If September 20, 2003 had been a weekday, my story would have turned out differently. If I had been at work, busy, I wouldn’t have noticed that she had stopped kicking. I was 30 weeks pregnant, and was told I was having a textbook (normal) pregnancy. So that day, Saturday, September 20th, I was sitting on the couch at home being lazy. By mid-afternoon I noticed that I wasn’t feeling the usual kicks and tumbles in my belly, and I called my OB. The doctor on call told me to come up to the hospital just to check it out and "better to be safe than sorry."

We went to the hospital at about 6 pm, and they took the baby’s readings. The next thing I knew, there were about 15 people in the tiny triage room. They told me that they would have to do an emergency c-section. I, of course, got hysterical. I was only 30 weeks pregnant! I had been reading about fetal development and I knew that the baby wasn’t done growing. The c-section happened SO fast. Eliza Allyn was delivered by 7:01 pm and weighed 2 lbs., 10 oz. They showed her to me for one second—all wrapped up in a blanket. Her face was pink, and she looked small but healthy to me. The doctors told me that if I had waited until my regular appointment (2 days later), she wouldn't have made it. As tiny as she was, Eliza gave me a signal that she needed to be born, and stopped kicking.

Eliza was rushed to the NICU, and I was sent to recovery. My husband went down to the NICU alone during the night to see her because I couldn’t move yet. He returned to my room and said that the doctors could barely look him in the eye. Eliza had a lung bleed and a brain bleed some time during that night. But 30-weekers usually have good outcomes, so we were hopeful. They said the next 24 to 48 hours were very critical.

I guess she was really tough…after that first day she stabilized and then made nothing but progress. Eliza’s doctor called her “the perfect preemie.” My placenta was sent to a pathologist, who discovered that I had a severe Maternal Floor Infarction, meaning that the placenta had essentially clotted and died, so that Eliza was getting no nutrition from it.

For the next month, Eliza lived in the NICU, and we visited her every day. Each day the nurses told us how much she ate and how many grams she gained. After 4 days, I got to hold her and cuddle. I didn’t want to let go. It seemed like forever until she came home with us. On October 21, 2003, Eliza finally came home, weighing 4 lbs., 4 oz.

Last month Eliza turned 1! She is over 20 pounds now, cruises the furniture, says words like “bubbles” and “ladybug” and is perfectly healthy. It is because of the March of Dimes and their research on prematurity that Eliza thrived in the NICU, and that next time I am pregnant, we can take steps to prevent another premature birth.

Dana

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