Tuesday, 03 March 2009

• Happy Birthday, Emily

  Today my miracle baby turns 2. There were times during those first few hours of her life that I wasn't sure we would have her for 2 days much less be celebrating 2 years. Emily really wanted to make her birth special seeing how she was number eight on the list.

  There are honestly  not enough words in the English language to begin to describe how special Emily is. She is such a beautiful child with an even more beautiful soul. Because I really don't think I could do her justice, I am going to stray from my normal birthday course and talk about her first two years on earth.

  Emily was almost four weeks early. There had been one small scare when the first ultrasound showed something odd with one of her kidneys. It would be what sent us in for that now infamous second ultrasound. I can remember having a total freak out moments after the doctor called to explain the procedures if the problem with her kidney didn't correct itself prior to birth. He mentioned specialist and immediate surgery as something we might be facing. I laugh now when I look back on how scared I was at those words. If I had only known what God had in store I would have been praying for such uncomplicated problems.

  We arrived at the hospital shortly after midnight. At that point my epidural to natural ratio was 2-2. I decided I was almost 39 years old and I darn well wanted that epi. This was the cause of Matt almost missing the birth entirely. He stepped out of the room after being assured that it would take about 20 minutes and that he would have plenty of time to get back in before she made her entrance. He had been gone less than five when I told them to forget the epidural because she was ready. He made it just in time to cut the cord and we  had our beautiful little Emily. Not one word was mentioned about a problem. No side talk, no glances of sympathy...nothing. She was perfect and we were proud.

  Most know the story of how we learned of the Down syndrome so I will skip over that and instead focus on the difficult fight our little girl had ahead of her. When they tried to get a stick to test her glucose, it was discovered her blood was so thick that it would take sometimes as long as thirty minutes to get enough for a test. Through that entire time Emily never cried. She couldn't eat; my guardian angel nurse spent more than four hours at a time with me that first day trying to get her to latch with no luck. We tried bottles, but Em would fall asleep after only half an ounce. She was sick and we were scared.

  Taking her to the NICU due to jaundice was the turning point for her. It was there we discovered her stomach was so full of bile that it would take almost three days to empty. I honestly believe that had Emily not come when she did, she would have not survived another day in the womb. Her blood remained thick and she would take two ambulance rides prior to her turning one week old. She had three surgical procedures done prior to turning two weeks old. We were told that prior to her first birthday she would require open heart surgery.

  Amazingly, she came home 25 days later on absolutely no medication. For a NICU baby, that is almost unheard of and we were quite pleased. At three months old during a routine cardiologist visit we heard the dreaded words "failure to thrive". That meant that she was going into heart failure and medication would now be necessary. She began two medications to help her heart and we waited for the right time to correct the problem.

  Through all of that time, Emily continued to amaze everyone. She was so happy and so excited about each and every day.

  At eight months old she underwent open heart surgery. She came home six days later and two week after that she was off all her meds. At her last cardio visit she was deemed healed and allowed to be seen yearly as opposed to every three months. Her doctor said but for her "zipper" you would not know this was a heart child. Once again Emily amazed everyone.

  Over this past year and a  half since her repair we have watched Emily thrive and do things that the experts claimed she shouldn't be able to do. If there is one thing I have learned in all this; never tell Emily she can't do something because she loves nothing more than proving people wrong.

  Last year for her first birthday I made a video montage. I knew that I could never top that, but I wanted to do something special for her.

  My dearest Emily, you crashed into our world and turned it upside down. You took us to Holland and we have  never looked back. You are the reason that I can now put "can remove PIC line" on  my resume. You are also the reason that I know what it means when someone "brady's". You are the reason I proudly wear this silly blue and yellow rubber bracelet in support of Down syndrome awareness. You are why your father and I never leave a McDonald's without dropping some money in the slot for the Ronald McDonald Houses.

  In cheesy words; you are everything I never knew I always wanted. In my whole life I never thought of myself as being the kind of person that could handle having a child with special needs. You are the reason I now understand that I am the kind of person that could not handle not having a child like you in my life. I am so incredibly honored to be your mother and I thank God each and every day that He found us worthy of this gift that is you.

  Happy birthday, Beauty Queen.

  Oh, if anyone wants to see the video from last years birthday,  just let me know.

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