Back to the hospital.

When Corrie put Eva to bed last night, she was extremely fussy. We thought it was just her new teeth coming in and didn't think much of it. At 1:30am I woke up to Eva crying. She was on her stomach and looked frustrated, so I flipped her over and got out her pacifier. She gasped for breath a few times so I quickly picked her up and she fell immediately to sleep on my shoulder. I laid her down and she was breathing heavy. I woke Corrie up, and we both agreed her allergies were acting up, so we went back to sleep. This morning, Eva slept in for an hour. When she woke up, Corrie noticed her skin was really cold to the touch and her feet and hands were bluish in color. At this point, we knew something was up. After consulting with a nurse over the phone, we decided to bring her into the emergency room. Turns out, we made the right decision!

She was in an SVT (rapid heart beat) episode. The doctors tried breaking her out of it with ice, but nothing worked, so they administered a drug to break her out of it. This led to the most traumatic part of the morning. For the next 90 minutes doctors and nurses attempted to place an IV into her hands and arms. Eva was hysterical and so were we. It was so hard to watch our little girl look to us with tears in her eyes, visibly in pain ... and there was nothing we could do but pray. A doctor who attends our church happened to walk into our room as he began his shift. Though they were still having problems, his presence helped calm our nerves a bit. Eventually they were able to administer the drug and she broke out of the episode ... but it only worked for 15 minutes, as she went into a second SVT episode! It was at this point that they decided they needed to admit her into the PICU. They prepared our room and we arrived with Eva still in SVT. Numerous doctors debated what to do next. They decided to up her daily medication and to try the drug again to break her out of the episode. They also needed to do another IV. It was at this point we decided to head to the cafeteria. Thirty minutes later, we arrived back to Eva's room and her heart rate had stabilized. She is now SOUND asleep. From the looks of her (see third picture below), they had to do some handiwork to get her to take the IV and the drug, but she's staying asleep!

For now, they want to monitor her to make sure her heart takes to the increased dosage and that it keeps a regular beat. As long as things go smoothly from here, we may get to go home tomorrow night. Fingers crossed.

Please join us in praying for Eva's little heart. We thought we were out of the woods with all this stuff, but obviously we're not. Her cardiologist didn't seem too phased by any of this activity. Apparently it's all normal for her condition (WPW), but it's still a stressful and traumatic experience every time we come here.

Thanks for all your love and support! We feel so blessed to have such an amazing family and community around us.