Norah's Story

The idea to write a book (now a blog) came after my husband, Forrest and I became parents to two of the most wonderful premature babies. Our daughter, Norah, was born at 26.5 weeks gestation on August 11, 2006 after a seemingly normal pregnancy. I had no morning sickness or any ill symptoms during the first 25.5 weeks. After minor spotting for a few days and being told by my doctor that all was well, I told my husband of a minor backache one Sunday morning as we were getting ready for church. I decided to call my doctor’s on-call service and got a return call from my doctor while we were driving to church. He told me to go to the L&D department of our hospital and get checked. I asked if it could wait until after church since my husband and I were leading praise and worship that morning. He told me that it couldn’t wait. Upon getting checked in, my nurse, Becky, checked my cervix to find that I was 3 cm dilated. By the time my doctor arrived about an hour later, I was 4 cm. He told us that we had two options. We could do nothing and I would be on bedrest and more likely deliver soon. Or, he could perform an emergency cerclage (suture the cervix closed), hopefully buying us more time in utero. He emphasized how very bad having a 25 week baby could be. We opted to have the cerclage. After everyone left the room to prepare for the surgery, I broke down crying with Forrest. I couldn’t imagine losing the little one who had been kicking me for weeks now. I was awake for a surgery with a spinal block anesthesia. The surgery was difficult. My cervix was completely thinned and the doctor wasn’t sure if the suture would hold. I was totally confident in my doctor as I had been told by every nurse there that he was the very best at this procedure and at high risk pregnancies in general. I was discharged the following day (Monday) after a round of contraction preventing drugs and steroid injections to help the baby's lungs develop and was given orders to be on complete bed rest (no showers or baths) for 3 weeks. I work from home as an analyst, so we set up my “office” in our bed. Bed rest was going fine until Wednesday morning when I was awakened by contractions. We went back to the hospital for more contraction stopping drugs. Nothing was working to stop the contractions and I was getting little sleep at night. Early Friday morning, I just started crying for no reason. I was alone (Forrest and my mom had gone to our house to sleep). I was so tired and the contractions were not letting up. Suddenly, my water broke. I called the nurse and then called Forrest from my cell phone. I think that it was sometime around 5 am. The nurse had me turn over on my hands and knees and she checked my cervix. Both of Norah’s feet were through, so it was off to the OR we went for an emergency c-section. Everything went fine except that my doctor had to do a classic or midline incision vs. the normal lower transverse (bikini) incision. This type of incision increases the chance of uterine rupture in subsequent pregnancies. Norah Jean was born on August 11, 2006 at 6:15 am at 1 pound and 13 ounces and 14 inches long. Norah was stabilized by the NICU staff quickly and was transferred to St. Louis Children’s Hospital via ambulance. The transport team brought her by my room before leaving with her. I vaguely remember that part since I had come out of anesthesia and recovery shortly before. I left the hospital 3 days later. Norah stayed in the NICU at Children’s for 5 weeks and then, at our request, was back-transferred to her birth hospital once she was at the “feed and grow” stage. Norah had a PDA (patent ductus arteriosis) which was resolved after medication as well as retinopathy of prematurity which also resolved. As I write this post, she is a spunky 3 1/2 year old, learning more and more everyday. She has only had 1 cold in her life which happened at 18 months. Thank God for the miracle of breastmilk!