Lily, born 2014

I delivered a healthy baby girl on August 26th. She came earlier than expected at 35 weeks. Yet after a two-night stay at the hospital we were cleared to go home with our healthy baby girl. Once we got home everything was perfect, except her feet stayed purple and cold. She wasn't gaining weight despite her feeding every two hours. I mentioned it to her pediatrician at our five-day appointment. She said she wasn't concerned as she was a preemie, yet my mommy instinct started kicking in. We returned home still trying to keep my little four-pound baby warm. When she was seven days old she stopped eating. I called the pediatrician as soon as I noticed she was refusing to eat. They then admitted her into the hospital the next day. That morning while we were preparing a hospital stay I noticed she had increased work of breathing. We rushed to the hospital where they were going to treat her with antibiotics as they thought it was a chest cold. I refused the antibiotics (not sure why at the time but something was telling me to check into it more). At 4:30 pm the same day the pediatrician on call at the hospital came by to check out my little warrior to see what was causing the increased breathing. He listened to her chest and ran for the handheld echo machine. That was when we were informed that she required heart surgery as she had lots going on. They called for air medivac at 5pm. They took her from my arms and rushed her into the ER trauma bay. I can't honestly remember must after that. I remember she had IV's all over. The plane finally arrived at 11 pm. They flew her to the closest children's hospital which was a five drive away. She crashed while the plane was landing. She needed to be bagged and further assistance to keep her alive. We lived in the children's hospital for over 2 months. Despite everything that went on and after a two open heart surgeries, a bronchoscopy, g-tube and internal bleeding, she’s doing good today. She started walking and slowly starting to eat on her own. We aren’t out of the woods with her yet but we do see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Story by Lily’s mom, April - Alberta