An Unexpected Journey

Amidst the bliss of meeting our baby girl, we noticed that she was spitting up a lot of fluid. There was a gurgling noise as she breathed, and the nurses said she had probably just swallowed a lot of amniotic fluid during birth. As the night went on we kept trying to help get the fluid out for her, but more just kept on coming. Our nurse, Denise, called in the pediatrician so he could peek at her and we could have some peace of mind. Olive was taken to the nursery, for what was suppose to be 5 minutes just to give her a quick check.

Thirty minutes later the nurse returned to our room with the doctor and no Olive Rose. He was concerned that she may have an infection and wanted to do a chest X-ray and some blood work just to rule out some possibilities. We began to worry but were grateful that the nurse had been proactive in making sure she was okay.

At 3:30 am the doctor returned to our room to deliver the news that things were worse than we had thought. The X-ray revealed that Olive had Tracheoesophageal Fistula. This meant that her esophagus did not reach her stomach. She would need surgery immediately and there was nowhere in our area that it could be done. She needed to be transferred to a hospital an hour away and he was going to go contact them right away to set it up.

Peter and I were left stunned in our room. Trying to wrap our heads around the fact that the happiest day of our lives was quickly turning into one of the darkest. Our nurse came back to the room to comfort us and let us know that they would allow me to be discharged early so that we could follow the ambulance that would transfer Ollie to the hospital. I had just given birth to her 8 hours prior, and now in less than 4 hours we would be packing up to begin the journey to her repair and recovery.

We arrived at the NICU just behind the ambulance and she was admitted at 9 am. We were immediately taken to her room and introduced to her team of doctors, nurses and surgeons. They explained to us what TEF was, the tests they needed to run and what we were looking at as far as her surgery and recovery, which would last approximately one month. The tests would begin immediately and as long as they returned normal results, her surgery would be slotted for 9:30 am the following morning. TEF is often associated with other abnormalities that can show up in the heart, brain, spine, spleen and kidneys. It was the beginning of a long, emotional day filled with uncertainties. Thankfully the team worked quickly and kept us updated as everything progressed. By Tuesday evening Olive had passed all of the other tests and she was officially scheduled for surgery. We spent the night comforting her with our touch and voices, wishing we could hold her. We were so grateful when early the next morning the nurses made that a possibility for us before she was prepped for her operation.

We were able to go with Olive to pre-op where we met almost everyone on the surgical team. They explained exactly what would take place during her operation and made sure we understood and felt comfortable with the plan. The support we have received from the staff here has been invaluable. We were given a pager that would text us updates thru out her 5 hour operation so we knew exactly what was happening and when she would be finished. After giving her our final kisses we headed to triage to make sure my own recovery was still on track after the lack of sleep and the all of the stress from the past couple of days. I was cleared by the midwife and it was time for both of us to try to rest a little during the wait. We got our first few hours of sleep since the induction had started on Sunday! Waking up a just a few times to positive and happy texts on our pager. 

At about 4:00 pm we were alerted to come talk to the surgeon as her operation was finished! We were met with the best news we could have hoped for. Everything went smoothly and they were able to perform the entire surgery using Thoracoscopy. This means Olive received only 2 very small incisions on her right side, along with one more for her chest tube. Not only does this reduce the scarring, but it should also help speed her recovery as she doesn't have a large incision that needs time to heal. We are so grateful for the care her surgeons took with her!

Her first night post-op was scary because she is so dependent on all of the tubes that are running into her small body. They had to keep her pretty heavily sedated so she wouldn't pull or wiggle any of them out of place. It was so hard to see her like this, but we just focused on knowing that right this very minute her body is healing and growing stronger. 

The lovey lying with Olive was given to us by a very sweet nurse right after we found out she would have to be transferred. I wore the lovey next to my skin until Olive's departure. It has now been with her ever since, letting her know I am close and keeping my smell with her to give her comfort. 

One of the surgeons who has gone out of his way to explain things to us and show us kindness, expressed that most children with TEF go on to live a completely normal and happy life after their surgeries! Now that we have gotten thru the surgery and her first day of recovery we are feeling more and more positive and getting excited for all of the milestones she will make in the next month. We are hoping they will start tomorrow with the removal of her breathing tube! Keep your fingers crossed for us. 

Keeping close while our sweet daughter sleeps her way to a stronger body.