Nevaeh Pictures

Nevaeh is doing about the same as she has been. She weighs 3lbs.,9oz. now. You can see the oxygen tubes in her nose really well in these pictures. Serena gets to hold her for about an hour at a time. In the first picture you can see Nevaeh's eyes open. In the second picture you can see Nevaeh's little bitty hand touching Serena's chin. These were taken at the same time as the video post.

New Video - Serena Holding Nevaeh

New Pictures

Nevaeh is off the respirator!

Nevaeh is off the respirator and able to breath on her own. She does have a oxygen tube under her nose. Serena was also able to hold Nevaeh for about an hour. The nurses were worried that Serena holding Nevaeh would have an affect on her breathing, that they may have to up her saturation level, but instead it helped her breathing and they lowered the level, Praise God! Attached is a video taken at the NICU unit of Neveah without the respirator.

Nevaeh is doing better!

The hospital called with an update on Nevaeh. They have taken her off her blood pressure medications, her stomach was bloated up because she was clogged, but she is starting to have bowl movements and her bloating has gone down considerably. They also removed a tube they had in her stomach to help the bloating. Another set of head x-rays were taken and there is no sign at all of brain bleeds, Praise God!! Serena has been sick, so she couldn't go up to see Nevaeh, but she is doing well and hopes to go this afternoon. All in all good report!

ok so Nevaeh is getting a lot better.....she is peeing again on her own, the infection in her blood was from the bacteria that everyone has on their skin and if it gets in baby's blood they get sick....well that is gone....she still has an infection but not as bad......she was put in isolation for a few days which is where they give her her own room, so she isn't around other babies and you have to wear a gown and gloves to get in......well now since the infection is gone, she was taken out of isolation and is back in the room with the other babies.......they have taken her off the meds to sudate her and she is moving now and opening her eyes a lot.....they had her on 3 meds for her blood pressure but now they only have her on one and they are trying to wing her off of it.....they still aren't feeding her but they cant feed her while she is on the dopamine for her blood pressure which is why they want to take her off of it.....she was 3 pounds 10 ounces but she was swollen which is why she weighed so much but she has almost lost all the swelling so she is losing weight and she is down to 3 pounds and 8 ounces......she will be a month old on Thursday December 18th!!!!!

Nevaeh is better!

Mom and Serena went up to see Nevaeh today. Serena said her eyes were open and she was looking at her. Praise God!!

Nevaeh is improving....Praise God! She is moving around a bit, which is a good sign that she is feeling better. They found the source of her infection, the pick line, which I believe is a combination feeding and medicine administering tube. They can't take the tube out, but are doing what they can. They are worried about her blood pressure, but are giving her medicine to treat it. Thank you everyone for your prayers!!!

Prayers for Nevaeh!

The hospital called this morning. They found out the infection is in her blood. They had already started her on antibiotics and will continue to do so. Her breathing has gotten better, but she still has not urinated. They are giving her meds for that and told Serena it can take 2-3 hours to 2-3 days to take affect. She weights over 3 lbs. now, but it is because of bloating from the infection. The nurse said she is still real sick, but is not critical as far as her passing, but she said she has seen babies pass that are this sick. This is the morning nurse, who doesn't seem as "gentle" giving reports as the night nurses, who seem more optimistic as well. Praise God she has improved some from yesterday. Please keep her on your prayers.

Prayers for Nevaeh

Nevaeh is not doing well. We got a call from NICU letting us know that Nevaeh has an infection and is getting sick. She has not been urinating and they are taking her off feeding. Her oxygen level is real low also. Doctor said, "Not try to scare you or that you have to rush up here, but Nevaeh is real sick!". Mom and Serena went on up to the hospital and just called saying they were told Nevaeh's body is shutting down. That this is a reaction when the body gets sick and weak so it can ?concentrate? on the heart and lungs. They also inserted a catheter, but not much is coming out. I guess they need 24 hours to be able to identify/isolate the infection. They are also going to increase her water intake to check her urination. She has been on high oxygen levels all day and they are starting to help, Praise God! Please keep her in your prayers!

Serena and I went to the hospital yesterday to see Nevaeh after stopping at Waffle house for breakfast. Her weight is up to 2lbs.12oz. and no more infections. Her hair is growing and is blonde. I took these pictures and wanted to post them for everyone to see. I praise God she is able to eat and is gaining weight.

ok so there hasnt been an update in a while so there is a bit to tell. well they feed her the pedilite for a day then they started her on my milk. they have up the amount that they give her ever day and she is handling it very well and is starting to grow pretty fast. she is now 2 pounds and 8 ounces. the infection that she had is gone now and they are just giving her one more day of med. to make sure its gone. they checked her head again yesterday to see about the brain bleed and it hasnt changed any. which means she stable. they had to change her breathing tube to a bigger one because she has grown so much. she is havent pleanty of dirty diapers so she is digestign very well. she just turned two weeks old yesterday. she is doing amazing for her age. and i just cant wait to bring her home.

The NICU unit at the hospital started feeding Nevaeh with Pedilite Thursday morning and were going to monitor her to see it that went well. Thursday night they told Serena all was going well with the feeding and they will continue feeding her for a couple more days and if that goes well, they will start her on Serena's milk. Good news, Praise God! They found the source of her infections, one was from a tube that was insert in her navel, which they removed. The other from her wrist, which I think was caused from taking blood from her there, not sure though. Her weight is up to 2lbs, 3oz. They put the "light" back over her to help her jaundice (the other pictures on the blog that have a blue tint to them and where she is wearing the eye guard were from where she had the light over here before). Here heart rate was up a bit, to 175, 155-165 is normal. They thought maybe this was caused because she may have felt uncomfortable. This is good news and we will continue praying for her.

Nevaeh is doing better today. Mom and Serena went up during the day to see her. Her blood sugar is back to normal now. It sounds like the brain bleeds are sort of normal and they expect them to fix themselves in time. I believe what worries them the most is the infection, but they are doing a culture at the lab to see what is going on and then they will have a better idea on how to treat it.

I have heard from quit a lot of people that they are following this blog, I wasn't sure if my efforts were fruitful, so I am glad. For those of you new to blogs, you do have the option to leave comments to each posting. Below each post there is a label that displays Comments, which is preceded by the number of comments already made. You can also "Follow this blog" by clicking on the "FOLLOW THIS BLOG" link on the top right of the page. This will automatically send you email alerts when new postings are made. You can also click on any picture and it will display the picture larger in a new window.

I would like to thank everyone for there care, concern, and prayers. God Bless You!

Corrections

Thank you Serena (the mommy) for these corrections:

daddy u need to get ur info correct...she has a 1 on the left and a 2 on the right....

-and-

she didnt have a hole in her heart ...she had an open valve...

Mom, Serena, and Andrew got home from the hospital, Nevaeh's blood sugar is back to normal. Doctor said the brain bleed should clear it self up in the next couple days for the right side, maybe a little longer for the left. They all seem much better now that they went up and saw Nevaeh. Praise God!!!

Update

The NICU unit at the hospital called Serena this morning. Nevaeh has an infection, her blood sugar is high and she has a brain bleed. They measure brain bleeds as a scale from 1 to 4, she is a 1 on the right side of her brain and a 2 on the left side. Mom, Serena, and Andrew are on the way to the hospital now. Please keep Nevaeh in your prayers!!

Nevaeh

I haven't been blogging much, been suffering with a bad toothache:(.
Nevaeh is doing better and better everyday. She had a hole in her heart, but medications have fixed that. I was told she had her first "poo poo" over the weekend. They want to start an IV in her, but because she has such tiny veins, they asked Serena's permission to insert a catheter directly to her heart. Kelly and Jamie left yesterday to go back home, Jamie back to Toronto and Kelly to Georgia. A lot of the pictures I am posting are from Kelly, a few from Jamie. It was really nice seeing them both.

I got to see Nevaeh for the first time last night. She has lost some weight, down to 1lb 14oz. Yesterday started out as a rough day for her. One of her lungs collapsed due to the intibation tube being too far in but it was reinflated once they took xrays and were able to reinsert it properly. They took her off the regular ventilator, which was pumping 60 times per minute and put her on a special machine that was at a rate of 200 per minutes, but very small puffs per time. This helps keep her more comfortable and is better for her lungs. She was having problems with her oxygen, so they had to raise the amount to 80%, which is not a good sign, but as the day progressed, she responded well and they were able to lower it to 60, then 40, and when we left last night it was down to 23%, Praise God. She also had a heart murmur, but started her on medication that helped it. Serena came home last night and later on called up to the NICU unit to check on Nevaeh and found out they had to give her some blood, her level was low from all the blood tests she had, this was normal. Nevaeh has RDS which is resperatory distress syndrom but they are keeping her sedated to keep her comfortable. That is all the details for now, more later

Nevaeh

She looks like Serena!!

Serena comes home.

Serena is being discharged from the hospital tomorrow. She is doing well, walking around and back to her old self. All the meds she was on had her in a fog like state. She gets to eat and drink now. She will have to go to the hospital daily to feed Nevaeh until she comes home, which may be mid-January. I went up last night to see her, but since she had so many visitors yesterday, they stopped allowing anyone in :(.

We have a new baby!

Verena texted me about 11:40 saying "She is having the baby!". Crystal and I rushed to the hospital in record NASCAR time and witnessed the birth, at about 12:10am. Nevaeh weighs 2lbs. 3oz. and is doing OK. She was unable to breath on her own, so they had to insert a respirator, which was amazing to watch. I believe it took the doctor 5 tries. Her color looks good and her eyes opened a couple of times. Serena is doing OK, poor girl didn't know what to expect. Mom said right after they began she said, "I can't do this!". Ooopps, too late now...lol. This happened so quickly, I forgot to grab a camera and used my cell phone to take this picture. I'll take my camera tomorrow and post some better pictures. Father God, thank you for this precious baby and being there to help us get through all this. In Jesus, our Lord and Saviors name, Amen! Good night or morning!!

Day 2 Evening

Well I went up to the hospital after doing laundry to take Verena clothes and shampoo, etc. Along the way Verena text me asking to bring Serena some peppermints, doctor OK'ed her to have just one. I stopped at the hospital store and bought a bag. When I got to Serena's room, she looked pretty worn out. They told her yesterday that the magnesium would make her have hot flashes, but she didn't really experience any, at least till this evening. She asked for wet wash clothes for her forehead. Later on I was taking Verena to the cafe to get a bite to eat, but as we entered into the lobby we noticed Serena's doctor, who noticed us also and said she was on her way to see Serena. So we took a u-turn and went back to the room. Momments later she entered and do a quick check on Serena. They have decided to do minimal checks on her dialation in fear that it would cause her to dilate even more. She said all looked good and that the NICU unit was aware of Serena's circumstance and would be prepared throughout the night. Verena told me later the neo doctor had asked Serena if she drove, letting her know that after the Nevaeh is born she would need to come to the NICU unit daily to breast feed the baby and pump milk out. So much happening so quickly. I didn't stay long, let Serena know I loved her and came on home. I am pretty exhausted and have a tooth ache on top of that. Going to get a good nights rest and plan on working tomorrow from home and be prepared to return to the hospital. I feel like we are in like a wait state, which we are, sort of like the calm before the storm. Once Nevaeh is delivered, we will be entering a new chapter of this journey. I want to thank all for their prayers, they mean ALOT!

Doctor Visit

I called Verena to see how things are going. She said Serena's doctor, Dr. Hooper, came by to check on Serena. She wasn't on call over the weekend, so this was the first time she actually saw Serena. She told Verena that she is not sure why this happened, perhaps a weak cervix, or cold/flu Serena had, etc., but that Serena did nothing wrong to cause this. She also gave Verena statistics about Nevaeh's survival rate and possible affects, like she has a 1/3 chance of being a slow learner, 1/3 chance of getting cerebral palsy, etc. Serena has also dilated t0 5 centimeters and that she doesn't have to go to the full 10 centimeters for the baby to come about, I assume because Nevaeh only weighs 2 lbs. She also said Serena may edliver today or tomorrow. Also that when Nevaeh is born, she will have a day or two of good reports, but then will become worse and that this is normal. Now this is the doctor's report, but I am here to report that we have a God in heaven who is much greater than the doctors or their reports. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ died for us, for our sins, and we can have a one on one relationship with our Father, and that by Jesus stripes we ARE healed. No matter what happens, Nevaeh is going to be all right and will be a testamony to our Father who is the creator of heaven and earth, and he will receive his praise and glory.

Dallas called from Iraq, he already knew somewhat of what was going on. It was great hearing his voice. I am sure he wishes he could be here to see his sister and help out. He must feel helpless being so far away, but he did say he was and has been praying for Serena and Nevaeh, praise God! Kelly called from Georgia and has bought her plane ticket and will be arriving Wednesday and staying till Sunday. Crystal took mom some clothers and toohbrush and a taco salad to her on her way to work. I'm about finished washing clothes and going to shower and run back up to the hospital. I tried to take a nap, it was hard falling asleep, but I got a good hour in. I'll write more later....

11/17/2008

It was a long long night, not much sleep. Crystal left about 10pm to come home. I asked her to feed the dogs when she got home. She called about an hour later crying her eyes out, when she went to feed the dogs, the back door closed behind her and she was locked out. She went across the street to call from a neighbors. When I got home, I found out the door leading from the house into the garage was also locked and the key I had for it did not work. I was able to use a screwdriver and pry the back door open. After hugging my Crystal and calming her down, I sent some emails out to work then returned and stayed at the hospital and tried to sleep in a chair next to Serena. Verena woke up about 6 and told me to lay down. A nurse came by around 5am and took some blood from Serena. I was somewhat asleep, so not quit sure of the time. Around 7am I woke up and the nurse was there trying to get a responses from Serena, which was very little. She called the doctor and after going over the blood tests discovered the level of magnesium in Serena's blood was a bit high, which along with the pain shot contributed to her non-responsiveness. They took her off the magnesium, put her on oxygen (her oxygen level was low) and raised her bed up so her head was higher than her feet to help her breathing and chest heaviness. Her contractions have slowed down considerably now, maybe one every 10-20 minutes. Baby Nevaeh is doing fine. I left to come home and get things in order and get some rest. Going to pack some clothes and things for Verena, since essentially she will be living at the hospital for awhile. I took the day off, but plan on working tomorrow and just take things day by day. I talked to Kim Torr in England last night, she and Laurence are wonderfull wonderfull believers. She inspired me to keep positive and to know our grand daughter Nevaeh and Serena will be OK and God will get us through this. Kelly called me from Georgia and she is flying in Wednesday for a couple of days. She loves Serena dearly. I emailed my son Dallas, who is in Iraq, to let him know what was going on. I know Lindsey, his sweet girl friend talked to him last night, but I want him to hear it from me as well. I love and miss him so much! Please keep us in your prayers. For those wondering, because of the severity of the situation right now, the hospital has asked that we NOT have any visitors at this time. More later...

11/16/2008 - The Journey Begins

Hi, my name is David Phillips and I started this blog to update friends and family about my daughter Serena. Serena is 16 and became pregnant earlier this year. She is about 6 1/2 months along and we were expecting the arrival of our new grand daughter, Nevaeh next February. All this changed suddenly yesterday, Sunday 11/16/08. Serena woke up that morning cramping, so we called her doctor who told us to take her to the hospital. When we arrived at the hospital, they examined her and did some tests. They gave her a couple shots to help stop the cramping, which were actually contractions. They did a sonogram and all came out OK, the baby was strong and healthy, and the placenta is intact. However they did not do a pelvic examine. They sent us home about 5pm. Later on that evening Serena was starting to cramp again, except this time much worse, Verena (mom) took her back to the hospital. About an hour later she called and said "Get up here quick, you and Crystal ( Serena's sister). We arrived to find out they had admitted Serena and she was dialated 4 centimeters and the ambionic sack was showing. They put her in bed with her feet elevated and started her on magnesium sulfate to help stop the contractions. This can be toxic for Serena, so they are monitoring her very closely. They started Serena on steroids every 12 hours to help the babies lungs develope faster. Their goal is to keep Serena from delivering as long as possible. This could be days or weeks, sounds like they are hoping for at least 2 weeks. We were also told because the baby is a girl, she has a better chance of surviving. Serena will stay in the hospital until the baby is born and the baby will stay until full term, approximately mid February. Pastor Kathy and Richard came to the hospital and prayed with us, they are so wonderful, God Bless them!! Verena will be staying at the hospital with Serena. They are at Baylor hospital in downtown Ft. Worth, in a new and modern womens hospital wing. There is a fold out type bed for Verena to sleep on and she has her own bathroom with shower. I am confident God will get us through this all and we will have a healthy grand daughter. Please keep us in your prayers!!!