On Saturday, May 9th at 11:46 PM, Meghan gave birth to her and Nick’s first child Ellie Marie Olsen. Meghan anticipated the very best way to spend the first hours of her very first Mother’s Day holding Ellie close to her chest, as promised by her doctor. The moment came when Ellie was delivered and moved to mom’s chest. It was quickly realized that Ellie was in distress and unable to breathe. That moment Meghan was looking forward to was quickly swept away as Ellie was moved to a different part of the room. Emergency response team rushed over and began  life saving efforts. Mom and Dad looked on for 13 minutes as the crew made several attempts to intubate her but were unsuccessful. By the grace of God, an anesthesiologist came to the room, took control of a chaotic situation, and was able to intubate and provide Ellie with oxygen.

Once stable, dad followed the ambulance to Rady’s Children’s in San Diego where Ellie was admitted to the NICU while mom remained strong in Poway. After several long hours, they learned that Ellie suffered from severe micrognathia (an underdeveloped lower jawbone) and she was missing a bone and joint in her jaw. In Ellie’s case, it was so severe that it blocked her airway making it impossible to breathe. While Ellie remained intubated and sedated specialist from various areas of the hospital took turns evaluating her and running a gammet of tests. Mom and Dad were constantly told by the medical staff how strong and resilient their little girl was.  Two days into their stay at Rady’s Nick and Meghan spoke to a cardiologist. He informed them that Ellie also suffered from a heart condition called Tetralogy of Fallot. A condition that would require surgery when Ellie reaches 4-6 months and again later in life. Shortly thereafter, they spoke to plastic surgeon’s regarding Ellie’s lower jaw. They determined it would be 4-6 years before they could repair her lower jaw, thus allowing Ellie time to grow and develop a bit more. Ellie’s jaw surgery will require them to remove a rib (which luckily God gave her an extra one) and rebuild the jaw. Without jaw surgery, Ellie is unable to breathe thru her mouth and nose and she was scheduled for tracheostomy surgery. On May 8th, Ellie successfully received her tracheostomy. Mom and dad learned how to care for a child with a tracheostomy and Ellie proved to remain strong and quickly adapted. A few days later, Ellie proved the doctors wrong and was off the ventilator (a task they were sure would take a week or more). She slowly weaned from her pain medication and became more engaged and showed everyone how much personality she has. On day 12 Mom and Dad were finally able to hold her. The next step was to see if Ellie would be able to swallow while protecting her airway to avoid choking on mom’s breast milk. Due to the under development of her lower jaw causing her airway to be obstructed, Ellie failed each swallow attempt and continues to be fed thru the nasal tube. On Wednesday, June 3rd, Ellie will undergo her second surgery to implant the gastric tube into her stomach. Once that heals, seven to ten days later, and Ellie is able to handle full feedings the family will be allowed to go home. Once home Ellie will undergo constant outpatient therapy in hopes of progressing her swallow to be fed orally from the bottle. Just when things begin to get comfortable at home, a few months later Ellie will be back in the hospital to undergo heart surgery to address the Tetralogy of Fallot.
Ellie will need a lot of medical equipment at home along with in home nursing per her doctors. Unfortunately Meghan and Nicks insurance will not pay for these costs. Meghan and Nick are looking forward to getting Ellie home but they also know this will mean finally facing the financial aspect of all this. Although asking for help is the last thing Meghan and Nick wanted to do, the bills are already piling up beyond what they can afford by themselves. Even as a full time nurse and police officer with insurance (which won't cover a lot of the cost) Meghan and Nick need your help. Any help you are able to provide is beyond appreciated. Please share Meghan and Nicks story so Ellie can get the care she needs to stay healthy! Please give Meghan and Nick the privacy they need to deal with all of this. If you would like to help in other ways please contact Ben or Nicole (Meghans brother and sister) Thank you all!!