Influencer Estee Williams reveals her baby daughter is on life support after suffering terrifying cardiac arrest
Tradwife influencer Estee Williams shared heartbreaking news about her little girl while asking for prayers and support in her Christmas Eve update.
Williams, who has more than 300,000 followers on TikTok and Instagram, posted a photo from the hospital on Wednesday showing her three-month-old daughter’s legs in a corner, with various lines running from the baby’s body to a nearby machine.
Williams wrote under the photo, “My little Estelle had a heart attack in the middle of the night.” ‘Chest compressions were performed for 47 minutes and he is currently on full life support (ECMO).
‘Please keep my sweet girl in your prayers,’ he continued, adding, ‘It’s a scary time as next week we’ll see what her next option will be.’
Williams and her husband, Conner, welcomed their daughter on September 5.
But about 14 hours after her birth, the hospital pediatrician detected a heart murmur, and baby Estelle failed two oxygen tests while she spent five days in the NICU. according to an online fundraiser. It was started by the girl’s grandmother, Holly Nielsen.
‘During this time doctors discovered something no parent was ready to hear. Baby E had two ventricular septal defects; “There were two holes in the walls of his heart,” he says.
Even after Estelle left the NICU, her grandmother wrote: ‘Her first weeks at home were filled with constant monitoring, weekly cardiology appointments and echocardiograms.
Tradwife influencer Estee Williams shared heartbreaking news about her little girl Estelle, asking for prayers and support.
She posted a photo on Instagram Stories from the hospital on Wednesday, showing her three-month-old daughter’s legs in a corner, showing various lines running from the baby’s body to a nearby machine.
‘He was already using Lasix in his second week [a diuretic] and then potassium was added as his heart and lungs were working overtime.’
‘She began refusing to breastfeed and required bottles of breast milk enriched with powdered formula to provide her much-needed calories. ‘He’ll gain a few ounces, but he’ll lose them again.’
Shortly after, the baby also started coughing and got tired; ‘Sleeping a lot more than a baby’, his grandmother said, ‘all signs that his little heart and lungs were in trouble.’
“We hope that by sharing his story we can help others spot these signs early,” Nielsen said. ‘Congenital heart defects such as VSD are not always visible on ultrasound.’
This condition is common among newborns, and smaller VSD holes may close naturally, leaving the baby with no problems. According to the Mayo Clinic.
But babies with larger VSDs may need surgery to prevent complications.
The situation was the same with baby Estelle, who had open heart surgery on November 20.
Nielsen said that when the surgeon opened the chest, he found that the upper VSD was ‘extremely large and rare’, while the lower VSD was smaller but difficult to reach.
He was soon diagnosed with two ventricular septal defects (holes in the heart walls).
Williams and her husband Conner (pictured) welcomed their daughter on September 5
As Estelle spent three hours and 46 minutes on the heart-lung bypass machine, surgeons had to cut through her heart muscle to close the largest hole.
Since then, the baby has remained in the PICU; where he was placed on a breathing tube and supported by a pacemaker as he suffered ‘oxygen imbalance and heart rhythm problems’.
On December 13, the baby required a second open-chest surgery, after which his breathing tube was removed.
In an update on her son and daughter-in-law, Nielsen wrote: ‘Finally, after those long three weeks, Conner and Estee were able to hold their little girl for the first time.
But four days later, Nielsen shared that her grandson might need to stay on a ventilator longer than expected.
‘All things considered, the possibility is being carefully evaluated’ [that] The worried grandmother wrote that baby E would eventually need a heart transplant.
‘No final decisions have been made at this time and we all continue to pray for a miracle.’
Teen girl may now need a heart transplant as her family waits to hear their next steps
As Conner leaves full-time and part-time jobs to care for his child, the family is asking for donations to help with the child’s medical care and assist with lost wages
But on Tuesday, Nielsen said doctors were forced to perform CPR on the little girl after she experienced ‘multiple dangerous increases in lactose levels’.
She wrote on GoFundMe that her granddaughter suddenly turned blue overnight, prompting doctors to increase Estelle’s oxygen levels and give her more medication to stabilize her – but the oxygen levels dropped once again and the baby turned grey.
But there were some signs of hope when the ultrasound showed that Estelle had not suffered a brain bleed and the EEG machine showed normal brain activity.
“The next few days are incredibly critical,” Nielsen wrote. ‘If it continues to stabilize, the next step will be to transition’ [ventricular assist devices]. At this point he will need to show that his lungs can fully function on their own.
‘If he can do this, he will be eligible to be put on the heart transplant list; This process can take up to three to six months.’
Meanwhile, as Conner quits full-time and part-time jobs to care for his child, the family is asking for donations to help with the child’s medical care and assist with lost wages.
As of Thursday, the online fundraiser had raised nearly $22,000 for the family.
