Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Fight For Preemies

I was not a preemie baby, but to some extent was as sick as one when I was born. My due date was May 15th but I did not arrive until May 30th because back then (1985) they late you cook for an extra two weeks. My mom was induced and her labor was easy, but apparently I didn't want to come out yet and when I did I was mad. Three days after my mom, dad and grandma brought me home I was feeding and quit breathing. My dad was out of town for work and my panic induced first time mom and grandmother rode with me in an ambulance to the hospital. They put me in an isolation chamber and ran a number of tests (including a spinal tap) on me only to find I had a staph infection, given to me by one of the delivery nurses. For days my mom and dad were not allowed to hold me or touch me. I had IV's coming out of my feet and monitors all over my body. I cannot even imagine how scared my mom must have been, especially since for the first few days my dad couldn't make it back home to be with her (his boss was a jerk). Finally though I was able to come back home, only to come down with jaundice and get sick again. But thankfully 3 1/2 years later when my mom had my brother he was healthy and born on his due date. She didn't have to go through that fear again.

Today is Preemies Awareness Day, Sponsored by March of Dimes as well as Bloggers Unite who put together this blog-a-thon.

Babies I would like to remember today:

Jefferey Ross Harold South - Born premature on Sept. 21st 2009 and too tiny to stay with us. His actual due date was May 16th, 2009. His mother Ashley is one of my good friends from high school and I was devastated to hear of her loss after her and her husband had been trying for over a year to have baby. She has a 6 year old daughter and is now pregnant again with her third baby, due in September of 2010.

Adam Keller - My best friend Melissa's son who was born 3 weeks pre-mature by C-Section because he was breech. Melissa was on bed rest for most of her pregnancy because of pre-term labor. He was in the NICU because of swallowing a bunch of mucus when he came out but recovered fine and is now a bouncing silly, nearly two year old cutie! (Melissa, I stole this info from one of your blogs...lol).

The unborn babies that were lost way to soon for my grandma and Andrew's mother - both of them had miscarriages very early into the pregnancy.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

On behalf of the March of Dimes, thanks so much for posting about Prematurity Awareness Day.

Wow! Your own birth story is amazing. Your poor parents; they must have been very worried. And the stories of your friends and their preemies are very moving.

Most of us have been touched personally by prematurity: in our own families, in the families of our friends. It is such a common problem; that's why the March of Dimes is doing everything we can to end prematurity. No parent should have to face what your friend Ashley did: the loss of a baby.

Pam
March of DImes

Unknown said...

Good post. I never know that about you! I'm glad that you're here today.

Amanda said...

Thank you to you both for your comments! I was so excited to hear about this blog opportunity through one of the many blogs that I read and I was happy to share not only my story but the story of others!