Elijah Wilder Ebersold
Donation protected
On Sunday, December 1st, 2019, Elijah Wilder Ebersold was welcomed into this world. He arrived one day before his due date. Mom and dad fell madly in love with him over the 9 months of pregnancy. Through out pregnancy, mom and dad couldn't wait to meet Baby E. They planned, prepped, and had everything ready for his arrival. They took Bradley method birthing classes, had a doula to help with birth, and had the perfect nursery set up for his arrival. Mom had an easy, uncomplicated pregnancy. Elijah always measured to date, had a strong heart rate, and mom had no complications.
Early morning, on Saturday, November 30, mom started to go into labor. After laboring at home for awhile, we made our way to the hospital. During labor, the doctors noticed that Elijah's heart rate and blood pressure would drop every time Tara had a contraction. The doctors and our amazing doula, Sarah, managed this by having Tara labor on her side. This position caused the lease amount of stress to Elijah. This was our first clue that something wasn't right. Shortly after arriving to the hospital, the doctors had to break Tara's water. They quickly noticed very heavy meconium present in the amniotic fluid. Which means Elijah was in distress. We did our best to hurry along the laboring process, monitoring mom and baby every step of the way.
At 1:08 AM on December 1st, Elijah made his way into the world with a wild ride. Before mom even got to see or hold him, he was swept away by the nurses and a team of doctors since he was not able to breath on his own. They were able to intubate him, insert a breathing tube, and stabilize his breathing. His heart was beating strong and he was a beautiful full-term baby. Weighing 6lbs 10oz and measuring at 20.75 inches long. They whisked him away to NICU for further examination. They told us that there was most likely going to be some brain damage due to lack of oxygen but they didn't know the extent of it. Our sweet little Elijah was diagnosed with HIE, Infant Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy.
The NICU started by placing him on a cooling pad for the first 72 hours of his life to limit swelling of the brain and let him recover from the wild ride. They later hooked him up to an EEG machine to monitor his brain activity. Tara and Brenton were by his side as much as they could be. Visiting him in the NICU multiple times a day, for hours at a time. During the cooling process, the neurologists noticed his brain activity was very low and not having the peaks that a normal brain should have. His pupils would not dilate, and the basic sucking motion was not inherent. They did a CT scan, and they did not see any abnormalities in his body or brain. We were hopeful. After a few days, Elijah was switched from IV fluids, to breast milk via a feeding tube. This was a step in the right direction.
Once the 72 hours on the cooling pad were finished, and the brain had time to recuperate, the doctors were hopeful that his brain activity would boost, and that he would start to be more active. Unfortunately he wasn't progressing like everyone was hoping. We had our good moments. Mom and dad were finally able to hold him for the first time on day four. Our favorite little moments were tickling his tiny little feet, and watching him stretch his long legs. He gets his super long legs, and ticklish feet from his daddy. He loved to hold our hand by grabbing onto our fingers. Little Elijah had his daddy's long legs, fingers, toes, and cute little nose. He had his mommy's chin, and golden brown hair.
Our next step was to get an MRI scan, scheduled on day 6 of his life. This would define how much activity was going on in his brain and allow us to see a full picture of the damaged areas. We took him to get the MRI scan around 2pm on Friday. Once the neurologist and doctors reviewed the results, they were in conclusion that the brain damage was very extensive. Most of little Elijah's brain and brain stem were damaged. The doctor said this was the worse he has ever seen in his 20+ years of being a doctor. The amount of damage done would not allow for future growth or repairing of the brain. Elijah would not be able to walk, move his arms, blink his eyes, eat on his own, or breath on his own. The harder Elijah tried to do these things on his own, the more other parts of his body would give out, and fail. The doctors didn't think he would make it though the weekend. We had to make the toughest decision a parent will ever have to make. We had to do what was best for Elijah.
Within one week of life Elijah had under gone many tests. Multiple X-rays, CT scans, MRI, EEG, blood work on top of blood work, feeding tubes directly into his belly, feeding tubes into his mouth, an IV in his arm, breathing tube and suction tubes in his mouth, oxygen tubes in his nose, and I am sure many more tests I am not thinking of right now. Elijah got his middle name for the wild ride he gave us from the second he entered our lives.
After learning about the extent of Elijah's condition, we notified our immediate family to come see Elijah, and say their final goodbyes. Our families traveled many miles to meet our sweet little boy. On Saturday, when Elijah was just one week old, mom and dad held him for as long as they could and gave him all their love. Snuggling our sweet boy, reading him stories, and telling him all about us. Sweet Elijah passed away at 7:53pm on Saturday, December 7 in his mommies arms, with daddy right by their side. He was told about all the wonderful journeys he was about to go on when he begins his next journey in life.
The NICU staff at Presbyterian Hospital were amazing and helped us through the toughest week of our lives. Our amazing tribe and families have been by our side and taking good care of us. We appreciate all the love, support, thoughts, wishes, prayers, and help from everyone around us. We thank you for your kind words and respect of our privacy during this extremely hard chapter in life. No parent should ever have to loose a child, especially at only one week old.
Elijah Wilder Ebersold December 1, 2019 to December 7, 2019.
Early morning, on Saturday, November 30, mom started to go into labor. After laboring at home for awhile, we made our way to the hospital. During labor, the doctors noticed that Elijah's heart rate and blood pressure would drop every time Tara had a contraction. The doctors and our amazing doula, Sarah, managed this by having Tara labor on her side. This position caused the lease amount of stress to Elijah. This was our first clue that something wasn't right. Shortly after arriving to the hospital, the doctors had to break Tara's water. They quickly noticed very heavy meconium present in the amniotic fluid. Which means Elijah was in distress. We did our best to hurry along the laboring process, monitoring mom and baby every step of the way.
At 1:08 AM on December 1st, Elijah made his way into the world with a wild ride. Before mom even got to see or hold him, he was swept away by the nurses and a team of doctors since he was not able to breath on his own. They were able to intubate him, insert a breathing tube, and stabilize his breathing. His heart was beating strong and he was a beautiful full-term baby. Weighing 6lbs 10oz and measuring at 20.75 inches long. They whisked him away to NICU for further examination. They told us that there was most likely going to be some brain damage due to lack of oxygen but they didn't know the extent of it. Our sweet little Elijah was diagnosed with HIE, Infant Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy.
The NICU started by placing him on a cooling pad for the first 72 hours of his life to limit swelling of the brain and let him recover from the wild ride. They later hooked him up to an EEG machine to monitor his brain activity. Tara and Brenton were by his side as much as they could be. Visiting him in the NICU multiple times a day, for hours at a time. During the cooling process, the neurologists noticed his brain activity was very low and not having the peaks that a normal brain should have. His pupils would not dilate, and the basic sucking motion was not inherent. They did a CT scan, and they did not see any abnormalities in his body or brain. We were hopeful. After a few days, Elijah was switched from IV fluids, to breast milk via a feeding tube. This was a step in the right direction.
Once the 72 hours on the cooling pad were finished, and the brain had time to recuperate, the doctors were hopeful that his brain activity would boost, and that he would start to be more active. Unfortunately he wasn't progressing like everyone was hoping. We had our good moments. Mom and dad were finally able to hold him for the first time on day four. Our favorite little moments were tickling his tiny little feet, and watching him stretch his long legs. He gets his super long legs, and ticklish feet from his daddy. He loved to hold our hand by grabbing onto our fingers. Little Elijah had his daddy's long legs, fingers, toes, and cute little nose. He had his mommy's chin, and golden brown hair.
Our next step was to get an MRI scan, scheduled on day 6 of his life. This would define how much activity was going on in his brain and allow us to see a full picture of the damaged areas. We took him to get the MRI scan around 2pm on Friday. Once the neurologist and doctors reviewed the results, they were in conclusion that the brain damage was very extensive. Most of little Elijah's brain and brain stem were damaged. The doctor said this was the worse he has ever seen in his 20+ years of being a doctor. The amount of damage done would not allow for future growth or repairing of the brain. Elijah would not be able to walk, move his arms, blink his eyes, eat on his own, or breath on his own. The harder Elijah tried to do these things on his own, the more other parts of his body would give out, and fail. The doctors didn't think he would make it though the weekend. We had to make the toughest decision a parent will ever have to make. We had to do what was best for Elijah.
Within one week of life Elijah had under gone many tests. Multiple X-rays, CT scans, MRI, EEG, blood work on top of blood work, feeding tubes directly into his belly, feeding tubes into his mouth, an IV in his arm, breathing tube and suction tubes in his mouth, oxygen tubes in his nose, and I am sure many more tests I am not thinking of right now. Elijah got his middle name for the wild ride he gave us from the second he entered our lives.
After learning about the extent of Elijah's condition, we notified our immediate family to come see Elijah, and say their final goodbyes. Our families traveled many miles to meet our sweet little boy. On Saturday, when Elijah was just one week old, mom and dad held him for as long as they could and gave him all their love. Snuggling our sweet boy, reading him stories, and telling him all about us. Sweet Elijah passed away at 7:53pm on Saturday, December 7 in his mommies arms, with daddy right by their side. He was told about all the wonderful journeys he was about to go on when he begins his next journey in life.
The NICU staff at Presbyterian Hospital were amazing and helped us through the toughest week of our lives. Our amazing tribe and families have been by our side and taking good care of us. We appreciate all the love, support, thoughts, wishes, prayers, and help from everyone around us. We thank you for your kind words and respect of our privacy during this extremely hard chapter in life. No parent should ever have to loose a child, especially at only one week old.
Elijah Wilder Ebersold December 1, 2019 to December 7, 2019.
Organizer
Brenton Ebersold
Organizer
Charlotte, NC