March of Dimes: Post 1

I have a couple of posts that are in support of the March of Dimes, March for Babies campaign. I have participated in the March of Babies since my babies were months old, I love their organization and everything they have done thus far to prevent premature birth, birth defects and any parent from having to plan a funeral for their infant.


The first post is....


The story of my girls, oh how I love them so.


To find out at the age of 21 you are going to be become an unwed mom is not a statistic people dream of for themselves. I was no different when I first found out I was pregnant I panicked, cried (ask Ashley), and was scared out of my mind. What the heck did I know about being a mom let alone when I had just officially started my wild and reckless years, I had only been 21 for a couple of months. Yet here I was about to tell my boyfriend that we were expecting, oh yes I said we because this was as much his responsibility as it was mine.  He took it rather calmly maybe it was the atmosphere, he was playing pool leagues when I told him, no I couldn’t wait for him to get home I was in a state of panic and it was a national emergency. See I was a wreck the world revolved around me and I didn’t know what to think about this whole thing. However we stayed together, we were definitely keeping the pregnancy so let’s move forward. We told our families they took it well and then it was on to the doctor’s office.  That wasn’t so bad some blood drawn a million questions, but I made it through. Next step the ultrasound.


Now here is where the real shock set in. We didn’t know what to expect it was all foreign to us. But there I sit waiting for the guy to just get started already because I swear I was about to pee my pants (if you have never had an ultrasound or gone with someone else you have to drink like a gazillion gallons of water beforehand). The tech was really nice asked a couple of questions then started, then stopped, he said he needed to grab another set of paperwork and would be right back. Ok that was a little weird but what the heck did I know. He came back and we start again except this time he says, “Here is Baby A” wait for it wait for it “and here is Baby B”. Yeah my baby daddy almost passed out cold he got as white as the hospital walls and had to sit down. I said, “Are you serious”, now this is a theme in my life when you really shock me, ask baby daddy when he asked me to marry him eight years later those same words exited my mouth as I started to cry. I am not good on reaction when there is a surprise. Back to the news it took almost a whole day to really sink in, baby daddy didn’t say a word the rest of the ultrasound and dropped me off at work without a word and then called three hours later to check on me to see if I was ok, funny I was more worried about him as I thought he had gone mute. Well after that surprise and shock wore off I am sure nothing else major could possibly happen. We had life to attend to, moving into a bigger house, buying a car with 4 doors, and just general day to day living. Well 32 ½ weeks came and I had an appointment and at that appointment my blood pressure was way high so bed rest was ordered. One week later on follow-up appointment I get news preeclampsia + hypertension = high risk pregnancy and you are going to be hospitalized to see if we can get this under control. No such luck because I stressed out major when they said hospital and I think that definitely did not help my blood pressure. The air flight to Great Falls was not as fun as one might think when you are taking Magnesium to stop contractions and forced to lie down, I was sick to my stomach the entire flight and to add insult to injury baby daddy drove there and beat me, really people. Well we get there and I get introduced to the best doctor in the entire world Dr. Key he is AMAZING!! He gets everything under control and tells me I should be discharged in a day or two as long as everything stays on track. SWEET!! Well that night Baby A had other plans and my water broke, oh yes my babies were coming 6 ½ weeks early. Not in the cards not in my plans, their nursery is not set up and all I can think is they are going to be way too small. But Dr Key says no better place to have them and here we go.

One c-section later and I have two beautiful baby girls. Kaleigh Diane 4lbs, 10oz, and Lauryn Jean 5lbs, 4oz, so tiny, needy, precious, and so perfect.  They have to stay in the NICU for an undetermined amount of time, as they need to do be able to eat on their own, and maintain their body temperature and weight. The first couple of days went pretty smooth then Kaleigh decides to pull out her iv a trillion times and they end up placing it in her head, yeah walk into the nursery to find your baby with a line in her head and you might freak out too. Lauryn is a fighter she is the bigger one and she has decided that this place is not for her she isn’t sticking around so she starts to grow and is doing great. Kaleigh has another setback and  gets a blockage in her intestines, this starts the tears on momma, they explain that they will try to unblock it with medication and if that doesn’t work they will have to do surgery. Surgery on what she is smaller than my cat what the heck can you do surgery on, I was a mess. A nap for me and some time to collect my emotions and I was up for whatever they had to do so I could bring both my babies home. And thankfully that medication worked it was a blessing and I was so thankful.



Just a couple days old



Those 3 weeks in the NICU changed my life, and the March of Dimes had everything to do with that. I wouldn’t change a thing about my pregnancy or my birth experience because without all that I don’t believe I would have heard of the March of Dimes, or at least wouldn’t have ever really known what they do. It is an amazing foundation and I pray that one day there are no children born too early, no children born with birth defects and no parents who have to live thru burying their baby.



1st day of 3rd Grade



Please join our team for March for Babies 2012, if you would like to join us to walk please do so if you can’t but can help us reach our goal of $500 that is greatly appreciated.

This link will take you to Team Infant-Tree, and thank you to Ashton and his fellow Marines for their help with our team name. We love it!!



Another post will be coming next week from my cousin her story is much different than mine and she is much stronger than me.

Thanks



Brook