Alexander Pierce was born on July 19th, 2017 at 34 weeks 3 days via emergency c-section for no amniotic fluid remaining around him. He is currently in the neonatal intensive care unit at Essentia Health in Duluth with still undiagnosed health issues currently affecting his ability to control his blood sugars and insulin production (this is not a diabetes related condition). Here is our story:
On July 18th I went in for my 34w2d appointment. The two days prior to this appointment, Alex's movements had been slow/softer and fewer and farther between. The day of the appointment, I hadn't felt Alex's movements since the night prior. Upon arriving at my appointment, I mentioned this to my OB who immediately checked for his heartbeat through Doppler and confirmed he was still okay, and then sent me for a non-stress test. Though we could hear Alex's movements on the monitor, I still could not feel him move and the test was considered non-reactive. This lead to being immediately sent for a bio-physical ultrasound where things quickly went from he's okay to he's in danger. It was shown that there was little to no fluid in the amniotic sac and that he was being stressed by the lack of fluid. I immediately went over to labor and delivery where I was monitored for 5 hours and another ultrasound was done. The decision was made to induce me right away. We tried for a normal delivery but once contractions got stronger his heart rate continued to drop after every contraction. It was decided that an emergency C-section was necessary and Alex was born at 6:05am on July 19th.
He was initially breathing on his own, but things quickly changed. His lungs were not mature and he was intubated and given two separate doses of surfactant to open his lungs. It was also discovered that he had very low blood sugars, and many tests/labs were done to try to figure out why. It was discovered that Alex is experiencing hyperinsulinism, where as his body does not shut off the production of insulin constantly pushing his blood sugar levels down. Because of this he was experiencing acidosis, but over the course of the week they have been able to adjust his levels of sugars through IV to "cure" the acidosis. However, we unfortunately still don't have the answers as to why this is occurring in our little boy. His NICU team believes he may have a condition on the genetic/mitochondrial level. We are working with the pediatric endocrinologist and will be working with a geneticist to hopefully come up with a diagnosis for him. We are unsure at this time if he will have long term or possible life long treatments needed to manage his condition.
We are asking for donations to help with the expenses we are anticipating for his care, as well as help with the financial burden of having a child in the NICU and missed wages that we have experienced due to this unexpected delivery and our eldest son's hospitalization two week ago for spinal meningitis. Any and all donations are appreciated.
https://www.youcaring.com/alexanderpierce-887307 
