My Welcome to Motherhood

The day after Hurricane Katrina hit
7 months pregnant with Mia

I was 19 when I got pregnant with my first daughter. I'd just made 19, too, she was a Valentine's baby! Her due date was November 11th, which would have made her a Scorpio! It was such an easy pregnancy. I gained weight, pretty fast actually! She put on weight as well. People kept asking if I was having twins! 

I live in South Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina hit when I was 7 months pregnant. Almost exactly a month to the day after Katrina made landfall, my water broke!

I was just sitting down to watch the Iron Chef with my mom. Not the watered-down American version, but the original Japanese version (which is by far the better one). I felt a little weird "gush" (the only way I can explain it). I went to the bathroom, everything was good, so I sat back down to finish watching the show. An hour later, as the show finished up, I stood up and felt another "gush." At this point, I asked my mom what it felt like when your water breaks. She says, " Oh, you'd DEFINITELY know if your water broke!" I explain to her what I was feeling and her being unsure as well, we called the doctor. He directed us to go to the hospital and get a strip test that would test for the presence of amniotic fluid. 

At the hospital, I went into an exam room and was greeted by a nurse. She is just so over everything; snooty and short with me. She takes the strip and wipes it between my legs like you would tissue paper. She then says, with a smug stupid-know-nothing-first-time-mom attitude, "You just peed yourself. Your water didn't break" And she discharges me. 

All night I feel this weird "gushing." I barely slept a wink! As soon as the doctor's office opened that next morning I call. He was also very dismissive of me. He tells me, "The strip test is very accurate. The baby has probably just shifted on top of your bladder. But if you are concerned, you can come in for me to exam you." I was in his exam room about 15 minutes later. 

I undress, get on to the exam table, place my feet in the stirrups and he uses the clamp, opens me up, and inserts the strip. He looks at the test, then at me, and says "Yup, your water broke. You will be delivering her today." I said, "NO!" I was only 36 weeks! I couldn't be delivering her that day! 

I called my mom and told her what the doctor said. She said, "No you are not! Stop playing!" She met us at the hospital and I was prepped for an emergency C-section. Mia was delivered into this world less than an hour later at 6lbs 10oz.

Mia hooked up to the ventilator

Mia's lungs were not functioning properly, so she was immediately whisked away to the NICU. She was sedated and put on a ventilator. My water had been broken for over 12 hours before her delivery, because of this, she had developed an infection in her lungs. Her lungs were already underdeveloped then add an infection on top of that. Her heart had to overcompensate for her lungs just not working, so she was put on not one, but two different blood pressure medicines. We weren't allowed to touch her since overstimulation would raise her heart rate. A nurse in the NICU did tell us to prepare ourselves for possibly not taking her home.

I wasn't able to go to see her in the NICU until I was able to walk to the bathroom on my own. Once I was able to get to her, people would have to pry me from her side! I would read her stories and sing her songs.

I was discharged from the hospital a few days later, but Mia had to stay. The ride home without her was one of the hardest things I ever had to do!

 Beyond all odds though, Mia steadily got stronger! After two weeks, her lungs were strong enough to function on their own and she was able to be removed completely from the ventilator. She didn't have the suck reflex, so we had to teach her how to suck on the nipple of a bottle. Once she was eating enough ounces and was able to regulate her body temperature, she was moved to the hospital nursery. She spent another two weeks there before we were finally able to bring her home!

                       

First time holding Mia at 2 weeks old

Feeding Mia

Mia will be 13 this year! A TEENAGER! She is beautiful, smart, funny! She is a straight A student in honors classes at a STEM Academy. She is a lover of books and Anime.  And she ended up being a Libra, which definitely matches her personality!

                                            

 

Mia is who made me a mom. She was my welcome into motherhood with a bang and a stronger person than I ever thought I could be because of it. Her birth and the first 6 weeks of her life completely shaped the mother I turned out to be! 

1 in 10 babies are born too soon. Premature birth is the #1 cause of death of babies in the United States.  The United States preterm birth rate is among the worst of high-resource nations! The March of Dimes is an organization helping in the fight to reduce premature births. 

Prematurity Campaign activities fall in five main areas:
1.    Research and discovery
2.    Care innovation and community engagement
3.    Advocacy
4.    Education
5.    Family-centered newborn intensive care units (NICUs)

To get support the March of Dimes by getting involved or donating, click the link below

       March of Dimes