Anthony's Story
On June 21st, 2013 I gave birth to my precious Anthony. I had a very normal, healthy, textbook pregnancy. I didn't have bad morning sickness, just slight nausea and sleepiness during the first 12 weeks. At 28 weeks I got food poisoning and went to the ER and was given zofran and lots of fluid. That was really the only bump in the road I had during my pregnancy. At 39 weeks I was already 4cm dilated, I was induced at 40 weeks 6 days. I asked for my epidural about 3 hours after I arrived and after several attempts I was all hooked up. After that was finally done I was able to rest and things were going smoothly. At around 8 or 9 cm they noticed Anthony's heart rate was low so they put me on oxygen. Then when it was time for me to start pushing my doctor had to switch shifts which infuriated me because I was ready to go! Finally the other doctor came in and after only about 6 mins of pushing Anthony was out and crying and perfect. We did all the normal routines at the hospital, pediatrician came, he was checked out and everyone said perfect and healthy, and he seemed it!
The morning of day 4 we were at home, the whole evening before he wouldn't eat much and we noticed the twitching. It would go from one arm to the other, then to one leg to the other and even his head would twitch. I never imagined it was seizures that were happening, I never heard of such a thing and everyone at the hospital said he was fine. Plus when I thought of a seizure I didn't think of little twitches, I thought of someone shaking uncontrollably because that's all I've ever heard of. He had even seen our pediatrician the day before because we were concerned about some little red spots on his cheeks which the dr said it was fine and he looked like a perfectly normal newborn. I only assumed the twitches were his little nervous system figuring things out, that was until I was holding him and he began to twitch more often and he stopped breathing, his lips turned blue and his eyes looked blank. That was only for a couple seconds but it seemed like an eternity, we had no idea what to do or what was happening. So we went right to our pediatrician who witnessed the twitches and told us to go right to the ER at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. So there we went, Anthony still wouldn't eat and was still twitching every few minutes. Our pediatrician called the hospital and told them we were on the way so as soon as we got there we were taken back where the nurses witnessed him twitching too and knew right away he was seizing.
Everything after that was a blur & literally felt like an out of body experience. How was this happening? My pregnancy was perfect, everyone said my baby was perfect, all of my friends and family have perfect babies. Why was this happening to us? I watched as my tiny little infant was poked many times for blood tests, given a CT scan, an MRI, a spinal tap an EEG and every other test you can imagine. I could hardly look after he was sedated & intubated, he looked completely lifeless. At this point I was hysterical. I learned quickly never to ask a nurse if someone is going to die, she couldn't give us an answer. We were moved up to the PICU and on the way there a nurse was squeezing a bag connected to my tiny newborn, that was literally breathing for him. Each squeeze his little chest would go up and down. Once we were in the room things were quiet. Anthony was hooked up to a billion things. He was put on keppra, an anti-seizure medicine, and monitored very closely to watch for swelling. The tests showed he had lost oxygen to the back of his brain that caused bleeding which caused the seizures and the next afternoon we were told it was all caused by a neonatal ischemic stroke. I still didn't really understand. As far as I knew strokes only happened to older people. I was NEVER told this could be a possibility for my baby, for ANYONES baby for that matter. So again we asked is he going to live? Is he going to be "normal"? Is he going to walk? Is he going to talk? Is he ever going to be able to do anything? When did this happen? How did this happen? They couldn't answer any of those questions. Only time would tell. Finally I asked, is there hope for him? Yes. Finally. I held onto faith and hope from then on out. As long as there was hope for my baby then I could breathe. I put all of my worries and fears in Gods hands and held onto that tiny bit of hope that there was for Anthony.
On the third day they began to take him off the sedation and I was able to hold him again and see his little eyes open. Anthony looking at me was a huge deal. The damage on the back of his brain was in the occipital lobe, the part of his brain that controls your vision. So if this stroke were to affect him it would more than likely be his vision. We were told by many doctors that babies brains have a lot of plasticity and damaged areas could basically "reroute". This was wonderful news. We were able to leave the hospital after 6 days and told to take it one day at a time and just to see how he develops and reaches his milestones, Anthony was kept on the anti-seizure medicine and over the next year we had many follow up appointments, 2 more EEGs, and a visit to a pediatric eye doctor that he amazed with how well all the nerves in his eyes looked after what he had been through. Anthony rolled over for the first time at 8 weeks old, crawled at 7 months and walked at 9 months, he was always such strong baby! He can spot tiny airplanes way out in the distance and read words from a distance that I can hardly see! He was taken off the seizure medicine at 14 months old and his neurologist told us he saw no need for anymore follow up appointments.
Anthony has amazed me every day since he has been born. He will turn 7 this June and start 1st grade in the fall. He is doing wonderful with learning to read and is so good with math and numbers. He loves playing with his cousins, playing video games, and making us laugh. He loves playing outside, he learned to ride his bike recently too! He is the silliest and boy and has so much love in his heart for others. I still hold on to that hope even all these years later and trust that God knows what he's doing and everything that has and will happen is for a reason. Every milestone, even now, for Anthony is worth over rejoicing. I wish more people were aware of strokes in newborns and were educated on what to look for. I wish I had been. I feel like this is a topic that should be brought up in preparenting classes and in those "what to expect" books. I've been told and read that many children have this happen to them but they don't have seizures, so don't know it's happened until they are older and notice weaknesses in an arm or leg or whatever else. I struggled for a long time with the thought of getting pregnant again, I was so scared that this would happen again. I also wondered if there's something wrong with me or if I did something wrong during my pregnancy that I didn’t even realize. We ended up getting pregnant again in 2017 but that pregnancy sadly ended in a miscarriage. I finally got pregnant again in 2018 and seeing Anthony be such a wonderful big brother to his little brother is the greatest blessing we could ever ask for. My testimony to others is to not live life in fear, trust in God because He will get you through the darkest storms. I'm so grateful for my healthy boys and all the wonderful nurses and doctors who saved my baby. I pray that every other family that has gone through a similar experience knows that there is ALWAYS hope and remember God is in control. <3
On June 21st, 2013 I gave birth to my precious Anthony. I had a very normal, healthy, textbook pregnancy. I didn't have bad morning sickness, just slight nausea and sleepiness during the first 12 weeks. At 28 weeks I got food poisoning and went to the ER and was given zofran and lots of fluid. That was really the only bump in the road I had during my pregnancy. At 39 weeks I was already 4cm dilated, I was induced at 40 weeks 6 days. I asked for my epidural about 3 hours after I arrived and after several attempts I was all hooked up. After that was finally done I was able to rest and things were going smoothly. At around 8 or 9 cm they noticed Anthony's heart rate was low so they put me on oxygen. Then when it was time for me to start pushing my doctor had to switch shifts which infuriated me because I was ready to go! Finally the other doctor came in and after only about 6 mins of pushing Anthony was out and crying and perfect. We did all the normal routines at the hospital, pediatrician came, he was checked out and everyone said perfect and healthy, and he seemed it!
The morning of day 4 we were at home, the whole evening before he wouldn't eat much and we noticed the twitching. It would go from one arm to the other, then to one leg to the other and even his head would twitch. I never imagined it was seizures that were happening, I never heard of such a thing and everyone at the hospital said he was fine. Plus when I thought of a seizure I didn't think of little twitches, I thought of someone shaking uncontrollably because that's all I've ever heard of. He had even seen our pediatrician the day before because we were concerned about some little red spots on his cheeks which the dr said it was fine and he looked like a perfectly normal newborn. I only assumed the twitches were his little nervous system figuring things out, that was until I was holding him and he began to twitch more often and he stopped breathing, his lips turned blue and his eyes looked blank. That was only for a couple seconds but it seemed like an eternity, we had no idea what to do or what was happening. So we went right to our pediatrician who witnessed the twitches and told us to go right to the ER at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. So there we went, Anthony still wouldn't eat and was still twitching every few minutes. Our pediatrician called the hospital and told them we were on the way so as soon as we got there we were taken back where the nurses witnessed him twitching too and knew right away he was seizing.
Everything after that was a blur & literally felt like an out of body experience. How was this happening? My pregnancy was perfect, everyone said my baby was perfect, all of my friends and family have perfect babies. Why was this happening to us? I watched as my tiny little infant was poked many times for blood tests, given a CT scan, an MRI, a spinal tap an EEG and every other test you can imagine. I could hardly look after he was sedated & intubated, he looked completely lifeless. At this point I was hysterical. I learned quickly never to ask a nurse if someone is going to die, she couldn't give us an answer. We were moved up to the PICU and on the way there a nurse was squeezing a bag connected to my tiny newborn, that was literally breathing for him. Each squeeze his little chest would go up and down. Once we were in the room things were quiet. Anthony was hooked up to a billion things. He was put on keppra, an anti-seizure medicine, and monitored very closely to watch for swelling. The tests showed he had lost oxygen to the back of his brain that caused bleeding which caused the seizures and the next afternoon we were told it was all caused by a neonatal ischemic stroke. I still didn't really understand. As far as I knew strokes only happened to older people. I was NEVER told this could be a possibility for my baby, for ANYONES baby for that matter. So again we asked is he going to live? Is he going to be "normal"? Is he going to walk? Is he going to talk? Is he ever going to be able to do anything? When did this happen? How did this happen? They couldn't answer any of those questions. Only time would tell. Finally I asked, is there hope for him? Yes. Finally. I held onto faith and hope from then on out. As long as there was hope for my baby then I could breathe. I put all of my worries and fears in Gods hands and held onto that tiny bit of hope that there was for Anthony.
On the third day they began to take him off the sedation and I was able to hold him again and see his little eyes open. Anthony looking at me was a huge deal. The damage on the back of his brain was in the occipital lobe, the part of his brain that controls your vision. So if this stroke were to affect him it would more than likely be his vision. We were told by many doctors that babies brains have a lot of plasticity and damaged areas could basically "reroute". This was wonderful news. We were able to leave the hospital after 6 days and told to take it one day at a time and just to see how he develops and reaches his milestones, Anthony was kept on the anti-seizure medicine and over the next year we had many follow up appointments, 2 more EEGs, and a visit to a pediatric eye doctor that he amazed with how well all the nerves in his eyes looked after what he had been through. Anthony rolled over for the first time at 8 weeks old, crawled at 7 months and walked at 9 months, he was always such strong baby! He can spot tiny airplanes way out in the distance and read words from a distance that I can hardly see! He was taken off the seizure medicine at 14 months old and his neurologist told us he saw no need for anymore follow up appointments.
Anthony has amazed me every day since he has been born. He will turn 7 this June and start 1st grade in the fall. He is doing wonderful with learning to read and is so good with math and numbers. He loves playing with his cousins, playing video games, and making us laugh. He loves playing outside, he learned to ride his bike recently too! He is the silliest and boy and has so much love in his heart for others. I still hold on to that hope even all these years later and trust that God knows what he's doing and everything that has and will happen is for a reason. Every milestone, even now, for Anthony is worth over rejoicing. I wish more people were aware of strokes in newborns and were educated on what to look for. I wish I had been. I feel like this is a topic that should be brought up in preparenting classes and in those "what to expect" books. I've been told and read that many children have this happen to them but they don't have seizures, so don't know it's happened until they are older and notice weaknesses in an arm or leg or whatever else. I struggled for a long time with the thought of getting pregnant again, I was so scared that this would happen again. I also wondered if there's something wrong with me or if I did something wrong during my pregnancy that I didn’t even realize. We ended up getting pregnant again in 2017 but that pregnancy sadly ended in a miscarriage. I finally got pregnant again in 2018 and seeing Anthony be such a wonderful big brother to his little brother is the greatest blessing we could ever ask for. My testimony to others is to not live life in fear, trust in God because He will get you through the darkest storms. I'm so grateful for my healthy boys and all the wonderful nurses and doctors who saved my baby. I pray that every other family that has gone through a similar experience knows that there is ALWAYS hope and remember God is in control. <3
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