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My name is Alaina Jayne Happach and I was born on August 20th, 2016 in Moline, Illinois. I was very excited to finally meet all of my family and they were very excited to meet me. Shortly after I was born, I started to feel kind of funny. I was taken away from my many visitors and placed in the NICU (a room) all by myself. They placed me under a blue light box to help with my yellow skin and for days I was continuously poked by all of the funny looking doctors and nurses to figure out why my body was feeling so strange. While the doctors continued to scratch their heads, I continued to feel sick. After six days of testing, a special doctor at St. Francis Children’s Hospital in Peoria, IL decided that I needed to get on a helicopter to see him right away! He didn’t think I was going to make it through the night. I was having a hypertensive crisis and my blood pressure would have been considered high for even a grown up.
After a crazy 24 hours my health stabilized and the tests continued, but I was unable to be touched by anyone; including Mommy and Daddy. Seclusion lasted for a few days when finally the smart doctors were able to figure out the main reason I wasn’t feeling so well. They found that my tiny heart was the biggest reason I was feeling so sick. A hole in my ventricular septum restricted oxygen from reaching the rest of my body effectively. This defect kept me from being able to breath on my own and made my body over work itself. Unfortunately, medication would not be able to close the hole; patience, time and close observation were the only things that could heal my heart.
On September 14th, my smart friends at The Children’s Hospital decided that enough time had passed and my heart had healed enough for me to finally go home. I was very happy that I was feeling better and my parents could not have been more relieved.
Being able to be home is a blessing and I am continuing to feel better and better each day with the love and care of my family. I have been doing so well that I was even taken off of my pulmonary hypertension medicine on October 12th! However, I still have to continue to follow up with my cardiologist once a month to make sure that my blood pressure is stable and will also continue to do an echocardiogram which will show how my tiny little heart is doing.
Through all of the chaos, Mommy and Daddy could barely sleep. I could tell that I made them worry a lot, so now I’m trying to help them worry less. Our goal includes the helicopter ride to the children's hospital and medical bills that my insurance didn't cover. Any little bit counts and will be greatly appreciated by my parents and I. If we meet our goal, we would like to donate the rest of the money to the Ronald McDonald Family House where my parents were able to stay while I was being seen. The Family House is a non-profit organization that allows families of very sick babies to stay for free while they are admitted in the hospital.
After a crazy 24 hours my health stabilized and the tests continued, but I was unable to be touched by anyone; including Mommy and Daddy. Seclusion lasted for a few days when finally the smart doctors were able to figure out the main reason I wasn’t feeling so well. They found that my tiny heart was the biggest reason I was feeling so sick. A hole in my ventricular septum restricted oxygen from reaching the rest of my body effectively. This defect kept me from being able to breath on my own and made my body over work itself. Unfortunately, medication would not be able to close the hole; patience, time and close observation were the only things that could heal my heart.
On September 14th, my smart friends at The Children’s Hospital decided that enough time had passed and my heart had healed enough for me to finally go home. I was very happy that I was feeling better and my parents could not have been more relieved.
Being able to be home is a blessing and I am continuing to feel better and better each day with the love and care of my family. I have been doing so well that I was even taken off of my pulmonary hypertension medicine on October 12th! However, I still have to continue to follow up with my cardiologist once a month to make sure that my blood pressure is stable and will also continue to do an echocardiogram which will show how my tiny little heart is doing.
Through all of the chaos, Mommy and Daddy could barely sleep. I could tell that I made them worry a lot, so now I’m trying to help them worry less. Our goal includes the helicopter ride to the children's hospital and medical bills that my insurance didn't cover. Any little bit counts and will be greatly appreciated by my parents and I. If we meet our goal, we would like to donate the rest of the money to the Ronald McDonald Family House where my parents were able to stay while I was being seen. The Family House is a non-profit organization that allows families of very sick babies to stay for free while they are admitted in the hospital.
Organizer
Liendy-Jason Happach
Organizer
Milan, IL
