Baby Athena's Medical Fund

Liz and Josh went into labor naturally Thursday 10/12/17. On 10/13/17 at 1:08pm baby Athena was born 9 lbs and 9oz.  Her labor showed no signs of complication but once she was born she was taken immediately at delivery and before even being held in her mother's arms and started seizing at 1 minute into her life.

Sutter responded swiftly, the neonatologist was onsite almost immediately and Stanford Hospital was paged and en route just as quickly. They were able to stabilize Athena and they transported her to Standford within hours of birth. Liz remained at Sutter to recover and was later released the next day and has been with Josh and baby ever since.

Since Thursday Athena has been tested for everything under the sun in order to determine the cause of her early life seizures and at this time there are still many unknowns. What we do know is that it's finally hopeful and they seem to have identified the initial cause as low sodium levels which are incredible rare in newborns. Baby Athena is also getting stronger every day and is finally able to be held by her mom and dad. What we don't know is if this was a one off event or how long she will have to remain in the NICU at Stanford.

Liz and Josh were reluctant to allow me to ask for help but as you all know portable NICUs, long hospital stays and living far away from home create unforeseeable costs. If you can help, even just a little, know it will be greatly appreciated.

I also ask that you respect Liz and Josh’s space as they are spending every minute of every day and night at Athena’s side and occasionally resting to take care of themselves. If you have any questions you can message me and I’ll update everyone when we know more.

Sincerely,

Laura (Liz’s sister)