Arabella's Trach

Yesterday morning, Arabella had surgery to get a trach. As strange as it might sound, it was a great day. She was so tired of having the tube down her throat and she had been through so much just to be able to breathe that the trach is a blessing.

It is amazing to see her pretty little face.

We are so excited to start working on her oral feeding so we can bring her home.

2nd Extubation

Today, Arabella was extubated again. It was such a beautiful experience. I held her all day long and she peacefully slept in my arms. She did so well with her breathing when she was resting. Everybody was so hopeful and very surprised with how well she was doing. She was extubated at 10 and cruised through the day with no problem. Rich and I went home to have dinner with my family who came our to Florida to spend Christmas with us. After dinner we went back to the hospital and found Arabella struggling to breathe. The respiratory therapist tried a breathing treatment but it didn't help and she had to be re-intubated at 8:30pm. While intubating her, the doctor looked down her throat and saw what he thinks is the main issue...vocal cord paralysis.
Where do we go from here? Well, the ENT will have to do another bronchoscopy to make sure that is the problem and then he will do the tracheostomy. We feel that we have done everything that we can do and unfortunately it has come down to the trach but we are soooooo grateful that there is that option. The surgery will most likely be on Monday.

Arabella Update

It has been a busy few days. I haven't been very good about keeping everybody updated. Arabella's surgery went well. She was extubated 3 days after the surgery and did well for about 2 hours. After the first couple of hours her breathing went down hill. She struggled for over 12 hours and then was re-intubated. It was so hard to watch her fight for each breath. It felt like somebody ripped my heart out. It's been about 5 days and she will be extubated again tomorrow morning at 8:00. I can't even explain how nervous I am. Is she going to do better? Has the swelling gone down enough that she will be able to breath? Is that even the problem or does she have vocal cord paralysis like Aidan did? Tomorrow will determine whether she will need a trach or whether she will be able to do it on her own.
Tonight, when I was holding her, I was overwhelmed with gratitude. I was looking at her perfect face and playing with her head full of hair and thinking how blessed I am to be able to do that. I am so grateful and blessed to have her. She was gone for a few minutes and then brought back to life and for that I am and will be eternally grateful. I thought to myself what a miracle it is that Rich and I have 3 kids and not just 1. We have personally witnessed 2 miracles. Whatever happens, I am grateful.

Going Private...

So we've decided that we are going to go private in about a week. I didn't think I would ever really care who read our blog but given some of the most recent things going on in our lives I think it would be best. There are some things that I would like to share just a little more privately. Please leave me a message with your e-mail address if you want to keep following our blog. Don't be shy, even if I don't know you very well, leave me your e-mail and I'll add you. Thanks!

Arabella's Surgery

I'm sitting in the OR waiting room...anxious, excited, nervous, hopeful. I feel more hopeful than anything. Don't know what news I will be getting in a few minutes. Dr. Singer said he will take a look at her vocal cords but we will really find out in 2-3 days if this surgery will fix the problem. This is my little beauty just minutes before going in to the OR. I got to hold her :D They had to put an IV in her head. That will be coming out soon, hopefully. Isn't she gorgeous?

I GOT TO HOLD HER!

We went to visit Arabella for the second time. We were so excited! It has been so hard being home without her. I miss her.

The nurse said that she loves to sleep on her right side. She said that she didn't make a sound for 6 hours and so she started to get worried. She changed her diaper and not a peep. Then, she turned her to her left side and Arabella go really upset. She switched her back to her right side:) I got to give her her very first bath. She didn't like it much but she was still really good. I got to hold my little angel for the very first time. She melts my heart.

I gave her lots of kisses and told her how much I love her. She looked at me. She smiled twice.

After about 40 minutes she fell asleep in my arms.
I love her so much. My heart aches not having her with me.
Tomorrow morning she will go under anesthesia and the ENT will be able to tell us what is wrong. I am so nervous. I'm hoping for a miracle...praying for a miracle.

Happy Birthday Arabella Skye

Our baby girl, Arabella Skye, was born last night at around 10pm. She weighs 7lbs 1oz and is 20 inches long. She is absolutely GORGEOUS! I'm so sad to announce that our baby girl is currently in the Joe DiMaggio NICU. After a very fast delivery Arabella came in to the world and immediately had to put up a fight. She couldn't breathe and after about a minute of struggling for that first breath her heart stopped. Because she came so quickly the doctor wasn't there at the time but thankfully came in time to perform CPR and keep baby Bella going. Her heart beat came back and she was intubated and bounced back quickly. She was then taken to the NICU where they realized that she didn't need supplemental oxygen. They decided to extubate her and she immediately began to struggle with her breathing. She was reintubated and they decided that she needed to be transferred to the Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital. She was transferred this morning at 10:30 and will fortunately be seen by the same Ear, Nose and Throat specialist that saw Aidan when he had the trach. We feel so blessed that Arabella made it through her rough start and are praying that she will be able to join us at home very soon.

Made it to another visit

I had another doctors appointment on Tuesday. I just think it's kind of funny that 2 weeks ago she told me I could go at any time and I totally panicked and got everything ready. I have been expecting her to come every single day since then. I had another false labor last night. I decided that after a really long day at home with the kids I needed to go to Michael's to buy some Christmas decorations. I was feeling pretty good. Strolled in and looked around. After about 15 minutes of walking around I started feeling like my water was going to break and I could barely walk. I was totally praying that I would be able to waddle to the register to pay and then to the car to drive home without having to ask for help. I did make it to the car and had to recline the seat to be able to sit comfortably. I made it home and told Rich all about my fun trip to Michael's. We decided that this little girl was coming tonight and got all of the kids stuff ready. So the contractions continued but they weren't very consistent and I only had a couple of intense ones so we waited and waited and waited. Rich thought we should get a couple of hours of sleep while we waited to make sure I really was in labor. I told him ok but I just knew we were having her that night. *side note: Rich is in finals week and yet he has very willingly been at my beck and call through all of this. LOVE HIM!* We went to bed and fell soundly asleep. Contractions stopped and I felt normal today. I have 2 words to describe our baby girl...DRAMA QUEEN!