Medicine

God is Healing Brielle!

~ lovingbrielle ~ Leave a comment

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God is healing Brielle and doing great things! I woke up Monday morning and was able to get in and out of bed by myself, as well as do basic everyday things I had not been able to do previously, due to my high fluid levels. Each day I was able to do more and more and my stomach size became smaller and smaller.

Today we had an ultrasound appointment and talked to Dr. B. My fluid levels had dropped from 47 cm to 34 cm! I dropped that much fluid in four days! That is not done. When Dr. B called us back to his office to review the scans, he watched me walk into the office and just looked at me with an extremely puzzled expression. David has been laughing about it all day, because Dr. B looked completely baffled. He asked, “Have you been exercising?” I laughed, “NO.” We talked about my fluid levels and he was very happy to see them down and have talks of amnio reduction off the table. But he was thoroughly confused. The impression that I got was that polyhydramnios does not, suddenly, or rapidly decrease. And the only explanation for this rapid decrease is that Brielle’s swallowing reflex has been healed. Which means God is healing Brielle’s brain and head!

We looked over Brielle’s scans and measurements. Our last measurements she was very underweight and it looked like she would be a very small baby. She’s 5 and a half pounds today. At 36 weeks a baby should be about 6 pounds. Her legs are a week and a half ahead, meaning she has really long legs! Not too much of a surprise considering her parents are tall. Her abdomen, which had been small, had considerable growth, still behind, but not by much.

And now here is the really cool part. Tooth buds develop in a fetus in the first trimester. Brielle has not had tooth buds (meaning she would not have teeth). As we were going over her scans today, David asked what a white line was across her face, near her mouth. Dr. B in a bit of a surprised tone says, “Those are…tooth buds, she has tooth buds.” It is rare for an anencephalic baby to have teeth. Brielle has developed teeth sometime in the past week! At first I just thought that was cool, but then I started thinking how long it takes for a fetus to make tooth buds (weeks) and then how awesome God is to have given her tooth buds. Later it hit me, he wouldn’t have given her tooth buds if she wasn’t going to need them. Brielle is going to need to chew!

David and I are overwhelmed with joy and excitement! Brielle is not completely healed, yet, but she is well on her way. God is doing great and amazing things with her! Things that are not done. I have prayed that God would do this in a way that would bring him the most glory and praise, this week was not the week for full healing, because it wasn’t the right moment. We eagerly await the right moment and in the meantime are incredibly thankful and awe struck of God and his work. He has heard our cries and has stepped in and begun healing her. We have an awesome God!! And we believe God will heal Brielle!

David and I will not stop praying for healing until she is completely healed. We are also giving prayers of thanks and praise. Please join us in thanking God for the miracles he is performing with our baby and asking him to continue healing her. I am humbled and deeply, greatly, thankful that I serve such an amazing and merciful God!

(We will need to request the picture with her teeth because we did not receive that one. The images we did receive were blurry because she is getting so big and because she was wiggling all over the place! Once we have it, we will post it.)

What Happened in the Hospital

~ lovingbrielle ~ 1 Comment

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This is an update on what happened at the hospital.

Wednesday morning I woke up and felt pretty good, I had a few bites of breakfast and within a few minutes my chest tightened and my pulse skyrocketed. It jumped all the way up to 250 and would not come down. And my blood pressure was low. After three days of this, my heart felt like it was about to give out. And after three days of being in the hospital the cardiology department was no closer to figuring out what was wrong. I wasn’t feeling too optimistic. The cardiology department had recommended beta blockers, but they are category c and there isn’t much known on its effects on fetal development, that combined with anencephaly and I felt very uneasy about taking them. So I refused. I refuse about all medication unless absolutely necessary because there aren’t studies on how medications affect anencephalic babies. I know I was frustrating the doctors, but I was not going to do anything that might shorten time with Brielle. All medication comes with a price (just look at the side effects for each pill you take), the price was too steep for me. I also didn’t feel like it was appropriate to take medication when we had no idea what was wrong. And when my bp was already so low, it didn’t seem smart to take beta blockers, which would just make my bp even lower. I told them to find another solution.

David and I talked about it for a bit and agreed we should have my parents at least come out. There weren’t any signs that progress was being made or that the doctors were going to figure out what was wrong and my heart didn’t feel like it had much left in it. The pain just kept getting worse. We decided better safe than sorry and that if I did have a heart attack or stroke, that my parents should get a chance to see me before that happens. My parents found the earliest flights out and got there as fast as they could. David was a bit of a wreck. He kept saying, “I can’t lose both of you.”

Within a few hours my heart rate began to decline. When my Dad arrived it was still high, but under 140 (or about around that range). My chest was still in quite a bit of pain and it was difficult to breathe or talk. I talked to a very nice cardiologist and he seemed extremely confused by my situation, every single test came back healthy and normal.

As the day progressed into the evening my pulse came down below the 120’s (most of the time) and we started to notice that it would spike after I’d eat (and after stressful conversations or I’d get upset). I’d already been thinking maybe there was a vagal nerve problem. This nerve is the nerve that is damaged in my stomach and causes me my health problems. The vagus nerve originates in the brain stem and spreads throughout the entire body, including the heart. We eventually came to the conclusion that either my stomach organ (due to gastroparesis and polyhydramnios) was pushing against my heart and causing my heart to work harder, or that the vagal nerve in my heart was misfiring due to issues elsewhere in my body, such as my stomach. Either way, I needed to treat my gastroparesis instead of my heart. So I did and my pulse came down and went back to normal. I took a tylenol and my pain lightened and the stress on my body was alleviated.

By Thursday morning my pulse was within a very healthy range, my blood pressure was back to normal and I was feeling like myself again. I was talking and I had color in my face again. Dr. Bootstaylor knew I wanted to go to the pumpkin patch this weekend, so he was eager to help get me out of the hospital. He agreed that if I didn’t have a spike after breakfast or lunch then I could go home. So at around 4:00 PM on Thursday I was discharged.

I’ve felt great since. I still have moments where it will spike, but it’s generally because I did too much or have too much food in my stomach. Nothing as bad as when I was in the hospital. This really was an answered prayer. I had such a quick and sudden turn around and really there was no original cause or explanation. Thank you to everyone who was praying for me and Brielle.

Update from Tammy

~ lovingbrielle ~ Leave a comment

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This is Tammy. Greg and I arrived in Atlanta today after Caitrin’s heart rate jumped unusually high this morning. Right now she and Brielle are doing fine. All of the tests they have run have come back fine, so the doctors are at a loss as to why her heart keeps doing this. I’ll keep you updated as we find out more.

Dekalb Medical Has the BEST Nurses!

~ lovingbrielle ~ 1 Comment

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The nurses here at L&D are the best! When they found out how long it’d been since we’d eaten they scrounged up what they had left and brought it in for us. David said it was the best ham sandwich he’d ever had. It was just ham and bread lol.

They took very good care of Brielle and I last night. And all of us, including David, got some sleep. My pulse is still high but not as erratic as last night, that might be because I’ve just woken up.

We’re now waiting on an echo and a visit from the cardiologist.

We just had a nice visit with Jamie, who works at the hospital here. We’ve met with her before and she’s wonderful. It was nice of her to drop by and check on Brielle and I. We really appreciated it.