Ellie's Story

In honor of Prematurity Awareness Day I will be sharing Ellie's journey. Some of it is posted in various post throughout the blog. I believe there is even a short birth story on here and one day I do hope to post a full birth story and how it came that we had a premature baby.

I will say this...there was no pre-e, no pre-term labor, nothing. Basically there was no warning....THANKFULLY there was a VERY vigilant doctor and nursing staff that insisted on non-stress test and bio-physical profiles even though the test had said I was NOT leaking amniotic fluid because the results of that bio-physical ultrasound showed MUCH different results in just 5 short days my fluid levels had went from a 12.34 (the high side of normal) to below a 2 (the very dangerous side of normal for baby and mom).

There were no decisions to be made I was delivering that day via c-section. Due to a condition Ellie had there wasn't even time to be monitored in the hospital for steroid shots to be administered to develop her lungs. We had been seeing a high risk doctor the entire pregnancy because Ellie had a 2 vessel umbilical cord they did not feel that this would present her with any problems but the doctor wanted to monitor her growth as it can cause intrauterine growth restriction during the third trimester. Ellie had no growth issues and there had been no fluid issues my entire pregnancy however due to this condition and the already fragile state of her umbilical cord the on call doctor (mine was out of town) felt it was best that we deliver immediately.

So March 16, 2010 at approximately 9:00 am I got the phone call that rocked my world. As she said we were having a birthday party and I was becoming a mom to a preemie. A preemie being born at 35 weeks that could be perfectly healthy and go home in 3 to 4 days or a preemie that could need a little help.

Ellie arrived at 5:13 pm. She weighed a healthy 5lbs 7oz and was 18inches long. She was crying and appeared VERY healthy. I spent a few minutes with her in the OR. Her proud daddy then took her to show her off and to the REGULAR nursery to get cleaned up! Ellie was doing great post delivery and right about bath time she started having breathing trouble. She was put on the CPAP carried down to my recovery room so I could see her precious face and then transported to the NICU were our roller coaster journey would begin.

Ellie did AMAZINGLY well her first night and was doing so great the next morning it looked like maybe that would be the end of our NICU journey but that wasn't to be. But by lunch time she was back on the CPAP. By late that evening the news begin to get pretty bad and she wasn't doing too well even with the CPAP. Come to find out her right lung had collapsed so it was time for a chest tube and to be intubated. Ellie spent one week on the vent which is a very short time compared to some but during that time it seemed like a lifetime and I was longing to hold that sweet little girl! Finally on the morning of March 23rd Ellie was off the vent and was time to get that little one in my arms for the VERY FIRST TIME!!!! She still spent another 2 weeks in the NICU.....learning to eat, talks of moves to bigger hospitals, getting brain scans to test for cerebral palsy, echos for murmurs, renal scans for kidney functions and countless other pokes, prodes and tests.

I know our NICU journey is one of many. I know it is short compared to lots. But, it's our story and on March 16 my world was forever changed. Not only was my precious baby girl brought into this world but she was brought into this world TOO soon. We experienced and saw too many scary things in that hospital! I don't want to change my journey but I don't want anyone else to have to experience it! I look forward to a day when all babies are born healthy.

Ellie Grace - 3 days old in her tanning bed

Stealing this quote below from Heather's blog everyone should go check out sweet Brayden and his story....the power of prayer is AMAZING!

"We can only appreciate the miracle of a sunrise if we have waited in the darkness"