Why We Walk: Hannah Grace

Meet Hannah Grace, the little fighter behind the Bananas for Hannah! family team.  Her entry into the world was so complicated that both she and her sweet mother ended up on a ventilator.  But now she's about to celebrate her 1st birthday - happy birthday, Hannah Grace!  We at the March of Dimes are bananas about you, too!

From Hannah Grace's mom, Rebecca:

My pregnancy with Hannah Grace was a typical one.  I went to all the normal prenatal appointments, took my vitamins, watched my diet, drank plenty of water, didn’t drink, smoke or take medications besides the occasional Tylenol.   At my 24 week appointment in early March, my blood pressure was on the higher side, so my OB referred me to a maternal-fetal medicine group.  They couldn’t see me until March 30. 

On March 26, after a few sleepless nights caused by coughing and difficulty breathing, I went to see the doctor.  My blood pressure was through the roof, and I was spilling protein in my urine.  My doctor immediately admitted me to labor and delivery, and I was put on magnesium sulfate and given steroid shots to strengthen Hannah Grace’s lungs.  I remember very clearly my OB telling me, “I’d like to say that we could keep you pregnant for another 4-6 weeks, but I think the reality here is that you’ll have this baby before the weekend is over.”  It came as such a shock to me and my husband.  She wasn’t supposed to be here until June! 

On March 27, 2011 Hannah Grace was delivered via c-section.  She cried the tiniest of cries and was whisked away by the NICU staff.  Her Apgar scores were 8 & 9, and the staff was impressed by her feistiness. I was able to see her briefly and my heart filled with pride at this precious bundle God had given us.  Shortly after she was born, my breathing rapidly declined and I was admitted to the ICU where I stayed for the next week on a ventilator.  In addition to pre-eclampsia, I had developed peripartum cardiomyopathy,  a rare form of congestive heart failure that affects pregnant and postpartum women.  We were both very sick girls.

Hannah Grace in the NICU at Baptist Hopital

After a lung bleed initially and the usual 28 weeker troubles of A&B spells, learning to feed,  and bouts of anemia, Hannah Grace had a fairly uneventful NICU stay.  We were so excited to bring her home on her 69^th day of life.   My husband and I agree that having a premature baby is the hardest experience of our lives.  No one wants to leave the hospital without their baby, especially not for two months.  No one should have to wait two weeks to be held by their mother, either.   The schedule was exhausting; keeping up with work in an effort to save leave time, pumping 7 times a day, and spending as much time as possible with our little girl was the hardest, yet most rewarding task of our lives.

We found out several months later that two thrombophilias are likely the cause of my early pre-eclampsia and peripartum cardiomyopathy.  Research funded by the March of Dimes helped find this link between thrombophilia and pre-e.  Hannah Grace also received surfactant therapy while in the NICU.  Without the March of Dimes, we wouldn’t know the power of this life-saving substance.

Hannah Grace has done so well over the past year.  (We are quickly approaching her first birthday.)  She is gaining weight, eating well, and has managed to avoid illness.  We love every minute of the day with her and are so thankful that 28 weekers have the outcomes they do today because of advances in medicine and technology.  We are eternally grateful to the March of Dimes for their role in saving our daughter.

And what a cute daughter she is!

          

                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                Family Teams Specialist

Why We Walk: Logan Wyatt

Meet Logan, as introduced by his mother, April:

In July 2006, I found out I was pregnant - 6 weeks and 3 days according to ultrasound.  I was overjoyed and ready to face being a single mom.  What I did not know was what was really in store for me. 

At 20 weeks I started experiencing cramps and back pain. I – and my doctor – should have seen the signs. It wasn’t until 23 weeks 6 days that I went to the emergency room.

In the ER we discovered that I was dilated to 3 cm and that Logan was head down.  They determined that I was in active labor by a fetal fibronectin test.  Because I was in active labor I was not a candidate for a cerclage.  We were lucky though; so far my water had not broken. 

I was admitted to Centennial Women’s Hospital on Nov. 16^th 2006, and it became my home for the next seven weeks.  I was placed in the Trendelenburg position, where my body was at an angle with my feet elevated above my head.  I would remain in this position until Logan was born, no getting up at all, on complete bedrest.

Thanks to the research of the March of Dimes, the combination of the Trendelenburg position and medicine calmed the contractions and allowed Logan to get several more weeks to develop.  I was on magnesium sulfate, Procardia, Indocine, Terbutaline and an antibiotic (just  for good measure).  I also received two doses of steroid shots to help Logan’s lungs develop.  I was lucky that I never developed high blood pressure but actually was on the low side due to the medicines. 

My water did not break until just before Christmas, and still I waited. I remember having a calm feeling just knowing everything would be ok.  On New Year’s Eve, the medicine quit working and I continued to have contractions. It was a little touch and go during delivery, but I was able to deliver vaginally instead of via c-section.

Logan was born on January 1^st 2007 at 3 pounds, 3 ounces and 14 inches long.  Thanks to the steroids, he was able to let out a small scream and never had to be intubated.  He only had CPAP for a couple of days.  Other than being small and slightly jaundiced he was healthy for a 31-weeker. 


Logan's birthay

He spent the next 4 weeks in the NICU.  That whole month was a whirlwind blur for me.  My favorite memory is being able to hold him for the first time about a week after he was born. It was your typical NICU stay if there is such a thing.

 On February 1^st 2007 I was able to bring him home weighing about 5 lbs.  The next year was not easy, as he had several hospital stays due to asthma complications. I lost many jobs due to my absences. 

Today Logan is 4 years old with no major health problems. He has slight asthma, but so do I, so he could have inherited that anyway.    He loves Scooby Doo, dragons and his Daddy. We were lucky enough to meet Jason when Logan was 9 months old and he has not left our side. 

Looking back, those 7 weeks in the hospital could have very well saved my son’s life. It’s amazing to consider that years ago he would not have made it. Without the research of The March of Dimes, we would not have my baby boy.      

Logan's 4th birthday

 Every day in Tennessee, 236 families find themselves in a similar position, facing the premature birth of the baby.  Sign up to walk today at http://www.marchforbabies.org/ and help these children's stories have happy endings like Logan's.           

p.s. Don't forget to comment on and share this post so that you are entered to win the $50 gift card!

                          

   

Family Teams Specialist

From Your Host: Meet Becca

I've been a fan of the March of Dimes for quite some time (who doesn't like babies, after all?) and always considered it a good cause. In 2008, though, it got personal. When my pregnancy went all kinds of wrong and my daughter was born 3 months early, what was once a good cause became my cause.

I was 15 weeks pregnant when I heard (for the first of many times), "I think we need to be prepared to lose this baby." Easy enough for the doctor to say, right? How could I ever be prepared for my child to die? My baby (my daughter, I also learned this visit) was measuring only 15 weeks instead of the 17 weeks that she ought to have been. Babies who are that far behind that early in a pregnancy generally don't survive to be born alive. 


That was a pretty crappy day.

The next weeks and months were no picnic either, but we went on with our day to day lives. And while I knew that there was a good chance that my daughter would die, I certainly didn't prepare myself for it. I couldn't give up on our Itty Bitty, as my husband and I started calling her. If her own mother didn't believe she could live, what chance did she have? We had an amniocentesis (no prolems!). I gave myself shots. I went to appointment after appointmet. And I hoped and prayed and sang to my baby girl every day.


Amazingly, I was still pregnant at 27 weeks when we moved from Kentucky to Tennessee. I hadn't even met my new doctors yet when I was admitted to the hospital and officially diagnosed with pre-eclampsia. (My doctors now think that this was the root of the problem - the pre-e set in early and messed up the placenta, keeping Itty Bitty from getting the nutrients she needed to grow.) I would be there for the duration of the pregnancy...which we hoped would be a very long time.


It wasn't. By Saturday, I had developed H.E.L.L.P. syndrome - an even more dangerous form of pre-eclampsia. We now had to deliver, even though at almost 28 weeks and 370 grams, my daughter -- now named Becca -- was too small to survive. I refused to be put under general anesthesia because if Becca only lived for 2 or 3 minutes, I was going to be awake for those minutes, darn it!


But Becca was stonger than we gave her credit for! She was able to be intubated (a surprise to the docs, as she was so small), but only needed to be on the ventilator for a total of 2 days, thanks to a dose of surfactant, a treatment for preemies' lungs developed by March of Dimes researchers. She spent 123 days (17 1/2 weeks, or 4 months and 1 day) in the NICU at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. She received 26 blood transfusions. She broke all kinds of records - though not necessarily the kindsof records that you'd like your child to break! When we finally got to take her home, 5 1/2 weeks after her due date, she weighed about 4 1/2 pounds.


Since then, my life has been all about helping Becca reach her full potential. We went under "house arrest" for her first two winters to protect her against the potentially deadly respiratory illness, RSV. We followed up with specialists from 8 different areas and her regular pediatrician. She's been in physical, occupational and feeding therapies for over a year. She's got a feeding tube and takes growth hormone injections to help her grow (she's still about the size of a child 1/2 her age), but she's doing great. She's strong and happy and generally healthy and fun. And the love I felt for her they day the doctor told me that she would die has never been stronger.

The March of Dimes made my daughter's survival possible, particulary through their work in etablishing a regional NICU system and, as I mentioned, the use of surfactant therapy. Not every March of Dimes family story has a happy ending. But I work with them now so that there can be many, many happy days for families like ours.

Becca at birth: 13 ounces, 9.5 inches.
And no, that nurse doesn't have giant hands.

Becca coloring on (!) a table over Christmas - 2.5 years later.

                                                                                                                            

p.s. I'm hoping to highlight some of your family stories.  If you'd like to participate, please e-mail me at nspeas@marchofdimes.com.  Thanks!