Zariah's precious little heart
Donation protected
Our Story
Our daughter Zariah was born on 3/5/15. When she was born she was in the NICU due to issues with her oxygen and blood sugars.
While she was in the NICU they discovered that she has a heart murmur. Her doctor ordered an Echocardiogram and an EKG. They did these right away.
Later that day her doctor came to our room to let us know her results. She Has a large Ventricular Septal Disorder (VSD). A VSD is a hole in the heart between the chambers. They cause the blood to not flow properly.
She was in the NICU for 13 days because her vitals were not stable and then released.
We started seeing a cardiologist right away Bur because he refused to answer quesrtions we transfered her to Children's Heart clinic. They have been fantastic. Dr. Carter at Children's Minneapolis ordered another echocardiogram. He said her VSD is very large. Sometimes the holes will close with out needing surgery. Unfortunately,Zariah's will require her to have open heart surger to repair the hole.
From the beginning she gained weight very slowly due to the size of the hole. So she was considered "failure to thrive". We were told we need to fortify her feeds. This just meant adding a little extra formula to her bottles.
On 7/3 we went in for her appointment and she had only gained 6.5 ounces in a month. This is less than 1/4 of the weight they would expect a baby to gain in that amount of time. Her doctor decided to have us fortify her feeds to a higher calorie count. Even with the higher calorie count she gained no weighed from 7/3-7/13.
7/13 was her 4 month check up. When she realized she had gained no weight in the past 10 days the pediatrician immediately contacted her cardiologist. They decided to have me just keep an eye on her but bring her in if she starts having issues with wanting to eat.
On 7/14 she refused to take a bottle at all. She was also more tired than usual and running a fever. I called the cardiologist and they said to bring her to children's immediately. She ended up being admitted due to a virus but her eating issues were due to the VSD and it being time that she would need surgery soon.
She was discharged from the hospital on 7/24. (She was there for 10 days). Before being discharged her surgery was scheduled for August 13th.
A little more back story....
While I was pregnant we started the process of buying our own home for our family. We moved in when Zariah was about 1 month old. I am currently a stay at home mom and my husband works. Most weeks he is working 6 days a week so we can afford the things we need. I am going to be getting licensed for daycare, which I planned to do right when we moved in. Unfortunately, due to the health issues with Zariah I am unable to start the daycare until after her surgery and recovery is over. It has been a struggle the past few months just to get by. We have 3 kids. One of which is starting school in September. When she has surgery my husband will need to take a little time off of work, which he will not be paid for.
Neither of us like to ask for help but it has come to the point that it will be needed. We will have our normal monthly expenses on top of money spent while in the hospital. We live about an hour from Children's hospital so we will be staying there with her. Money for parking and food alone add up so quickly. Any amount you can donate will help. If you are unable to donate we ask you to keep our little girl in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time and share our story.
Thank you all for taking the time to read/share our story and to donate. God bless.
Our daughter Zariah was born on 3/5/15. When she was born she was in the NICU due to issues with her oxygen and blood sugars.
While she was in the NICU they discovered that she has a heart murmur. Her doctor ordered an Echocardiogram and an EKG. They did these right away.
Later that day her doctor came to our room to let us know her results. She Has a large Ventricular Septal Disorder (VSD). A VSD is a hole in the heart between the chambers. They cause the blood to not flow properly.
She was in the NICU for 13 days because her vitals were not stable and then released.
We started seeing a cardiologist right away Bur because he refused to answer quesrtions we transfered her to Children's Heart clinic. They have been fantastic. Dr. Carter at Children's Minneapolis ordered another echocardiogram. He said her VSD is very large. Sometimes the holes will close with out needing surgery. Unfortunately,Zariah's will require her to have open heart surger to repair the hole.
From the beginning she gained weight very slowly due to the size of the hole. So she was considered "failure to thrive". We were told we need to fortify her feeds. This just meant adding a little extra formula to her bottles.
On 7/3 we went in for her appointment and she had only gained 6.5 ounces in a month. This is less than 1/4 of the weight they would expect a baby to gain in that amount of time. Her doctor decided to have us fortify her feeds to a higher calorie count. Even with the higher calorie count she gained no weighed from 7/3-7/13.
7/13 was her 4 month check up. When she realized she had gained no weight in the past 10 days the pediatrician immediately contacted her cardiologist. They decided to have me just keep an eye on her but bring her in if she starts having issues with wanting to eat.
On 7/14 she refused to take a bottle at all. She was also more tired than usual and running a fever. I called the cardiologist and they said to bring her to children's immediately. She ended up being admitted due to a virus but her eating issues were due to the VSD and it being time that she would need surgery soon.
She was discharged from the hospital on 7/24. (She was there for 10 days). Before being discharged her surgery was scheduled for August 13th.
A little more back story....
While I was pregnant we started the process of buying our own home for our family. We moved in when Zariah was about 1 month old. I am currently a stay at home mom and my husband works. Most weeks he is working 6 days a week so we can afford the things we need. I am going to be getting licensed for daycare, which I planned to do right when we moved in. Unfortunately, due to the health issues with Zariah I am unable to start the daycare until after her surgery and recovery is over. It has been a struggle the past few months just to get by. We have 3 kids. One of which is starting school in September. When she has surgery my husband will need to take a little time off of work, which he will not be paid for.
Neither of us like to ask for help but it has come to the point that it will be needed. We will have our normal monthly expenses on top of money spent while in the hospital. We live about an hour from Children's hospital so we will be staying there with her. Money for parking and food alone add up so quickly. Any amount you can donate will help. If you are unable to donate we ask you to keep our little girl in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time and share our story.
Thank you all for taking the time to read/share our story and to donate. God bless.
Organizer
Jessica Sharp
Organizer
Big Lake, MN