#30DaysofBrave Day 27 - Kelsey

Kelsey is hands down the bravest person we have ever met. And we are lucky to call her our daughter.
Kelsey's story is one for the books, one we will most definitely be writing one day. Our pregnancy with her was, for the most part, easy. We went in for a routine ultrasound at 32 weeks 6 days only to find out that she was incredibly sick. This took us completely by surprise because the ultrasound 2 weeks prior was completely normal. She was diagnosed with non-immune hydrops fetalis, a condition where the baby has fluid in places they are not suppose to have it. For Kelsey, she had fluid in her chest/lungs, her belly, and her skin. We were transferred immediately to Pennsylvania Hospital in Philly where they had a level III NICU. Once there, we were told we would be delivering within 24 hours to give her a chance. After discussion with all the doctors, it was determined she would have a 5% chance of survival. We were told that IF she makes it out of the delivery room, the first 24-48 hours were unknown. And IF she survived those first few days, the first few weeks were unknown. And IF she made it that far, we were told these babies would have very long NICU stays that can go up and down. We were devastated. Our third little girl would have to fight for her life.

On March 18th, 2020, Kelsey was born via c-section. We never heard her cry. We didn't even know she was born until the neonatologist told us that she was out. Kelsey was immediately intubated and had bilateral chest tubes placed, which they drained almost 1 pound of fluid from her tiny body. But she was stable. She made it out of me. And she made it out of the delivery room.

Kelsey continued to fight. Her little body did exactly what we needed it to do. By 2.5 weeks, her chest tubes were removed. By 3 weeks, she was extubated and on CPAP, by 4 weeks she was on high flow, and by 5 weeks she was only on nasal oxygen and learning to feed. Kelsey braved the NICU for 56 long, grueling days. And she came home to us, the brave fighter that she is.

Kelsey's first year of life continued to bring us hurdle after hurdle- a 4 day hospital stay due to a UTI (we found out she had urinary relfux and needed antibiotics daily), a 7 day hospital stay due to a lymphatic procedure to fix her lymphatic anomaly that caused her chylothorax, a Horner Syndrome scare the day momma went back to work, microcephaly diagnosis with global developmental delay, a brain MRI that showed PVL which lead to a sleep apnea diagnosis, a 7 day hospital/3 day intubation following an emergent tonsil/adenoidectomy and bilateral ear tube placement, so many feeding issues, and a lot of tears. But her first year of life was also a complete blessing. We shared many milestones, laughs, and joy in knowing that she is truly a miracle.

Kelsey continues to show her bravery- reaching milestones we though would never be reached and laughing at limitations a diagnosis places on her. Quoting her NICU neonatologist at our 4 week family planning session, "If you would have told me that Kelsey would be where she is today, I wouldn't have believed you. She is nothing short of a miracle."

Kelsey is brave. She is strong. And she is fierce.