march for babies

Since there are obviously a lot of people coming here that I don't know (I'm not even sure what countries some of those dots are in!), I thought I'd share (a condensed version of) my story. Hopefully it will inspire you to click on that little badge over there on the right to support me in the March for Babies. If you are local, I'd love for you to join my team as we walk on April 27 in Hummel Park. Jenni and her 4 little ones already have (thanks babe!).

My husband Tony and I were married in the fall of 2001 and immediately started "trying" for a baby. After 4 years of frustration, we finally found out we were pregnant in August 2005. We were ecstatic! In January I was at my usual check-up and my blood pressure was reading a little high. Okay, a lot high. 160/100. I was immediately admitted to the hospital for observation and, once my blood pressure had been down for a few hours, sent home to be on bed rest until I delivered. I had to go in every 2-3 days to be checked (and wasn't allowed to drive, so thank goodness my mom doesn't work outside of the home!), and almost every single time I went in for a check-up, I would be admitted to the hospital again. They finally just kept me in because I had developed a headache that would not go away (a second symptom of pre-eclampsia), and on February 8, I delivered Ryan via C-section. He was 4 pounds, 12 ounces (pretty big for being over 6 weeks early), and had some lung issues that first day. He was on a CPAP for awhile, and I didn't even get to hold him until he was around 10 hours old. He had to stay in the NICU for 15 days until he was able to regulate his own body temperature (it was consistently LOW - too low - so low that sometimes when we would be at the NICU to visit, they didn't want us to take him out of the incubator except to nurse him).

There's no absolute known cause for pre-eclampsia, although I have a suspicion that my high-stress, way-too-much-overtime job had a lot to do with it. (Don't worry - I don't work there anymore. While I was pregnant 2 other girls who worked there were also put on bed rest.) I don't know what I would have done if we had lost Ryan, but I'm sure going to do whatever I can to help support the March of Dimes in their quest to end premature births. I hope you will, too.