This is Miss Harleyann today, along side one of her at just a couple weeks old.
My daughter Harleyann was born on June 2, 2002. She was born 16 weeks to soon. At 24 weeks gestation, she has underdeveloped lungs and eyes. She had to develop vital organs and grow in an incubator. We were unable to hold our precious Angel for the first time until she was over a month old, then not again until she was over two months old. She was underdeveloped and very sick. She had tubes everywhere. With all the advancements that the March of Dimes research has provided saved our baby. The big one is the surfactant that was given to her to help her lungs develop.
Being born at 24 weeks was a challenge, weighing only 1lb 6ozs at birth certainly posses a lot of problems. During her 176 day NICU stay we had to deal with: Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), Apnea, Intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH), Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), Jaundice, Anemia, Chronic lung disease (also called bronchopulmonary dysplasia or BPD), and many many infections.
Almost 10 years later we are still dealing with problems that have steamed from her being born prematurely. She wears glasses and is visually impaired due to the ROP, her eyes went as far as her retina's detaching. She is still way behind in learning, she is very socially awkward. We are still looking for answers as to why she is the way she is. Some have even brought up the fact that she has Autistic tendency's which very well could have come from her being born so early.
We need to teach people about Prematurity, it is an illness that effects one their entire lives. Recently my little girl has been having high blood pressure.
Please help me in spreading the word about Prematurity and help me in raising money for the March of Dimes, because what they do is wonderful and we need more answers and more technology in order to help these babies that are born too soon.
Thank you from this Micro-Preemie Mommy.
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