Hazel Everette Wiede

Our sweet girl Hazel was born on Saturday, October 12 at 1:24 in the morning after arriving a week after her due date.  We have been praying for our girl for a long time, asking God to bless us with a safe pregnancy, good results at check ups, a smooth labor and delivery and most importantly for a healthy child.  We have experienced a scare or two during our routine check-ups, including a consultation with a sonogram specialist who had to take a closer look at the ventricles of Hazel's brain when she was only a few weeks old in the womb.

 

I get it, all parents are scared to some extent.  Personally, I am an optimistic person...some times to a fault.  So when we had to see a specialist for Hazel's brain all I could say is that "everything was going to be ok".  And when Hazel decided that she was not ready to come out, I told Aubree that "everything is ok, it will happen when it happens".  Through an induced 17-hour labor and 2-hour delivery I tried to keep the energy in the room as positive as possible. 

 

But when Hazel landed in Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) before she ever came to our hospital room I felt helpless.  Sometimes we felt hopeless.  The pediatrician informed us that Hazel's blood sugar had dropped and they had sent her to the NICU to help her body regulate the blood sugar in her system.  Infants who have trouble regulating blood sugar is not uncommon in the NICU, they had several "sugar babies" who came in and out of the NICU during our visit.

 

The main issue that we are dealing with for Hazel is her eyes.  Hazel has been diagnosed by a pediatric ophthalmologist as having a rare disorder called "Peter's Anomaly".  This condition causes her eyes to appear cloudy, similar to eyes which have cataracts, and does not allow her eyes to properly receive light.  We know that Hazel CAN see right now but she can't distinguish much more than the contrast between light and dark.  When she is near sunlight she squishes her faces and gives you an angry look and when the light is taken away she will open her big blue eyes.  I will go into more details with later posts but the end result of Peter's Anomaly is that Hazel is having her first eye surgery on November 1 to have cornea replacement surgery. 

 

So why am I starting this blog?  It's 98% for Hazel...there is already an army of prayer warriors who have her health on their minds and want to receive updates.  It's 2% for the sanity of Aubree and I...this will be a great outlet for our feelings, fears and how we are praying for our faith in God's plan.  It will help us to make this blog available so that we don't have to relive and re-explain everything that's been going on.

 

What are we asking of our friends and family?  Pray for Hazel and do it ask often as possible.  Don't read this and think to yourself that you will keep Hazel in mind...take 30 seconds, close your eyes and ask the Lord to show mercy on her sight.  Aubree and I believe in praying boldly and specifically for the things in our life that need prayer.

 

I will do my best to blog with updates and the daily happenings in Hazel's life.  There won't be a whole lot of posts about her first bath at home or our crazy sleep schedule.  All of that is normal for babies...we want you to know about her eyes, medical check-ups and health first and foremost.

 

In the coming days and weeks I will be posting on the following topics: our hospital and birthing experience, our experience in the NICU, our visit to the pediatric ophthalmologist who will perform the surgery and what will happen next.

 

We love our friends and family more than can be expressed in the written word.  But I want to say thank you to everyone who has been sending messages, e-mails, bringing meals, attending baby showers and keeping us on their prayer list.  There is no way we can do this on our own and we praise God for each one of you who is actively involved in our lives.

 

- Grant, Aubree and Hazel