Emma - Michigan

The day before Christmas Eve, I found out I was pregnant with my second child. Everything went really smooth the whole pregnancy. We never missed an appointment, I ate really healthy and only gained about 15 lbs. Because I had a C-section with my first child, I opted to have a repeat C-section so I didn't have any easily preventable complications. The C-section was scheduled for Monday, August 14th, two days before her due date.

Emma Jane was delivered by 9:08 am. She was 5 lbs. 4 oz. and 19 in. long. My heart sank when I heard that she was only 5 1/4 lbs. considering my first-born was 8 lbs. 4 oz. This wasn't a normal size baby for either side of the family, but we were happy because she was finally here. We had her on Monday, August 14th and, because I had the C-section, came home on Friday, August 17th. We had her home the whole weekend.

On Monday, August 20th, something didn't seem right. Her color was off and she was way too mellow to be normal. So we took her to the doctor...just to be safe. I'm REALLY glad I did. My daughter's pediatrician wheeled the both of us over to the E.R. next door. They put a scalp I.V. in and kept her on oxygen. Unfortunately, this hospital was not equipped to handle our situation. She ended up being transferred to Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan by way of Neo-natal ambulance. It was very scary.

She stayed there for almost two weeks before they finally figured out what was wrong with her. She suffered from a condition known as Congenital C.M.V.(Cyto-Megalow-Virus). She has microcephaly (small head size), enlarged liver and spleen, she is already deaf in her left ear. She also had (from birth) petechia (small purple blotches on the skin), jaundice, pneumonia and some brain swelling that has actually caused a significant amount of brain damage, but we are not sure how severe it is.

She is a little developmentally delayed and she's really small for her age. At 8 months old, she only weighed 14 lbs. At 15 months, she weighed 16 lbs 10 oz. At 34 months, she weighed 25 pounds!! We finally made it to the growth chart. It's amazing the tiniest milestones that we celebrate!!

She is currently on four daily medications: Prevacid- one solutab daily (for G.E.R.D.), E.E.S.- one ml. x 3 daily (for gut motility), Cyproheptadine- one ml. x 3 daily (appetite stimuant) and Zyrtec- 3 mls once daily (for allergies). She still has difficulty eating food, but at least now she's willing to try.

She is going to be three in August of this year and will hopefully be starting some preschool classes in the fall. I'll be sure to update this as we hit milestones!!!

- Shared by her mother, Lisa