When Jen told me she was pregnant I was so excited about another grandchild added to our family. A few months later we learned it's a girl which made it even better cause now I was going to finally be able to buy all those cute little clothes to dress her up in.
She finally arrived weighing 8 lbs 3 oz, was 21 in long, and was just the most beautiful little baby .The next day we had a little set back with being able to bring our little darling home because of her kidneys. It was sad but we'd be ok if she was going to be ok.
Proud grandma & her Mama spent the 1st week taking pictures of her in those cute outfits while she was in the hospital bed. I was just in heaven showing off all those pic's too. We finally got the news she was doing great and we could take her home in the morning. Excited and getting ready to get the heck out of there our little Claire Bear started acting funny. She wasn't eating and when she did it would take a hour, just for her to throw most of it up. She became very hard to wake up so we asked the nurse if she was ok.Her comment was she just a baby that sleeps a lot and tells us if we wanted to go home in the morning we needed to get her to drink her bottles.
During this time the Pulse Ox monitor was applied but not picking up anything. The nurse changed out the monitor saying it was defected. The next monitor wasn't picking up any readings either. The shift changed and we have a new nurse which in a way was a blessing cause she started noticing something was not right.
The nurse called in the head nurse to listen to her heart. She blew it off and told her it sound like a heart murmur just document it and tell the doctor in the morning. A few min's later the nurse looks at us and tells us I don't have a good feeling I'm going to go wake up the doctor.
I remember It was a little after 3 am. Jen gets up to hold her baby and the nurse walked out to make that call. As soon as she is on the phone Claire goes into cardiac arrest while in her mommy's arms. This part makes me really break down and cry thinking of that awful morning. Jen started screaming, the nurse yells for help, a code was called , we were thrown out of Claire's room and the crash team comes running pass us to her room.
My daughter was on the floor begging God to not let her baby die!! The next time we saw her she was on life support and needed surgery to save her life. A part of me wanted to be thankful that we were there and the other part wants to scream A HEART MUMMER IS WORTH CHECKING OUT!!!
If only I had know the signs of CHD I could of demanded that day for an echo. She was 12 days old when she had her 1st surgery. We were told she took a harder hit to her heart then what they had thought.
A week later she was airlifted to another hospital 4 hrs away. There Jen lived right next to her baby's side for the next 4 months. Claire will need more surgeries. She has many development delays but she has been a warrior through all of this.
For right now she is doing really well. I spend my extra time spreading CHD Awareness and sharing with a mommy to be why she needs to ask for a pulse ox. I don't ever want another child, grandma, or any other family member, to feel the pain I did that morning. The Pulse Oximetry test being monitored by a nurse with awareness for the warning signs of heart defects, would have prevented this. Education and awareness for CHD, is the key for saving lives. Everyone; Doctors, nurses, and family need to assume the responsibility of this knowledge.
Claire and her Mommy Jen
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