Moving Forward, First Set of Shots

TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2007 05:56 PM, EDT
Moving Forward.
The doctors had told us to treat Brianna as if she were a "normal" baby. Easier said than done, especially when you think every minute is going to be the last. I, personally was on a campaign not to let Brianna cry, not even whimper. I wanted her to be happy every moment she was with us. But also, crying meant burning calories and that was something she couldn't afford to do. Bless her heart, every waking moment, there I was, poking a bottle into that baby girl's mouth. And it worked. She was gaining weight, not much, but something, at the tune of approximately 4 oz a week.
Once we brought her home I became obsessed with something else. I had to find a photographer to come and take some family photos. There's no doubt that God pointed me in the right direction. I pulled open the phone book and just started calling photographers and one of them was aware of an organization called Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. It is a worldwide organization that photographers can belong to (volunteer) and they will go to the hospital, your house, whereever they need to, and take photos of you and your baby. They only do this for families whose babies are not expected to live. Talk about compassion. These people have a heart of gold. Well, our photographer was a woman by the name of Martha Bravo. She was incredibly. She came to our house when Brianna was ten days old and took photos that we will cherish the rest of our life. To see them, go to the links at the top of the page and click on the photodex link.
That done, we settled into doing whatever we had to do in order to keep our baby girl happy and alive. Everything seemed to be moving right along until Brianna turned one month. Then we had our first scare.
First Set of Shots.
Brianna went to the pediatrician for her one month check up and it was at that time she was due for her first set of shots. I was torn, do we have them administer her shots or not? Well, we decided yes. So, she had her hepatitis shot and they also started her on medication for her heart. What I didn't tell you yet, is that we found out after she was discharged from the hospital that she had two holes in her heart (normally found in patients with Trisomy 18). So here we have a hepatitis shot and heart meds and our little baby girl fell asleep and I couldn't wake her for nothing. I panicked. Off we went to the hospital for help. She stayed overnight but apparently it was the combination of the shot and the heart meds that made her fall asleep. She really was okay. I was the one who was NOT okay! 24 hours later she was her normal self (and I was too, sorta).