Parade to celebrate Baby Alexander's first birthday
LAS CRUCES - Alexander Lechuga has battled with serious respiratory illness his entire nearly one year of life, but his parents are determined to make the baby’s upcoming birthday special with a drive-by parade.
Alexander was recently discharged from his latest visit to the hospital concerning breathing problems. Out of an abundance of caution due to the COVID-19 pandemic and possible transmission, his parents said they decided it was too risky to invite people over to their home for a Jan. 17 birthday celebration.
Instead, the community is invited to join in a birthday parade for the little one on Jan. 22. Participants are asked to meet at East Picacho Elementary at 1:45 p.m. before the start of the parade at 2 p.m. The family’s address is 910 Lark Place.
Alexander was born Jan. 17, 2021 to Alexis Rodriguez, 22, and Angel Lechuga, 23. Rodriguez said there were no issues during labor and delivery, but his breathing sounded strange, or “junky,” several days later. She was told by doctors that sometimes babies inhale fluids while in the womb and Alexander’s breathing should clear up within a week or so. However, a month or two later the baby still had breathing problems and was wheezing.
At that point, Alexander was prescribed medication and a nebulizer to manage at home. August 2021 came around and the baby was rushed to the hospital with an uncontrollable fever and contracting stomach which was causing his airway to close.
“He ended up having RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), pneumonia, bronchitis and the rhinovirus all at the same time. It was pretty terrifying,” Rodriguez said. The boy’s oxygen level was also below normal.
This hospital visit lasted about a week and a half before Alexander was sent home on oxygen. Rodriguez said her son remained on oxygen from August through October. Two weeks after being taken off oxygen, he was back in the hospital with the same infections he had in August.
“At that point they started diagnosing him as an asthmatic patient, but they really wouldn't give him that exact name because they won't diagnose you until after the age of 2 because a lot of the times kids grow out of it,” Rodriguez said.
Alexander was prescribed a steroid to treat the possible asthma and was sent home again. The family recently went back to the hospital Jan. 2 as the baby’s breathing worsened again. Due to a change in visitation policy at Memorial Medical Center, Rodriguez said she stayed in the hospital with her son for almost a week without being relieved by her fiancé.
The boy’s parents said they are more concerned now because none of the treatments prescribed in the past year have worked long-term. Rodriguez said she worries that there may be something developmentally wrong with her son’s lungs, but doctors have never taken any scans.
She said she did get COVID-19 during her seventh month of pregnancy and has brought this up to doctors as a possible impediment to her baby’s lung development. Medical staff tell her that there is not enough research on the virus to determine something like that.
Alexander is home now with his family but is still on oxygen. His mother said they are working with his pediatricians to see if they can be referred to a lung specialist.
She added that her baby’s hospitalizations have also taken a toll on her older son, Angel Lechuga Jr. who is 2 years old.
“Him and his brother are best buddies,” Rodriguez said. “Angel Jr. would ask, ‘where's my brother? Where's my mom?’ And we would FaceTime them and everything and (Angel Jr.) would ask me, ‘mama come home, bring baby home.’”
The parents even had to pull both children from daycare for fear Alexander would contract COVID-19, particularly because he already has problems with his lungs and breathing.
Besides his lungs, Rodriguez said the baby is developmentally advanced. He started walking at nine months.
Las Cruces Police, the fire department, local car and motorcycle clubs have all reached out to the family RSVPing for the birthday parade. Many community members have also voiced interest. Local bakery Vaquita Creations is even donating a cake for the celebrations.
All are welcome to join the Jan. 22 parade and help make Alexander’s first birthday special.
Leah Romero is the trending reporter at the Las Cruces Sun-News and can be reached at 575-418-3442, LRomero@lcsun-news.com or @rromero_leah on Twitter.
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This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Parade to celebrate Baby Alexander's first birthday
