On January 21, Britne and I found out the wonderful, exciting news: we were expecting our 2nd child. A month shy of our oldest daughter's 2nd birthday! We said a quick prayer and went to church! 21 has been our lucky number. Britne's birthday is August 21. Mine is December 21. Eden's is February 21. Now on January 21 we got this welcome news.
A few months later we found out that the second baby is another girl. Our joy lasted for quite a few weeks as we planned for her September 26 arrival (but we all knew it would be September 21). Then on July 5 we received terrifying news: our little angel growing inside mommy wasn't growing enough. She was deemed a growth restricted baby estimated to be 1 pound 7 ounces. The normal weight for a baby at 28 weeks is about 2 pounds 4 ounces, nearly a full pound more than our little Emma.
The plan from there was to monitor the baby weekly and estimate her weight again every 3 weeks. So a week later we went back for another ultrasound which Emma passed with flying colors, scoring a perfect 8 out of 8 on a biophysical examination. But Britne pointed out to the doctor the fact that her feet had swollen. A quick blood pressure check for mommy was followed by a quick drive to Chapel Hill and the UNC hospital where we were told soon thereafter that Brit would remain until the baby came, no matter how soon or long it would be.
Fast forward to July 17. Brit's vitals and those of the baby had held steady for the entire time we'd been at UNC, but a couple spikes in Britne's blood pressure and we were told that July 17 would be our baby's birthday. We had about a million different emotions at that point, but we were robbed of the excitement of the moment that every parent should get with the birth of a child. It was replaced by fear for Emma because at 29 weeks 6 days she should have had many more weeks to prep for the outside world.
But at 3pm that afternoon Brit was wheeled into the operating room. A few minutes later the nurses came and got me to join her. Then at 3:22 Emma Rae Gleason joined the world. She weighed 1 pound 9 ounces. Those first few moments were absolutely terrifying. We were waiting to hear that beautiful sound of Emma crying. It took a minute or two but she finally did cry. We both breathed a sigh of relief!
Before we could see her they whisked her away to the Newborn Critical Care Center (NCCC). They got her all hooked up to the different machines that will help keep her alive for the weeks to come. I got to go back and see her about an hour later but due to the C-Section Brit couldn't see her for about 24 hours. I'm sure that was just agonizing for her but I kept her updated the best I could during that time.
Emma is and has been breathing on her own with a tiny little C-Pap machine to just help force the air along. It's been explained to us that the part of the brain that reminds us to breathe isn't fully developed in babies delivered at her gestational age so the C-Pap assists her with that. Overall Emma is doing very well for a baby of her size and age. They have told us that she is excelling for her age. Obviously there is a long road ahead but we are very optimistic and hopeful for the future. No indications have been given as to when we can expect to take her home because all babies grow and develop differently so at this point it's just a guessing game. But we are just going to take it one day at a time.
We plan to use this blog to keep everyone updated with Emma's progress. We will need to lean on many people for support during this very difficult and trying time in our life. We know we have a wonderful support system surrounding us. As scared as we are about the future we are very excited to have another baby girl. So happy birthday Emma, one day late. We love you more than we could ever tell you. Keep fighting the good fight baby girl! We will do everything we can to help you along the way.
No comments:
Post a Comment