Olivia’s Story: 12 Days Later

About a week and a half later, Olivia started to make some strides. Her chest tube was taken out and then her oxygen levels slowly started to be lowered. Now when we arrived at the hospital, we had certain numbers to watch on monitors and we had certain goals. We knew that she had to be off the ossilating ventilator in order for us to hold her. Myke and I prayed for 12 days for God to heal our daughter enough for us to hold her. One of the many things that came out of this entire situation was learning how to pray better and to ultimately trust God. We knew that Olivia was in His hands and we had to trust that He was taking care of her, even though we could not

Finally, twelve days after Olivia was born, the nurse turned to me and asked if I was ready to hold her. My eyes got big and I said yes and then I immediately text Myke.

I don’t know if I will ever be able to describe how it felt to hold my daughter. Amazing and beautiful doesn’t even begin to cover it. I handed her to over to Myke and I could tell, he was head over heels for this 12 day old stranger. After that day, whenever I got the hospital, I immediately would ask if I could hold her. I had 12 days taken from me, I wasn’t going to let any more be taken away. For the next week and it was her and me during the day. Nurses would come in and out, but she would be in my arms. It sounds silly to say that now, but we started to get the routine of the place and we started to get to know the people there, both patients and nurses. We were even able to talk and encourage other families around us, which meant a lot to us. When we were transferred out of the NICCU to go upstairs, it was bittersweet for us and we were a little sad. We would never wish us to go back or any family we know to go there, but we can say first hand, if you are ever put in Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, you will not only be in the best care, but around some of the talented group of people I have ever met.