Andrea Gayle Eakle blessed us with her arrival on December 5, 2011 at 12:57pm. She arrived weighing in at 5lb 3oz and 21 inches long!!  With in minutes we knew something was wrong she was not crying there was chaos in the operating room. Finally with the help of the nurses we heard a very little cry and Andrea was rushed off to the NICU. My husband was with her while I was in recovery, when he came to me he told me that her name is Andrea Gayle Eakle. Later that day one of the NICU Dr’s came in and told us our baby had a large hole in her heart and she needed to go to Rainbow Babies and Children Hospital. So that night she was off to Rainbow’s. When we got to see her she was so little and so strong. We were told that she needed to have genetic testing done. The next 3 days felt like years, the test came back early our Andrea had Trisomy 18 full. We got online and looked at what Trisomy 18 was??  We went to all the sites and read all the info.

Andrea was doing great at Rainbow in the NICU we were starting to feed her by mouth and she did great then she just would get to tired so they put in a feeding tube. They moved her to the step down where she was getting stronger and doing great. Andrea was on room air and still eating well. On December 19, 2011 she had the clear to leave the hospital:). Due to our situation we moved her in to hospice of Western Reserve. Andrea was the best little blessing there she was the only infant there. Mommy and daddy were with her always, mommy did all of her care from feeds to baths. I was going to treat her just as if she were home with us. The staff was amazing and loved when mom and dad had to step out so they could have there Andrea time. They would hold her and love on her just as much as we did. Andrea was eating by mouth and finishing by her NG tube. Until that Jan 2, 2012 morning at her 3am feed, I awoke to her sneezing and her holding her NG tube in her little hand. We said that was her way of us letting us know she did not need it anymore. From that morning on it was out!!!  She was taking her entire bottle all 46ml on her own, it would take her time to eat but she would let us know when she was tired and after a short nap she would want the rest of her bottle.

Everything  was going amazing until January 17,2012 Andrea was not acting like OUR Andrea. She was not  eating well and crying in pain. Our little one never ever cried. That’s how we knew something was wrong, at her 6:30am feed she was not breathing rite so I took her to the nurses and they called 911 and daddy started CPR. She was taking to the hospital that was close by and they sent her back to Rainbow babies. We were there with our pastor, Andreas nurse.At this time we chose to have her baptised, it was scheduled for Sat. Jan 21 but to be sure it was done we did it today. The Dr’s wanted to put her in the PICU and put her on a vent and do a spinal tap. We could not do that to you peanut!!!!  Mommy and daddy  took you back to hospice to be with everyone who loves you.. On  the way back to hospice I called to have the older kids to meet us so they could spend time with there baby sister. The kids held her kissed her and loved her all over again. They knew something was going on due to everyone being there and Andrea being on oxygen. They left around 4:50pm and Andrea started to struggle at 5:15pm she fought just as hard as she could until 7:55pm when she went to be with God. Andrea fought a good fight she was doing so good until her little heart couldn’t keep up with her growing body. She tried so very hard now she is our angel!!!