March for Babies

As you all know, infant prematurity is an issue that is very near and dear to Matt and I. A brief recap of our story...

On April 15, I was admitted to the hospital because I was having contractions. I was just under 30 weeks pregnant. The normal gestation period is 40 weeks. I was barely into mythird trimester. My doctors had no idea why I was in preterm labor, but they did everything that they could to stop it. It took the better part of 2 days to stop the contractions, but they were finally under control. But we weren't in the clear just yet... Through continuous monitoring of the baby, my doctor became very alarmed when Ava's heart rate kept dropping. We were told that if her heart rate dropped for a period of 10 minutes or 3 times in an hour, I would have an emergency c-section. On April 19, four days after being admitted to the hospital, my doctor made the decision to do a c-section to get Ava out of me because it seemed that she was in distress. I was 30 weeks 3 days pregnant. Ava was almost 10 weeks early and weighed just 3 lbs 13 oz.

That is when the real journey began. Ava was in an amazing hospital with a fantastic NICU, but without all of the research and advancement done in part by the March of Dimes, our experience could have been much worse. A couple days after I had Ava, the head neonatologist told me something that has stuck with me all this time. She said that they really don't know what causes preterm labor, and because of that, it's really hard to completely prevent them. Because they can't stop preterm labor, they did the next best thing: make sure that those babies born too early get the best possible care by developing equipment and best practices to give them a fighting chance. It was a long and bumpy road and it had its ups and downs, but after a 59 day stint in the NICU, Ava finally came home. I'm so happy to say that Ava is now an 18.5 pound, healthy, active 9.5 month old.

We were among the lucky parents of a preemie. I have heard so many stories of babies that don't make it or have severe disabilities because of their prematurity. And that just breaks my heart. We are so very fortunate to have a preemie that is healthy and thriving. Many people can't believe it when I tell them how early Ava was born.

We are participating in the March for Babies walk because we know how important it is to raise awareness and funds to help the March of Dimes cause. If you can, please join us for the walk on May 2. If you are unable to attend, please consider making a donation to sponsor our team, Team Butt Butt. (Matt and my sister called Ava that right from the beginning, even before she was born, and it just stuck. Weird, I know.) Click on this link to sign up to walk or to make a donation.

http://www.marchforbabies.org/team/t1364492

Thank you so much for your support!

Love,

Casey, Matt, and Ava