Marlee Claire Hardman

I know that most of you know Miss Marlee's birth story, but for those of you who don't we thought that we would update you. We went in Monday morning August 11th for a scheduled C-section due to my pre-eclampsia and being on bed rest for 4 weeks. Marlee arrived that morning at 9:21AM and was the most beautiful little thing that I have ever seen! I cried and cried when they pulled her out and was truly in love from that second! Well Tuesday night the nurse came by the room and asked if I wanted her to take Marlee for the night to let me get some sleep because I was so sore from the C-section and tired from so many visitors. ( which we appreciated, I'm not complaining:) )
Wednesday morning instead of bringing my baby back to me, the MD came into the room and told us that during the night the nurse had noticed that Marlee's coloring had changed and that she was having trouble breathing. The MD immediately transferred us to Greenville Memorial because St Francis does not have an adequate NICU or equipment. When we arrived at GHS the Cardiologist informed us that Marlee had a heart condition called "Interrupted Aortic Arch" which means that there was a gap in her aorta that needed to be fixed. Her upper half was getting adequate blood flow but her bottom half was not. They informed us that Marlee would have to be transferred to MUSC for heart surgery but before we could go, Marlee had to be stabilized. Her little body had acid build up in her abdomen from lack of blood flow. They started Marlee on a medication to decrease the acid and increase kidney and liver function immediately. I have never been so scared in my entire life. My church, family and friends immediately began praying for her and even calling prayer meetings. We felt God give us such a peace and we found out Thursday afternoon that Marlee was stable and could now be transferred to Charleston. I flew with Marlee to Charleston while my family drove down and met us. Let me tell you that getting in and out of a tiny plane after just having a c-section was a little difficult!
We arrived in Charleston Friday afternoon and met with all the doctors and nurses and discussed Marlee's plan of care. The surgeon, Dr. Bradley, scheduled Marlee's surgery for Monday morning the 18th and assured us that this was a moderate surgery and that he felt that he could fix everything. Well, Marlee had her surgery Monday morning and the doctor came to tell us that the surgery went perfect and as planned and that they had actually just done an Eco cardiogram after surgery and that Marlee's heart was now functioning perfectly! Wow! God is soo good! Marlee was moved out of the ICU on Friday and is now in her own private room! We are currently working on her feeding and she is still on an NG tube due to her aspirating. The doctors feel like this will resolve itself soon and Marlee will be bottle feeding. We have another swallow study on Wednesday and if she still is having trouble, we may be transferred back to GHS just for feeding issues. All of Marlee's vitals have been fantastic and she looks and acts just like a normal newborn!
I never would have imagined that this could happen to us, because this only happens to other people, or so I thought. God took this situation and used it to his glory. He has taught me about patience and incredible peace, he has brought my family even closer together and my marriage is stronger than it has ever been! Continue to pray for Miss Marlee as we try to complete our feeding task so we can come home!! I forgot the cord to my camera so I have not been able to post any pictures of our beautiful girl! Hopefully soon!!