On Saturday, September 19 my newest little niece, Mercy Rain came into the world at 9:02 pm. She was 4 days late and a healthy 8 lbs 8 oz and 21 inches long. Unfortunately baby Mercy would not take a breath or cry. The drs worked for an hour and decided to airlift her to a hospital with a nicu in Rockford, IL. Baby Mercy was put on oxygen and finally took her first breath at 9:30 the next morning. She was kept on supplimental oxygen.
She was also having tremors that they thought may be seizures but weren't sure. Her white blood cell count was very high so they had her on antibiotics. Over the next several days Mercy was hooked up to an EEG machine several times (to check for seizures)which meant her family couldn't hold her. She had to stay on the EEG machine for 24 hours each time. She also had an MRI. They think the problems may have been caused by a lack of oxygen during birth. Mercy is currently being fed breast milk through a feeding tube. Her gag reflex, sucking and swallowing aren't developed enough yet. One of the EEGs she had finally showed she was having seizures almost everytime she opened her eyes. :( They have tried 3 different meds and finally found a combination that might work. This poor little baby has been on Valium and Atavan to keep her calm. She is on Keppra and phenobarbitol for the seizures. I didn't even know they could give these things to a baby. The nurse told my sister-in-law that sometimes babies have seizures when their brains are healing. We can only pray this is the case with Mercy.
As of Tuesday Mercy was taken off the supplimental oxygen. :) She is making progress, but it's very slow. I had mentioned all this on a few of my Yahoo cross stitching groups and prayers were being said around the world for this little baby. I really think they're helping. :)
You can see in this picture what a beautiful baby Mercy is. She looks so content in her sister's arms.
Here is another picture that was taken when she was attached to the EEG. The bandages are to keep it on her head. She looks so annoyed in this pic and I can just imagine what she would say to these people that are constantly poking at her if she was able to. :o)
Mercy will probably be able to come home next week at the earliest. They have to get her seizures completely under control and she needs to be able to nurse. They have some therapy that will help with the sucking and gag reflex. She is not having as many seizures and they are only lasting about 15 seconds. She will be having another MRI. I ask everyone that reads this, please say a prayer for this sweet baby. It's very hard for her mom to visit her and have to leave her in the hospital everyday. I can only imagine what that must be like. :( She needs to come home and meet the rest of her sisters. Only those 16 and older are allowed to see her now. Mercy has 7 sisters! And she also has a niece that is older than her! :) Here is a pic of all the girls together (except Mercy of course).
From oldest to youngest they are Jaimie, Jessica, Emily, Olivia, Abigail, Lillian, Savannah and Jaimie's daughter Eva. Yep, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law have 8 daughters and a granddaughter! Thank you all for the support so far. I pasted all the prayers and well wishes into an email for Anna, my sister-in-law and it was 7 pages long!! Please feel free to leave any comments for the family here. I will make sure they see them. (you can leave an anonymous (sp?) comment if you don't have a blog. Just be sure to sign your name to it so we know who you are. :)
{{{{{Hugs}}}}}
UPDATE: from Mercy's mom on Thursday evening 10/1~ baby Mercy is pretty much seizure free! In 48 hrs time she only had 1 ten second seizure!! She might be home by next Wed.!
Please keep praying!!
