Our Sweet Little Isla Kawahito

I cannot believe how quickly the last 3 months have gone! I have some catching up to do on here! Life has definitely been busy now that Isla is here and we are so happy that she is a part of our lives but she gave us quite the scare when she arrived. Here's what happened...

I was hospitalized a couple of times from May 7th-18th due to early contractions that were bringing on labor and since I was only 34 weeks my OB was trying to stop labor so I was given drug treatments that left me very tired and my arms black and blue from all the needles and IV that I had to have. I was also put on strict bed rest and was only allowed to get up to go to the bathroom and could only lay on my left or right side as sitting up also started me to have contractions. On May 23rd they started up again and I was admitted to the hospital. Isla Mai Kawahito [pronounced "I-LA" "My"] was born Thursday May 24th at 4:41am and was quickly taken to the NICU [Neonatal Intensive Care Unit] as she had difficulty breathing on her own and they wanted to make sure that she was ok. It turns out that she could not get the fluid out of her lungs from leaving the birth canal and was quickly connected to a respirator and IV to assist her. The fluid in her lungs quickly turned into an infection and she had to start a 7-day antibiotic treatment that could only be administered by IV. We were told this is common and was something that with treatment was not something to be overly worried about since they caught it so quickly and they reassured us that she would also be able to breathe on her own within the week as well.

What we weren't expecting was to be woken up the following morning at 5am by the head Doctor of the NICU saying that she needed our signature/approval as quickly as possible to insert a chest tube into Isla's right side as her lung was in jeopardy of collapsing and it was a matter of life and death. Jim and I were staying in the hospital as I was healing from the delivery and went right away to the NICU to be there for her as they performed the procedure. The doctor said that she had Primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP) [you can read more about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumothorax]  Basically her right lung could not expand as it should as PSP is an abnormal collection of air or gas in the pleural space that separates the lung from the chest wall, and that may interfere with normal breathing.

Once they inserted the chest tube we quickly saw her breathing change and the X ray showed improvement and her right lung was able to expand as it should [Thank Goodness!]

The next day we were told that Isla also showed very high levels of bilirubin and needed to start 24/7 light therapy to help her jaundice.

The following day after that, we were told that in one of the follow up X-Rays from her PSP situation showed that she had a hairline fracture on her right collar bone and we needed to meet with an orthopaedic surgeon to discuss treatment. They think this happened either when she was leaving the birth canal or in their attempts to get the fluid out of her lungs but apparently we will never know exactly which one it was.

So our sweet little girl had been through so much in a short period of time. She had been hooked up to 2 different respirators simultaneously,  had a feeding tube that goes in from her mouth to her stomach [which also helps pump out the excess fluid in her lungs], 2 different IV lines [one going into her hand and the other into her foot] as well as numerous sensors to monitor and track her blood pressure and heart rate.

I basically been lived at the NICU and Jim juggled work and taking care of Mikaella and visiting the hospital whenever he could. My parents flew out to help as soon as I was put on strict bed rest and were an extraordinary help.

We decorated Isla's incubator at the hospital so she always knew we were there by her side even when we physically couldn't be there.

 

 

Words cannot describe how hard it was to go through this difficult time but we are so incredibly grateful that Isla is as healthy and happy as she is. She is our little fighter and we know how blessed we are to have her a part of our lives :)

 

We also have a profound level of respect for all the nurses and the doctors who work in the NICU at St Johns and will always feel so close to the women that took care of Isla during those 8 days. We will always visit and let them know how special they all are.

 

I was incredibly touched by one of the Respiratory Therapists, Lynda, who on the second day we were there gave us this knitted blanket so we could have a cover for baby Isla. It was such a sweet gesture that she didn't have to do but touched us so much. We also couldn't believe the love and support we had from all of our friends and family.