Baby Jade

Baby Jade 

April 24, 2020

7 lbs 9 oz

20 1/2 inches

Baby Jade decided to make her grand entrance a few weeks early. Like my other babies, Jade came ridiculously fast. My water broke around 1:15 and she was born a few hours later at 4:07.  Just a few minutes before that, the doctor checked and told me I was at an eight, but that it would be several more minutes before he would check on me again. Well, this little girl had a different idea and was born promptly after that--probably within a minute of the doctor walking out the door. So, once again, my baby was born without an actual doctor. Luckily, the Resident was only halfway out the door and made it back into the room in time to catch her! She was so stinkin' cute with a head full of hair.

First time my little eyes opened!

Her rapid birth was only the beginning; that night was when things started to get crazy. Jade spit up a lot of clotted and bright red blood during the night. The doctor on call told the nurses not to worry, and reassured us that she probably just swallowed some blood during delivery. The next morning, however, a different doctor came to check on her because she was concerned based on the reports she heard. She called Denver Children's Hospital and the specialist there suggested sticking a tube down her stomach to clear it out and make sure there was no more blood. 

Well, after they did this, fresh blood came out with old, clotted  blood, which meant it couldn't have been stuff she swallowed during delivery. Because of that, they were worried she could have an intestinal malrotation requiring immediate surgery. Given that possibility, Denver Children's sent a helicopter and our little angel--less than a day old--was life-flighted away.

By the time I was released from the hospital and we arrived in Denver, Jade had been through a ridiculous number of tests including ultrasounds, x-rays and and upper GI to check the bowels.  Everything came back completely normal. They quickly ruled out every terrible thing it could have been. So how did my seemingly perfectly healthy baby end up in the NICU?  Well although they couldn't confirm 100 percent without more invasive tests, the majority of the doctors believe that the nurse right after delivery (unbeknownst to me) stuck a tube down Jade's throat to clear out anything she had swallowed during delivery, and had removed a small amount of clear amniotic fluid. Unfortunately, they think that while doing this she was too aggressive or went too deep and ended up tearing a little bit of poor Baby's Jade stomach, which in turn bled which caused all the craziness. Even more unfortunately Jade's oxygen was just fine in the mid 80's and climbing and she was alert coughing and crying which according to best practice the nurse should have never stuck a tube down Jade's throat to begin with. There was nothing we could do but let the small tear or cut heal on its own. We were so incredibly thankful nothing serious was wrong with our baby girl and that she wouldn't require surgery but a little frustrated as well.

Well just to be safe they wanted to keep the tube down Baby Jade for 24 hours, which meant she couldn't eat, so she had an IV to get fluids and to be even more safe they also gave 2 general antibiotics, even thought there was no sign of infection.  It was a crazy 24 hours.  With the crazy coronavirus, we were put in isolation until Jade was 48 hours old and could officially test negative for the virus. She tested negative at 24 hours but we still had to wait and test again the nest day.  This mean Devin and I were not allowed to leave the room and anyone that entered had to be completely protected, gloves, gown, face mask and shield ect ect.  I can't count the number of gowns those poor nursers went through during those 24 hours. We thought maybe the next day our journey would be done, but Jade's bilirubin count started climbing, probably in part because she wasn't eating food, she stopped pooping. The limit was 13 and Jade was 12.5 but out of an abundance of caution they once again decided to keep us another 24 hours and put Jade under the lights.  Jade tested negative for covid-19 so we were moved from isolation but it also meant 48 hours were up and Devin would no longer be allowed in the room so his super sweet parents used their hotel points and got Devin a room at the hotel across the street. 

Finally on Tuesday, when Jade was 4 days old and we had been in the NICU for 3 days it was time to go home. Jade just had to pass one more hurdle the carseat test. She had to sit in her carseat for 2 hours, I couldn't touch the carseat or her, only offer the binky if she got upset as they monitored her oxygen levels. Well after 1 hour 15 minutes, she got upset and started to wiggle and Jade's oxygen dropped to the mid 80's she had 20 seconds to bring them up by herself back to normal but it took her 30 seconds which meant that she had to have oxygen and restart her carseat test. I was so upset no way she would make it another 2 hours before needing to eat which meant we would have to re-do everything. I really didn't think they were ever going to let us leave the hospital. That poor girl continue sitting in her carseat for another hour and a half  so over 3 and a half hours when she woke up starving.  Luckily the nurse convinced the doctor, I shouldn't have to re-do the test so I was able to get Jade out and feed her and finally get the ok to go home!  Baby Jade still needs oxygen when we drive in the car but we were able to go home.  

I don't know how those NICU parents do it. It was the most stressful 80 hours of my life and I was a serious mess, but this perfect little girl was worth every minute. Isn't she just adorable!