Bloggers Unite...

November is Prematurity Awarness Month. More than 540,000 Babies are born Premature every year, and 45,000 this month alone. March of Dimes is an absolute angel to a lot of parents.

For me, my pregnancy ran smoothly and I had no major complications. I walked the 6 miles for the March of Dimes at 35 weeks pregnant and raised around $400 between my friend and I. I had the normal L&D walk of shame, constantly feeling like my water was breaking. The normal first time mom worries.

I finally hit that 40 weeks. I was hoping and praying he would make his appearance everyday. I was so uncomfortable and looked like I was ready to pop. Pretty soon 1 day overdue turned into 2 days, and 3 days, and 4 days... I think you get the hint...

On Fathers Day 2007 I was officially 1 week overdue, and I was feeling horrible. Dave went to church with his brother and father for fathers day, He dropped me off at my dads house because if anything happened my dad would be there to take me to the hospital. After about an hour of being at my dads, I called Dave and told him that I wanted to go to L&D because I was not feeling well. He drives to my dads, we go home, I take a bath and my water breaks... Thank God!

When we get to the hospital they confirm that my water had broken. They hook me up and DJ's heart rate kept going up and down so I had to be put on oxygen. Every hour they would come in and threaten me with a c/s. And every hour I would slowly progress... Finally after being in labor for about 9-10 hours, I get my Epidural and when I laid back down, all my water just started pouring out. The nurse calmly said that there was Miconium in my water and that there would be a NICU team in the room when I delivered. I about shit my pants, cause I always thought if the NICU Team is brought in somethings wrong.

Finally it was time to push after 16 hours of labor. I gave 1 test push and all of these alarms and bells went off, that was DJ's heart rate dropping. My Dr yelled for someone to get NICU in the room asap and My Dr started to use the Vacuum to get my son out, after failed attemps and on the verge of losing DJ, my Dr told me "We need to get him out ASAP so I am going to use the Forceps, Or we are going to do an Emergency C/S and I don't know what the outcome of the C/S will be." I told my Dr to use the forceps since we are already here. After a few tugs DJ was out. Nobody told me that he wasn't breathing when was delivered. He was rushed over to the table and the NICU staff was trying to get him to breath. I kept asking why isn't my baby crying?? Finally after about 5 minutes, I hear the most wonderful sound in the world.

His apgar at 1 minute was a 5 and at 5 minutes it was a 9. I was so thankful for my Dr being so professional and for the NICU team for saving my little boy. He didn't have to stay in the NICU or anything, they just kept a really close watch on him. Ive never personally had any of my children in the NICU, but know a few friends who's babies were in the NICU. I am so thankful for the March of Dimes and all of the Research that they do to save these precious lives.