The next morning, Katelyn underwent an ultrasound of her head so that they could determine the reason for her large head. This had been conducted without much note. While Jess and John were in the room, the doctor found something that surprised even her. When she returned to give the parents the news, she asked that they sit down, prepping them for the bad news. She shared that she found that Katelyn had a large mass of blood in the ventricles of her brain along with increased fluid in her brain. The technical terms were that she had interventricular hemorrhaging with hydrocephalus. This is extremely rare for full-term babies and is usually associated with traumatic deliveries. The news was bad: her damage was rated as being moderate to severe.
Jess and John immediately began to notify the family of the tragic news - that the baby we had seen early that morning had a very serious condition that could result in serious brain damage. We were all in shock and it certainly took us a minute to fully comprehend what was being said. Jess and John's parents, as well as a few other family members, immediately went to visit them in the hospital. After staying up late the previous night, many of us were already fatigued and the news almost seemed to be too much to really comprehend.
The parents were informed that Katelyn would have an MRI done and that she would likely have surgery that evening, after the neurosurgeon completed the surgery he was conducting at that time. Katelyn had already been transferred to the NICU and was under close watch. She hadn't ate yet (which is normal for the first 24 hours) but this was a good thing if Katie was going to go in for surgery. Katelyn had been choking some and a tube was placed through her nose into her stomach so that fluids could drain. Otherwise, Katie had appeared to still be fairly healthy.
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