no symptoms of heart failure and it would be something that she could live with for awhile and we could take her home! Sure enough, the ductus had closed! We were rejoicing!!! They told us that she seemed to have no symptoms at all from her ductus closing and that meant that she was getting enough bloodflow for the time being. They told us we would probably be able to take her home in a day or two. We could not believe the miracle and blessing (AGAIN) we had just witnessed! Our prayers had been answered! We would go home on Tuesday, May 6.
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