Our Daughter Lives!

My daughter, Margaret Grace was born December 31, 2009, 3 months premature. On the day of her birth we were waited to see if she had enough lungs for life that would eventually grow enough so she could breathe on her own. 4.5 months later, that question has been technically answered but we are still waiting to see if it is actually true. We started a blog on a site designed to connect patients and their loved ones. www.caringbridge.org/visit/bethwaltemath. I am posting some selected entries from that site here though they were written way before the dates of the posts on this blog. I hope this history will be helpful as I continue to write about the journey of mothering this special human being.

Here is the post after the first 72 agonizing hours, written by my husband David...

Hi everyone. Thanks for checking in and sorry we're so technophobic. We know that it stinks to be told "check the website" for updates and "the first 72 hours are critical"--and then find NO updates from the family for the first 72 hours.

So... here we are.

Grace is doing well. She's surprising everyone.

Visited last night from 9:30 - 11 PM and she was quietly sleeping most of the time. She stretches her legs and arms now and then and every so often gets flustered about something (perhaps the obnoxious breathing tube down her throat?) but then settles back.

The first big obstacle was lung development. Because she had no amniotic fluid for 11 weeks, lungs were a big question. Would she have them? Would they sustain her? She came into the world not breathing on her own. Docs have been helping her breathe and things are improving. She's on a ventilator which is breathing for her, but she does help out on her own--not enough to leave the ventilator, but she's working on it. The oxygen level in the ventilator started at 100% when she was born. It's now down to 27%, which is great. Air is about 21/22%, so she's close there. Her blood is getting enough oxygen, so the lungs are transferring it to the bloodstream. Very good. X-rays seem to suggest that she has decent-sized lungs, so we're really looking to see whether she can learn to use them.

The other big question mark is her brain. Bleeding on the brain is very common. Initial scans revealed one, "level 1" bleed, which is very minor (a level 4 is the most severe). But... bleeding can develop spontaneously because she's getting a lot of oxygen and her capillaries are so small. So, we do another brain scan Monday to see if there's any more bleeding.

Prematurity is a set of gradually unfolding issues--remember, this girl still needed an additional 11 weeks in the womb to keep developing all of her organs and systems! So, doctors just watch each system to see how they work. It's amazing and delicate, so we're fortunate to be in the care of such gifted physicians and nurses.

Grace has a 24 hour nurse all to herself--she's getting great and loving care.

Beth is doing amazing. Because Grace was born before anyone expected, naturally (sorry honey--another natural birth with no pain medication!), she has a shorter recovery period. She actually walked across the delivery room to see Grace 5 minutes after she was born. Beth is, as you all know, pretty durn tough.

She's busy now every three hours expressing milk. Eventually, we hope Grace will be downing it by the gallon. Meanwhile, our freezer is filling up with beautiful, yellow creamy stuff. Anyone got freezer space to rent? James isn't quite sure what to make of Mommy milking--but he's taking slowly to his role as the "Milk Mate."

OK--that's all for now.

Thanks for your prayers. We are an incredibly blessed family, blessed most by our tough little daughter, Grace.