Help Hazel Grace Schlesser with NICU expenses

Hazel Grace Schlesser was born via C-Section on December 9th 2019 at 2:20 PM.  Her gestational age was 29 weeks 3 days and she weighed only 2 pounds at birth.  


Hazel's journey into the world is an amazing story.  At 17 weeks pregnant Jill woke up to bleeding.  It was determined that she had a subchorionic hemorrhage between her uterus and the placenta.  After close monitoring, we could see via ultrasound that the hemorrhage eventually dissipated. Jill had an ultrasound on October 31st and we could see Hazel was fine and well and measuring in the 39th percentile.  


In Mid November at about 24 weeks Jill's legs, face, and hands began to swell,  she experienced shortness of breath and sudden weight gain of 7lbs in one week.  She was concerned and made an appointment to her clinic to be examined.  They ran some tests for preeclampsia at that time but did not think she had any symptoms and sent her home.  Her swelling only got worse and her pregnancy was very difficult every day.  On Monday November 25th Jill began to experience stomach cramping that felt like contractions.  She again made an appointment with her clinic who ran tests and again were trying to tell her that everything was normal and that she showed no symptoms of preeclampsia. 


Fortunately, the Nurse Practitioner we saw that day felt in her gut that even though all the tests showed that everything was normal, something still was not quite right.  She recommended that Jill go to the Maternal Assessment  Center at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, for more monitoring and tests.  We had Nora with us, so I dropped Jill off at the hospital and then took Nora home.  Meanwhile, we called Jill's mom and sister and asked if they would come to our house to take care of Nora while we went to the hospital.  I dropped off Nora and grabbed a few clothes and went back to Jill in the hospital.  


While we were at the Maternal Assessment center, an ultrasound was performed and we were seen by the doctor on call that night.  The ultrasound showed that Hazel was very small ( growth restricted it what they call it), that the amnionic fluid was extremely low, Jill's blood pressure was elevated, and Jill was still having some contractions.    Jill was admitted to the hospital that night.  Hazel's gestational age was 27 weeks 3 days but she was measuring at a gestational age of only 24 weeks.  


Over the next two weeks, Jill was in the hospital but things were going very well.  Jill's contractions had stopped, her swelling went down, her nausea disappeared and the amnionic fluid level in the uterus quadrupled.  On Friday, December 6th everything was going very well and it looked like that even though Jill had to stay in the hospital, her pregnancy was going to last until January. We were told that Hazel wouldn’t be born at full term 40 weeks, but that our new goal was 34 weeks gestational age. (January 10th)

That all changed very quickly on Sunday December 8th.  Jill called me at about 11 PM and told me that Hazel heart rate kept dipping to the 70 and 80s and was taking a long time to recover.  She told me to come to the hospital and bring some clothes to stay the night.  We monitored Hazel all night and into the morning and the trend continued.  Hazel's heart rate would dip down to 70 and take a long time to recover.  Then in the morning, her heart rate started to spike to above 160.  These facts combined with Jill's preeclampsia, placental insufficiency, hazel being growth restricted (small for her gestational age) were the deciding factors to deliver Hazel at only 29 weeks 3 days.  


Since that day Hazel has been amazing.  She is already breathing room air on her own, she has begun eating 2 ml of breastmilk 4-5 times a day and overall has looked stronger every day.  Jill and I love our little girl very much and cannot wait to bring her home.  At this time it estimated that Hazel will not be able to come home until sometime in Mid February  and we are starting this fund to assist with the NICU medical expenses.