NICU Family in need of your help. Our story is below and explains everything in detail. However due to our little NICU Survivors advanced needs my wife has had to quit her job. I work for a small agency and we do not get the best of pay and we depended on both of our incomes to make ends meet. However, since she has had to quit her job, we have lost close to 38 thousand in income per year. This is going to make it very difficult for us to survive on my income for the next year. The doctors have told us that it would be best if my wife could stay at home and take care of her for the first year to give her the best chances from getting sick and due to all of her complications.

We ask for your many thoughts and prayers for healing and safety, and since we are now a one income family with many medical bills and all the other bills to keep our home afloat, if you are able to donate, we would most certainly appreciate any help at all. God Bless all of you! Again our story follows.

Our little girl is a survivor and we have to give her the best chance to keep her safe and that includes full time round the clock care at home. My wife has filled this huge role as if we risk anyone else doing this it could cause our little girl to get sick and could possible kill her due to how fragile she is. 

Our daughter Raylen was born late in November. My wife broke water at 16 weeks and we were told by doctors that our little girl would never survive and that my wife would not be able to carry her. They told her that if she continued to carry her that it could kill my wife if she were to get an infection and that ultimately my wife would have to give birth to a dead baby if we continued to hold out. My wife and I both agreed that we would let God decide the outcome. Shortly after this my wife was required to be on bed rest. She was on bed rest for two months at home and then 2 months inside the hospital up until the night our little girl was born and a few days after as she had to have a C Section to take our little girl out. 

The Journey up until her birth was extremely difficult for my wife and I. During the entire bed rest period my wife would have weekly Ultrasounds that either showed no fluid around our baby or very little amounts that were hardly measurable. Many days and nights were spent crying and praying for our little girl to survive each day. We were then told that our little girl could not stay in any longer at that they had to do a C Section and scheduled it for that same night. The doctor told us that the whole delivery room would be full of everyone to provide the best outcome, but they expected the worse. They even told us not to expect the baby to cry because she was so premature and that she would be more than likely rushed upstairs to the NICU. My wife and the Doctor prayed together, and she prayed that our little girl would cry out upon being delivered and that he would witness a miracle. Upon being delivered she let out two little cries and the doctor cried when my asked him if that was her that cried. 

They quickly showed my wife our little girl and then rushed me and the baby up to the NICU Unit. I have never seen so many people work on one person. My little girl was surrounded by doctors and nurses. I watched them work and pull in all kinds of equipment and devices. By this time, my little girl was hooked to a ventilator, was on twelve different IV pumps, and was attached to several other devices as well. She had also had multiple scans and X-Rays. 

When the doctor finally got a moment, he came and took a seat beside me. The doctor informed me that they have done all that they could and have done 110% of what they can for her and that it was now up to my little girl. He then told me what I never wanted to hear. He told me that he did not believe that my little girl would survive through the night and again told me that they have done everything that they could for her. He told me that they had to paralyze her to keep her from fighting the ventilator and other things that they were doing to help her. He also told me that her heart was failing and that her lungs were extremely underdeveloped and that she was very very sick. We decided not to tell my wife until absolutely necessary so that my wife could see her little girl without thinking she was going to die. When all the nurses and doctors cleared out, we brought my wife up to see her. My wife was horrified when she saw all the devices she was hooked to. I explained to her that she’s hooked to everything to give her the best chance and that our little girl was stable.

My wife stayed at her side for a little while and cried as I took her back to her room. I then went back to the NICU around 130 in the morning to see my little girl so that I could spend some time with her without crying because I cant keep it together when my wife is around. Upon walking around the corner I saw nothing but complete chaos around my little girl. There were doctors and nurses going crazy and then the head nurse spotted me standing there watching in shock. Literally from the time it took me to ride the elevator up to see her my little girl had crashed and was dying. The nurse asked where mom was at and I told her downstairs. She rushed me into an elevator and as we rode down I asked her if this was it. The nurse told me that she wasn’t going to make it and told me when the doors opened to run to my wife’s room and get her. I could here my wife crying all the way down the hall screaming for them not to take her and for our little girl to survive as her nurses were rushing to get her in a wheelchair. When I got to the room I ran her to the elevator and then as we rode up, the nurse explained to my wife that this was it and that they were doing all that they could.

When my wife saw everyone working on our little girl she began crying harder than she already was and I watched as everyone was just doing their best to try and keep her alive. My wife then began to pray out loud for God to save her and suddenly our little girl stats began to rise to a point where the doctors and nurses could stop working so hard. The doctor then came over and told us that for now she is at a point where they could stop but that it was up to our little girl to pull through. After taking my wife back down stairs I against met with the doctor who again explained to me that we needed to be prepared for our little girl not to survive. 

Over the next several days each doctor told me the worst and how everything just kept not being in my little girls’ favor. Her heart was terrible and was on the verge of complete failure and the special ventilator was working as hard as it could and was at its max along with everything else being at its max. Even though they kept telling me that she wasn’t going to make it, we kept praying for a miracle. I met with the doctors and she had progressed slightly and was told that if she continues to progress that she may have a chance of making it, however they believed that she would be on the ventilator until sometime in April.

I am happy to say that with prayer and Gods help she has shocked the doctors. One of her doctors even pulled me aside to say this, “Your baby was the sickest baby that I have seen in a very long time, I am so impressed with her. I can give you no medical explanation as to why your little girl is here, how she has done what she has, and how she has progressed so quickly”. He then pointed to the ceiling and stated, “That is the only answer I can give you, God. Your baby is a miracle.”

Well, I am so incredibly happy that I am able to share some amazing news. We have some bad news, but it definitely doesn’t outweigh the good. We brought our little girl home at the beginning of February, way ahead of any doctors imagined timeframe. But she didn’t come home 100% because we are not just yet out of the woods and will not be for some time. Although we were able to bring her home, she is going to need a lot of help. She has come home on 24/7 oxygen, 24/7 heart and ox monitor, and has had a feeding tube surgically implanted into her stomach along with many medications. This is required due to her lungs still being very underdeveloped and that makes it extremely difficult for her to feed by bottle. Currently she only takes 5 to 10 percent of her daily milk by bottle, the rest goes through the tube. 

My wife has also had to quit her job due to the advanced care that she requires at home and due to the extreme risk of her getting sick. The doctors have informed us that she will be on oxygen and the feeding tube for an entire year and maybe a little more if needed. Due to her many health conditions, they advised us that she cannot go to a daycare or be around other children as if she gets sick that it could easily kill our little girl. Her bedroom looks like a mini hospital room and we’ve had to put a bed in there so one of us can stay with her throughout the night and when she had her first doctor appointment my wife's little SUV looked like an ambulance. We have several different doctors that we must see on a weekly basis and those doctors are two hours away one way. She also has physical therapy appoints two hours away as well for her clubbed feet. We live in a very rural area and there is no option for us any closer as she requires such advanced care. We are also having to restrict family from coming to see our little girl except my wife’s mother and father and even they will not be able to see her on a daily basis. 

We ask for your many thoughts and prayers for healing and safety, and since we are now a one income family with many medical bills and all the other bills to keep our home afloat, if you are able to donate, we would most certainly appreciate any help at all. God Bless all of you!