My Micro-Preemie: Pregnancy/Brith Story of Carly Nicole Elliotte

I was blessed with a fairly easy pregnancy. Basically symptom free. I went to all of my scheduled OB appointments and everything was going great. By week 11 it was time for my first ultrasound to determine my due date. Dad went with me and it was his first time seeing his daughter. He was so excited. I think it made it more real to him at this point. As we watched her on the screen she wiggled and moved around. It brought tears to my eyes to think that God has blessed us with this wonderful baby and she was growing inside of me. It was kind of hard to believe. She was measuring right on track! The technician noticed though what she thought to be a bicournate uterus. So she made me an appointment to go to another Dr. for futher ultrasounds. They would also be doing the "big" ultrasound to check the anatomy as well. As the weeks passed all was well. I was just ready for the next ultrasound. I couldn't wait to see my baby again! The time had come and I was then 18 weeks pregnant. The technician found some things that were out of the normal so she called in the doctor. He told me that it was possible that my uterus have a mis-shape to it, and that it was no big deal. He told me that she was measuring 2 weeks behind and that it "could" be normal but we would need to continue to monitor the growth. He also went on to tell me that my baby's head was larger than her femur and that was a sign of Down's Syndrome and of Cystic Fibrosis. Also he said her bowel was discolored and that too pointed to both disorders. He urged me to have an amniocentesis done to check for any genetic disorders. I refused the test, afraid of the possibility that it could cause me to miscarriage. So I went home with a thousand thoughts running in and out of my head. Many prayers and God's strength pulled us through knowing that our baby was going to be just fine. He scheduled another appointment for me to be seen 6 weeks later. That was a very long six weeks. We went back in hopes to hear good news, that our baby was back up to size and all the issue were resolved. But that was not the case at all. By this time our baby was measuring 4 weeks behind. They had also noticed other things pointing to more severe, more fatal genetic disorders. This was just devastating. I finally broke and was almost uncontrolable. Dr. Mitra strongly urged the amnio this time so that he would know how to proceed with the remainder of this pregnancy. I went ahead with the testing just so I could prepare myself for what was to come. That was the WORST pain I had ever felt in my life! After a very long 2 week wait the results were in. I had no infection in my uterus and my baby was without any genetic disorders. I was so excited and relived. I just knew everything was going to be okay. I just knew my baby had been growing too. So a week following the results Dr. Mirta wanted to see me to check the growth. When I got there the ultrasound showed that she had not grown any since the last ultrasound. He head was still larger than her body and my 28 week baby was measuring 8 weeks behind at only 20 weeks. There was also reverse end-diastolic flow seen on the ultrasound. Dr. Mirta informed me that when this is noticed babies have anywhere from hours to days before death occurs. He told me that I had to got straight to labor and delivery that my baby was real sick and needed to be delivered right away. I was crushed! I knew it was too early. I hadn't even had any steroids. I just knew she wasn't ready. I was so scared for her life! They wheeled me over to the hospital and got me a room. They hooked me up to monitors and noticed right away that she was in distress. I was able to receive one dose of steroids at 4pm. And the performed yet another amnio to check to see how mature her lungs were. In the time waiting a Neonatal doctor came to talk to me. He told me that babies as small as mine usually don't survive. And that they probably wouldn't be able to place a breathing tube for the lack of size. Yet again I was crushed and scared. But I tried to hold back the tears so I could appear to be strong for everyone else. Before the mature lung results came back her heart rate kept dropping and they rushed me in for an emergency c-section. Carly Nicole Elliotte was born at 9:40pm weighing 13 ounces and 10 inches long. I only got to see her for one brief second before the took her away to the NICU. But they assured my that the DID get a breathing tube placed! Yes God had his hands in that! I know that God has a plan and this is all meant to be for a reason. Even if I don't understand.

Me the day I found out I was pregnant! Man I miss those size 3 days! :(