#30DaysofBrave Day 29- Jessi

My daughter was born at 39 weeks and 5 days.

She was in respiratory distress immediately after delivery so they took her strait to the NICU and got her settled and started running tests.

Her blood sugar levels were so low they didn't register and she needed supplemental oxygen and help regulating her temperature. She couldn't regulate her sugar so they had to place an IV in her forehead to get her what she needed. When her bloodwork came back we found out she had an infection so they replaced the IV with a UVC to administer antibiotics, TPN and dextrose.

At 2 days old she had a lumbar puncture and head ultrasound.

We went through days of no answers, no progress, many setbacks, confusion and uncertainty. After a week, the cultures hadn't grown anything but her bloodwork was still indicating infection so they switched up her antibiotics and started her on an antiviral. They took more blood to test for viral infection and none of the cultures showed anything.

At this point we were still dealing with low blood sugar and making sure she could feed well enough and gain weight. She got worse and then plateaued and then slowly started getting better.

We never got an answer as to what made her so sick but after two rounds of antibiotics and one round of antiviral meds she was finally able to come home.

We had follow up appointments with specialists and another stint in the hospital with RSV but she is a happy, healthy baby now and thriving.

This was easily the most difficult thing I've ever gone through; it's not natural for a mother to be separated from her baby. If it hadn't been for the amazing NICU staff and my rock solid support system we wouldn't have made it.