Baby Ezekiel

Estrella Burciaga and Omar Burciaga displayed their love for one another by marrying in April of 2018. They were overjoyed when they learned that Estrella was pregnant in May of 2019. Her pregnancy was physically and emotionally difficult. Early in her pregnancy, her doctor was concerned about the baby having chromosomal abnormalities. Despite this, testing revealed that not only was the baby healthy, but the baby is a boy! Omar and Estrella were thrilled to learn the good news. However, her pregnancy continued to be complicated by hypertension, which developed into pre-eclampsia. Her symptoms became so severe that she went into respiratory distress and her placenta detached from the womb. Because Estrella and their unborn baby were in danger, the doctors chose to deliver the baby at only 26 weeks (rather than the typical 40 weeks) gestation.

Baby Ezekiel was born on November 29th, 2019 weighing 1lb 7oz. Estrella fought for her health in the intensive care unit (ICU). Her body slowly healed and after a week of being in the ICU, she was released under the care of her mother.

Although Estrella was released from the hospital, Ezekiel was not. His health fluctuates on a daily basis. He has faced challenges such as developing infections and a blood clot. Because of these complications, they have relocated to a hospital in San Antonio, Texas. They have no idea how long they will have to be there.

For these reasons, Estrella and Omar are unable to work at this time. Medical bills for both Estrella and Ezekiel are piling, creating an additional stressor for the family. Any donation can help the family. Most importantly, please pray for them.

Estrella and Omar are blessed to have so many people in their lives that love and care for them. Because of this, they have been overwhelmed with outreach of concern and they are having a difficult time keeping up with responding to everyone. As such, I’m respectfully requesting that this page is used to learn about updates that are taking place. It will be updated anytime a change takes place for the family. This way they can focus their attention on their sweet baby boy.      

*Updates will be kept below the pictures.
                                                                                                                                                 *****************UPDATES*****************

1/9/20: His Neonatal doctor said that Ezekiel is showing improvement with his lungs.

1/10/20: Note from Estrella: "Omar and I would like to thank everyone for their generosity, love, and prayers. We are humbled by your contributions and willingness to help. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. May God bless you all. We have faith that our tiny miracle will be home and well one day soon." 

1/1/20: Ezekiel has gained weight! He is 3lbs! His cardiac interventionist said that she can now see blood flow in his superior vena cava (where the blood clot is located). This is an improvement.

1/12/20: Ezekiel had a good weekend. If all continues well, they will extubate him today. He will no longer be on the ventilator support. 

1/13/20: An echo was performed in order to examine his heart. Dr. Ahmad is seeing more blood flow through the Vena Cava and the hole that he had has significantly shrunk!

1/14/20: Ezekiel's doctor said that he is doing well tolerating being off of the vent. They are waiting for the MRI results.

1/15/20: He’s had good progress since Sunday; he’s adjusted  to breathing on his own with oxygen. His next milestone is to gain weight.

1/16/20: His MRI results are in. His body is clean from infection! He has no abnormalities in his spine or brain!!! This little guy is a fighter!!!

1/17/20: He is still progressing in the right direction. They got to hold him today!! Zekee has 3 major milestones left before he can all go home.
1)Able to regulate his own temperature in an open crib.
2)Use only 2 liters or less of oxygen.
3) Tolerate being bottle fed.
The more he grows and gains weight the easier this will be to accomplish.

1/18/20: Ezekiel had a hard night last night. He was working too hard to breathe. His right lung looks cloudy and his white blood cell count was up. So they gave him some more support to help him. He’s stable for now.

1/19/20: He has gained weight! He weighs 3.5lbs. He is breathing on his own.

1/23/20: Ezekiel remains stable. He still has  blood flow to his heart and no new clots! He has made some progress on the amount of oxygen that he is using. However, he has started to experience swelling in his head again.

1/25/20: The cardiologist provided them with an excellent report. Although Ezekiel still has a blood clot, it is not obstructing any blood flow. His body has already made other avenues for blood to completely circulate. The hole he had is completely closed. 

1/29/20: Things are going pretty well with Zekee. He has reached the milestone of regulating his own temperature. He is now 4lbs! He has had 3 good days. Both Estrella and Omar are doing well too.

2/4/20:  He continues to be medically stable. He is also slowly making developmental progress. He is still in the process of being taken off of his breathing support.

2/10/20: Ezekiel is doing very well. He is 1oz away from 5lbs. The  latest echo suggests that he does not have any more blood clots. His biggest obstacle is his lungs. He continues to have fluid in his right lung. Fluid will be extracted soon and it will be tested for infectious diseases. Overall, the doctors are happy with his progress.

2/13/20: Ezekiel came off his vent support! He is on 3 liters of oxygen. If he can come down to 2 liters, he can start bottle feeding. Once he has the hang of that, he can be brought home!!!

3/3/20: Zekee will be having a surgical procedure tomorrow in order to have better IV access. He will also be getting a CT angio to get a better picture of his heart and lungs. All of this requires intubation and sedation. Please pray.