“March 14, 2021. I had to leave my cousin’s bachelorette party early the previous night because I wasn’t feeling well while I was there. For nearly a week, I’ve occasionally experienced stomach cramps, but I just excused them by telling myself they were period cramps. My mother insisted on driving me to the hospital when I finally phoned her. Afterwards my mother, my husband, and I visited the neighborhood hospital. Only my husband is allowed to accompany me home due to the COVID epidemic. I was three weeks pregnant when they tapped me for blood after approximately an hour. In addition to being startled, we were overjoyed to welcome a young child into the family.
Let’s go to July 2021. We just learned that our little one is a girl at my gender reveal celebration on July 4th! July 26 marks my 24th week. But that night, I just didn’t feel well. When I started to vomit, I began to see some discharge that was a different color. I began to get red marks, but I kept telling myself not to worry since everything was great. Now, it’s now 4 a.m., and I’m still throwing up. When I called the medical staff at the hospital, they advised me to come in the morning for a checkup. I vomited again at six in the morning, and this time I was bleeding.
I roused my husband, and we headed to the hospital while I drove at 80 mph and was quite concerned that I might lose my kid. As this is my first pregnancy, I’m unsure of my feelings. I was registered at the hospital after arrival. The on-call physician then arrived and examined me. The news that I was 7 cm dilated and would need an emergency c-section because my baby was in breech position and that a helicopter was en route to the children’s hospital, which was an hour and a half away because the small town hospital lacked the resources to keep her alive, caught both my husband and me off guard.
The road Blakely has traveled in the NICU is long from over. She is estimated to remain in the hospital until February 2022. We are grateful to every nurse, every doctor and everyone who was there for us. We look forward to the day when Blakely will come home and be able to play in the nursery and meet her fur siblings.”
I had anesthesia put into my spine and was then taken back for operation. Blakely Marie was born at 10:47 a.m., 24 weeks into the pregnancy, and weighed only 1 lb 3 oz. The baby was swiftly loaded into the automobile by the children’s hospital medical staff in order to travel to the facility. Before they had to take her away, I only had a brief opportunity to view her in my room. In order to heal from the cesarean section, I had to stay the night. The following morning, I was released from the hospital and saw my small daughter. It was unusual to see her in that condition—barely human, with transparent skin, and so little that she could fit in the palm of your hand.
Our experience in the NICU has been a tremendous roller coaster, and I’ve come to terms with the fact that there will be good days and bad days. Three steps ahead, one step back, as our favorite nurse famously puts it. It’s anticipated that Blakely will remain there until her due date of November 15. Sadly, her lungs are not quite where they should be.
Blakely received a trachea after our repeated attempts to remove her breathing tube failed to make her condition any better. In order to make Blakely more comfortable, aid in the development of her lungs, and help her reach milestones, surgery was carried out on December 7 to implant a trachea and G-button.
