The nurses were paying extra attention to Addie because she swallowed a good bit of meconium during delivery. Every hour they were checking vitals and also pricking her heal to check her blood sugar(because she was so big they wanted to make sure that was normal). Several nurses commented on her rapid breathing rate, a grunting noise she was making, and also some discoloration on her bottom lip. I really didn't notice any of these to be honest. I tried to nurse her a few times and she never ate at all. Around 10:00 P.M. the on-call pediatrician came by and he also noticed all the red flags the nurses noticed. He said he would come back later to check in, but encouraged us to send her to the nursery if we wanted and the nurses there could keep a close eye on everything. We did send her to the nursery and looking back on everything we are so glad we did! The nurses in the well-baby nursery just knew something wasn't quite right and requested that the pediatrician come back by. At midnight, a neonatologist came by our room and explained that they wanted to admit Addie into the NICU overnight to monitor her breathing. I think at this point Will and I were both thinking this had to do with the meconium she swallowed. We had done the whole NICU thing with the boys so it wasn't terrifying to us. I knew that they were going to take the best possible care of her in this situation and not me. It is protocol in the NICU that every baby starts an antibiotic and every baby gets blood drawn that goes to the lab to check for infection. So, that night Addie's breathing rate continued to be high and she began antibiotics. We checked on her the next morning and throughout the day and there was really no change. They took an xray of her lungs that determined there was fluid on her lungs. The neonatologist explained that every baby has fluid in their lungs, but most is absorbed during the birthing process and shortly after birth. So, now we thought we just had to wait until the fluid absorbed and that would in turn slow her breathing down. On Thursday, as I was getting released from the hospital, we received a phone call from the neonatologist that said Addie's blood work had come back with an infection called Group B Strep. I had been tested for that at 35 weeks and tested negative, but somehow Addie got it from me. We would come to find out over the next few hours and days that Group B Strep is very serious and something that many babies would die from years ago. THANKFULLY, it was caught early and the antibiotics were already in her system! We prayed that the Lord would heal our baby girl and that the doctors and nurses would have wisdom on how to treat her. We decided to move into the hotel that connects to the hospital so we could be close to her. We were SO blessed that our parents basically put their lives on hold to help us with the boys and with Addie. Over the next few days we were discouraged to hear that Addie developed pneumonia. It was a much slower healing process that we thought! Sure, we had our other children in the NICU, but that was only for them to grow. This was very different. Our baby was very sick and that was hard. However, around day 10 of her antibiotic, she began to improve!! Her xrays were looking better and her blood work was normal! Here are some pictures of her days in the NICU...
