Our beautiful girl!

Rachel is still in the NICU in Greenville but doing a little better.  When I have the mental stability to write it, I will sit down and tell you about her birth story, not only for you but for myself as well.  God has brought us through so much in the past three days and I know He will watch over and protect us through all that still lays ahead.

For now I will share that Rachel was airlifted from the hospital where she was born  on the 21st, because of her struggles breathing, her white blood cell count, and an enlarged heart.  The pediatrician warned me that they may have to do heart surgery on Rachel but they would know more after doing an Eco.  When she arrived in the NICU they did a series of tests including the Ecocardiogram and they determined that Rachel's heart was a little enlarged but that was probably due to the stress of the birth.  What they determined to be the problem was a valve in her heart that is supposed to shut off and seal shut after birth allowing for proper blood flow from the heart to the lungs and it had not closed, thus the breathing issue.  The doctors felt that this problem would correct itself over the next 24-48 hours after her birth, so far this problem as continued to improve each day.

When Rachel was placed in the unit, she was under an oxygen hood and Friday night they were able to take her off the hood and put her on oxygen nasal cannula's.  This blessed improvement meant that when I was released, we would be able to come and hold her for the first time.  Of course my husband got to hold her briefly in the O.R. but I had not yet done anything more then hold her finger tips prior to her being airlifted out, you can't imagine what that does to a mother when she hasn't held her baby under these circumstances.  Other concerns continue with Rachel such as her high white blood cell count, her low platelet count, and of course her pulmonary issues and presently she is being feed through a tube.

This morning we got a call very early, that Rachel's platelet count had dropped to a dangerous level and they were going to need to do a platelet transfusion.  We hope and pray that daily Rachel will continue to improve and that we MAY be able to take her home late next week.  They are currently working on a room at the Ronald McDonald house so I can stay up there for the week and be near Rachel more often and hopefully feed her when she is ready for that.  Please continue to pray for our family and Rachel.  I am an emotional roller coaster as you can imagine between all that is happening to Rachel, the shock of her health, trying to heal from the c-section, and the hormonal overload I still seem to be under.  We already know we are surrounded  by a thousand prayer warriors and our local family and church support is amazing.  So many have walked in the shoes we are in right now, but when your doing it yourself you sometimes feel alone in it.

Thank you for all of your sweet comments, they do a lot to lift me up when I think I can't go any further and yet I know we still have a long way to go.