Nadia is finally Home

I thank Jesus for every day he gives me with Nadia and her fast recovery.. I also have to thank some pretty amazing people... I feel like i own them my life for taking such good care of Nadia ! First i want to thank my OB Doctor Housten Moran and his amazing staff... he took such great care of me during my pregnancy and made each of my Doctor visits as normal and comfortable as possible..... I also have to mention that he went out of his way to get temporary privileges at the Vanderbilt hospital and probably had to fill out a gigantic stack of paperwork .. he also created a comfortable atmosphere during my labor and made us laugh with a couple of jokes.. he is such a great Doctor and i am so thankful to have found him!!!

Then there is Nadia's Heart surgeon Doctor Parcel ... i wish him life of good Health... he is amazing.. and all the nurses who took great care of Nadia during her 3 week stay!!

These are all wonderful people and i just cant thank them enough!!!!

Nadia's first day home was pretty interesting... it was definitely a challenge for me..!! I gave her a bath when we got home and everything went well until she pulled out her feeding tube!!

Can you believe it.. at her first day home.. what am i saying in the first hour at home!!!

Of course I freaked out.. there she is... butt naked with her tube out screaming at the top of her lungs ... I somehow managed to put it back in.. after she calmed down I checked it with the stethoscope if it was in the right place...i thought it all sounded good but I didn't do it right... I for got to check it with the syringe.. Nadia spit up and then I realized that the feeding tube must had been against the wall of her stomach when i tested the tube with a syringe it kept snapping back where it suppose to pull milk out instead.. it only took me 45 min to fix ..best of all my sister got it all on tape!! Great!! Nadia was so exhausted from crying that she slept until and threw her next feed.. poor baby I felt so bad for her she went threw so much ..!!

I can only try and hope I will get better at this!!!!

Overwhelmed

Dear Friends and Family,i know i haven't updated my blog or charged my cell phone for the past 4 days and I'm really sorry!!!

We are still at the hospital ... hopefully only for one more night.. if Nadia's Lab work doesn't show any changes we will be discharged tomorrow morning.. And i know i should be happy about going home and being with Tommy, Justin and Nadia.. but i'am extremely nervous about going home without any nurses standing just outside my door and monitors telling me how high Nadia's oz is.

There is so much i had to learn about Nadias care at home, like how to recognize early symptoms of an bacterial infection or god forbid heart failure..it makes me shake just thinking about it...even simple things like giving her, her meds or how to put the feeding tube back in if it comes out..its just so scary !!!!!!!

Every Mother knows how hard it is to take care of a newborn .. but its harder to have a "sick" newborn to take care of...!

My sweet Nadia is continuing to do well.. her nurse calls her "a trouper"... she surprised everyone with her appetite .. shes been eating so well... she started with 8 - 10 ml bold feeds and had the feeding tube running 17 ml an hour for the first couple of days ..but she continued to do so good that they decided to stop her continues feeds which is the machine that continues to drop little by little threw the feeding tube into her stomach and feed her bold feeds by mouth... what ever she doesn't finish she gets threw the feeding tube and that's not much.. maybe 10 ml each feed..she even gained a little bit... iam so proud of her but not surprised.. you cant for get Nadia is Arabic and Arabs Lovveee to eat and we don't skip meals =))!!!!

They think she will only need the feeding tube for maybe 2- 4 more weeks! Yay

I have to say... it is very depressing being 24 hours at the hospital...you see and hear so many sad things....A couple that joined the CHD meeting this past week lost their baby just a few days ago she had HLHS .. My heart goes out them and may god gives them all the strength they need..

for anyone who wants to learn more about HRHS this web site is pretty easy to understand..

http://congenital-heart-defects.co.uk/hypoplasticrightheartsyndrome.aspx

We finally made it to the 6 th Floor!!!

So it took us longer then we thought to get here but only because we had to play the waiting game to get a room on the 6th floor.

We did have few bumps down the road before getting here ..but nothing that Nadia couldn't overcome. Nadia is doing great she is just being a normal Baby who cries when she wants to eat, held or have her diaper changed..

Yesterday, a sweet friend of mine Becca who's son Colby (by the way..he is the cutest thing ever) has also HRHS told me about a CHD (Congenital heart disease) meeting that was held at the Vanderbilt hospital.

I never imagined how many Heart Baby's/Kids are out there.. and how many family's are dealing with the same thing and how strong they are.. It felt good to learn that you are not alone out there and that everything can be ok .. Tommy and I enjoyed seeing all the children running around, jumping on chairs .. just acting like normal children act, felt so good to see... It gave us so much more hope! And Hope is all we have for Nadia...!

Crazy Roller Coaster Ride/ Ventilator out!!!

These past few days have been like crazy ride on a roller coaster.... I do not even know anymore what day it is or what time it is..

Nadia is still in the PICU but is doing really really good.. up until yesterday she was still really puffy and that is what is keeping her in the PICU for so long... they couldn't take the ventilator out until she is less puffy...i was hoping Nadia will only stay in the PICU for at least 3 days but its OK they can keep her as long as they want as long as she doing progress which she is!!!

Today she looks like Nadia again and they even turned her ventilators off and and took the tubes out .. she is taking big breaths by her self... YAY!!!

It is a great feeling seeing her whole face without any wires and tubes again!!!!

She makes those funny faces that reminds me of Justin when he was a baby.. its amazing how much she looks like him!!

Let me tell you about Thursday morning though.. Tommy and I stayed with her Wednesday night and Tommy even got a sleeping room and I slept in the room with her!

Everything was going great.. and all the numbers on the screen were were they suppose to be, due to all the beeping and nurses coming in and out i didn't get much sleep and kept waking up ..so around 5, I woke up and her nurse just told me that they had finished giving her a little bath and that she was doing great.. half awake I gave her a kiss and went back to sleep.. then around 6.30 the nurse woke me up and wanted to let me know what had happened before her shift ended.. so still half asleep I listened.. she started explaining to me that Nadia had sometime after her bath some kind of shake were she put both of her fists up and was shaking for 5 min..I repeat she said 5 min!!!! So I asked her what it could be and tried to find answer that would rule out a seizure... she on the other hand ruled everything out but the seizure... she didn't exactly make a diagnosis but pretty much told me that this is what she thinks she had...I still kept asking her things like what if she was just really cold from taking a bath.. she would say that newborns do not have this kind of reflex... which by the way isn't true i asked!!... then I asked well maybe she has a fever.. she said that babies do get shakes with fever but that Nadia doesn't have a fever...i couldn't think of any other explanation.... my whole body started to shake and i went and woke Tommy up i was hoping that i am just not understanding something right!! When he came to the room one of the Doctors came in.. He just told us what it could be but that he really couldn't relate anything to it since all of her numbers are where they suppose to be.. then he added "well it could be something we missed... maybe some type of abnormality or some kind of bleeding in the brain"...

I felt like throwing up, I left Tommy with Nadia and just started to cry hysterically all the way to my car and home..I do not even know how I made it home driving like this...

Long story short, they ended up doing a head ultrasound and thankfully there were no changes in the brain or anything that could related to a seizure... her Doctor that normally sees her also told me that if it was a seizure that the Doctor there at that moment would not have been able to hold her hands and calm her down.... her hands would have been in a some type of lock....

A huge scare for nothing!! The Nurse that took care of Nadia was so sweet and did a great job over night but i hope she will get in trouble for scaring us like that... maybe that way she wont scare any other parent like she scared us!!!!

Today i got to hold and cuddle my sweet little angel again...I think I enjoyed it more then her =)

Hopefully by end of next week we all be home together!!!!

My Little Soldier

Wow, yesterday was exhausting! We got a call around 10.00 Am that Nadia's surgery went well and they were just finishing her up..it took them 4 more hours to get her to the PICU and another hour for us to see her!!

So around 3.00pm they opened us the door to the PICU ... my heart was beating so fast!! I was so ready to enter the room and kiss her and hold her hand again. Doing all the research i did and seeing pictures online i new what i was expecting... Tommy on the other hand had no idea what to expect and when i told him 2 days before surgery that Nadia will be swollen he must have thought it will look like my ankle that was swollen the night i went to the ER. Tommy was devastated... so hurt... i never seen him like this!!It hurt me seeing him like this as much as seeing Nadia that way!

She was so very swollen that we didn't recognized our little angel anymore... it felt like we are looking at a strangers baby.... I didn't think my heart could break in any more pieces but it did!

After a couple of hours talking to the nurses an doctors we reached the big 0 on our energy meter we both couldn't keep our eyes open anymore and dragged our self's to the hotel room.

I would like to apologize to all the visitors we missed and the phone calls we didn't answer but we just could't talk or see anyone that day.. Tommy even send his parents and my sister home. We just needed some time alone!

Nadia is slowly recovering she is doing great so far.. we had a little trouble with her blood pressure and her urin frequency but nothing that was unexpected according to the doctors..

Today her swelling went down a bit and she even opened her eyes for us and moved her hand a little.. but the pain medication keeps making her go to sleep again. I Know Nadia will be great.. she is my little Soldier!!!

I don't wish this to any parent or any baby... i cant believe that baby's so tiny can go threw so much... how strong they are.... true Fighters!

Please continue to pray for my little angel so she will be home with us soon!!

2 Update

Thank you for all your prayers.. Nadia made it out of surgery without any complications and is doing just fine ... they are going to monitor her for the next 48 hours and hopefully everything stays good!! Thank you God!!

Update 1

As any other parent in this situation we didn't get much sleep yesterday... we spent all night and all morning with Nadia and just enjoyed being around her ..i actually got to hold her for full 30 min last night and a full hour this morning.. Nadia comes after her mommy she likes someone playing with her hair... she enjoyed it so much she even spit her paci out raised her chin and smiled a couple of times...

They rolled her into OR around 7.14 am and we just got the call that they started surgery and she was doing fine!! Please continue praying for my little angel...

Nadia Mariam Dabit May 05 2010 7 Pounds and 4 ounces 18.3 inches

I can't believe she is already here!!! My delivery went really well.. we had to be at the hospital at 7 am and i was given potion to induce my labor around 9am.. my contractions got really bad around 12:00pm so i decided to do the spinal which was super super painful as well!!! After that i was pretty much in a daze and before i knew it i was fully dilated and ready to push.. 40 min later my beautiful baby girl made the great entrance to this beautiful world weighing 7 pounds and 4 ounces and 18.9 inches! Tommy got to cut the umbilical and after suctioning all the mucus out of her lungs and we heard her first cry I even got to hold her for few minutes... All her hair confirmed why i had this terrible heartburn during the whole pregnancy... Nadia is truly beautiful.. It broke my heart that the cardiology team had to take her so quickly.

While they got Nadia tested they placed me into the past part rum room i started to feel weak and light headed and i noticed that I'm bleeding allot .. My nurse checked me out and called another nurse in then another one came in and another one and before i knew it i literally had 8 nurses and 2 doctors in the room with me and everyone was doing something on me...since i wasn't in any pain i didn't think anything of it... but the doctor started to explain to me that they might have to give me a blood transfusion, i approx. lost around 2 liter of blood and the reason for that was either that i have a extra piece of the placenta still stuck in there somewhere that they might have to curettag out or that my uterus didn't close up as suppose to do which was the case. So after about an hour or so 3 IV's, 5 pills and 2 shots later they finally got the bleeding to stop and i was monitored for the rest of the night... I was so weak that i didn't have the strength to go see Nadia that really got me upset... I kept thinking of her and the nurses in the NICU keep pushing us off.. every time Tommy called they told him they would need one more hour.. apparently the IV that was suppose to go threw her bellybutton was not working right and that they really would like to have that in so she would get the medicine that keeps the whole in her heart open in order for her to breath on her own.. Around 11.00 pm my nurse asked me if i wanted to go see Nadia and i found the strength to get up and see her.. so we did and once we arrived at the NICU which by the way is like a mile away from my room and entered her room she was surrounded by 4 people who each did something on her as well they send us out and asked us to wait.. we waited for 30 min and tried to go in again.. we really became frustrated and angry that we had not seen or heard any updates on Nadia... finally we decided to go back to the room..i didn't feel so good and couldn't wait any longer.. i am glad we did leave because they finished her up at 3 am still with one Iv not in place!! They ended up placing an Iv in her left arm and scalp!!

I had a restless night and i woke up that night just about every 20 min i was so worried about her!

The following morning i felt much better and the first thing we did was go and see her... we spent pretty much all day with her and enjoyed being around her!Justin was also allowed to see her for a few minutes, Nadia didn't smile at nobody until she saw her big brother Justin!! As soon as Justin started to talk to her..she just smiled away at him.... it was Love at first sight!!

As for Nadia now... she is doing well her oz levels are up and she is sleeping most of the time.. Her surgery on her heart is on Monday morning if nothing else happens..Please keep our sweet Nadia in your prayers.

Thank you

36 weeks 27weeks

One more Day!


I know i'm not great at keeping up with this blog... meanly because i have to translate my German thoughts into English thoughts which isn't so bad but it takes me quite some time so that is the reason why i'm not posting regularly.

My sister finally made it to the states .. her flight got delayed one week due to the Volcano in Iceland.
Since she been here we have been cooking foods that i haven't cooked in a while...she is defiantly spoiling me and is a big help around the house .. its been fun so far.. Justin and his little cousin Issa are getting along great and for the most part they Love each other and are sweet together.

This past weekend has been kind of crazy...The Weather was just insane i have never seen it rain so hard and i lived in Germany where it rains most of the time! I feel sorry for all those who lost their Homes may God be with them!!!

Nadia made me worry too this weekend.. i woke up Friday with swollen feet, and i know its pretty common to have swollen feet especially in the final weeks... but around noon my left ankle swell up to a point that i couldn't put my sandals on.. so i called my Ob but he had already left and i had to talk to the doctor on call.. she advised me to go get my blood pressure checked and if its over 140/90 to not even bother calling her back and head straight to the ER. So my sister and I went to the nearest Pharmacy (Walgreens) and the guy there checked me about 4 times the lowest measurement he got was 153/90 sounded pretty alarming to me, so as i was told i headed to the ER with Tommy .
And of course the moment i layed on the hospital bed my blood pressure looked great.. they kept me there for 3 and a half hours and my BP just kept dropping so they finally decided to discharge me....Tommy couldn't help him self but make fun of me, he called just about called everyone, our motto for the night was "better safe than sorry" =)

Sunday i had a what they call "bloody show" and i wasn't so sure if my water had broke or not so i called my OB and talked to the doctor on call again but she wasn't much of a help..she sounded like she was on some kinda sleeping meds or something she mumbled and i didn't understand a word she said so i decided to call my Ob in the morning and he wanted to see me right away....
My water had not broke but i am dialed to 2 cm and we scheduled an induction for Wednesday to make sure everybody would be ready for Nadia's arrival and i wouldn't go into labor on a weekend in the middle of the night.
I can't believe Wednesday is tomorrow !! I am scared, anxious, nervous but really excited to finally meet my little stranger!!I asked my sweet sister in law Jeanette to keep everyone updated tomorrow.. All Prayers are appreciated...