Jordyn Alyce Heath

Born on Monday, May 24, 2010 @ 9:59 a.m. in Idaho Falls, Idaho.9 Lbs 1 oz and 21 1/4 inches long
The kids loving their little sister!

My little beauty! I knew that she was going to have a lot of hair because the weekly ultrasounds showed her hair waving in the water. I thought it would be blond. Jared thought it would be red. But we got dark brown. Now I have my Neapolitan children, one chocolate, one vanilla, and two strawberry kids. :)

We should call her Popeye, look at those arms and rolls!

She gave us a major scare. Out of all of my children, the one that goes full term is the one that ends up in the NICU. She went in for her usual check-up and while there, she started to cry and then stopped breathing. The nurses had to rub her chest to stimulate her to breath again. They thought that it must have just been a temper tantrum type thing, but told me that they were going keep her in the nursery instead of letting me have her in the room with me during the night. Jordyn soon did it again. They ordered ex-rays and blood cultures to see if she had any kind of infections.

I came in and nursed her at about 2 a.m. and Jordyn was completely fine. I stayed with her for two hours and then went to bed. She stopped breathing 2 more times that night. Just out of the blue, she would start to cry and then stop breathing.

They immediately sent her to the NICU and consulted with the Pediatrician who ordered ultra-sounds for Jordyn's heart and brain. He wanted to check to see that she didn't have any small leaks in her heart valves or lungs and no liquid in her brain. (Now they tell me not to worry, but how can you NOT worry when they start talking about holes in your baby's heart or liquid build up in your baby's brain?)

I couldn't come into the NICU until after the rotation and by then they were conducting the ultrasound on Jordyn's heart. While there, the new Pediatrician, and our actual Pediatrician for all our other kids came in. He assessed Jordyn and gave Jared and me another possible option as to why Jordyn was stopping her breathing. I don't remember the technical term that he used but here it is. When the baby is in utero, they breath, or "practice" breathing. They don't have to do this because they actually get their oxygen from the placenta. So, if they get distressed or tired, they can stop the breathing to conserve energy. Most babies transition from uterus to outside world just fine. Our Pediatrician thought that Jordyn was getting distressed and would naturally react by stopping her breathing, except, now that she is "born" she can't do this any more. She was having trouble transitioning. Only time would tell.

They ran all the other tests to rule out everything else. She didn't do it again, though there were times that Jordyn would get really upset and her oxygen levels would go really really low, but she continued to breath just fine.

We were able to bring her home today and she is doing great. She has doctor appointments already set up for the next few days and weeks to monitor her situation. But...she is doing great and passing all the tests they send her way. I am so grateful to have my little girl strong, healthy, and home with her family! (Plus, she is a very vigorous nurser. I've never had a baby eat so well! I hurt!)