AvaBaby's Story of a Micro Preemie Part 1

The story of Ava’s arrival did not begin at her actual birth. It started about 3 months before with what seemed like another normal pregnancy. One day the phone call came from my daughter that there was spotting. For those of you ladies who have experienced this when pregnant, you know how un-nerving that can be. Often though it doesn’t mean anything is really wrong. In our case though, as we would eventually find out, things were seriously wrong in more ways than one.

An appointment was made with my daughter’s doctor, and he did the usual ultrasound. At this point, all looked well, and there was clearly a little heartbeat. We were sent off and told not to worry at this point. The spotting continued and at some times was rather heavy. We tried to do as the doctor said about not worrying but it was kind of hard.

We managed to stay away from the doctor for a few weeks, even thought the spotting was fairly regular. On returning, another ultrasound showed that while our little one was still hanging on, it appeared as if my daughter had a low lying placenta or placenta privia . What this would all mean was still not clear. Being that it was fairly early in the pregnancy, the placenta might move as it often does into a more normal position. We were also told at that time, that we were expecting our second little granddaughter. She was given the name Ava. I often thought of her as Froggie, because every time we saw her she was moving around. One time, when she was still very small, but clearly having arms and legs, she appeared as if she was free floating in a pond. She would sink to the bottom and push up to the top with her tiny little legs, like a little frog surfacing in a pond. Saw her do this a couple of times. We saw her often with ultrasounds, and even though her mom was barely even showing, she was VERY real to us.

When you are going through this, it is so frustrating, because you are told there is nothing they can even attempt to do to save this little one. It is not until you reach the 17th week of gestation that they really start recommending bed rest. When my daughter got there, that is what she did, but it was called light bed rest. For me, that meant that I would need to be the caretaker of my almost 2 year old granddaughter. As if all this wasn’t enough, my only son was getting married in a few weeks and I was expecting a houseful of guests for the wedding. The stress was starting to feel overwhelming.

Eventually the bed rest became more restrictive, and the spotting was getting much heavier. Still with each ultrasound little Ava was as wiggly as ever and growing right on schedule. We had one run to the ER when the spotting turned more to a hemorrhage. At about 19 weeks, someone had recommended that my daughter see a perinatologist, a doctor who specializes in high risk pregnancy. But the big question was who.

Finally the wedding guests arrived, and we were 2 nights away from the actual wedding. In the middle of the night we get that heart stopping phone call, my daughter is having what seems like contractions. I’m thinking to myself, please not now, my son is getting married in less than 36 hrs. Please don’t let us loose Ava now. We decided to head to San Diego’s Mary Birch hospital in the middle of the night. This is a hospital for women, with a very large high risk unit, and a team of perinatologists, with someone there 24/7. We arrived and were wisked upstairs and my daughter was hooked up to the monitors. We sat waiting for the doctor who is there doing his 24hr watch.

We sat there quietly most of the time, but at one point my daughter says to me, “Mom, if I loose her tonight, I still want you to go to Dana’s (her brother) wedding.” That was such an incredibly painful thought, not only for my daughter but, my son and his fiance. What a damper that would be on their day.The doctor came in, a very young man, maybe 35, but he had the most incredible bed side manner. Very sweet, he actually sat right down on the bed with my daughter. He examined my daughter by way of ultrasound and confirmed what we had already know by now. Placenta privia with a blood clot that was growing larger all the time. But as usual there was Ava, bopping all around. He said she looked very strong, and of a size he would expect to see at about 20 weeks gestation, that was good. He said that my daughter needed to make an appointment to see a perinatologist in the next week. She was put on severe bed rest, laying down all the time if possible. She was given a drug called Turbutaline to stop any contractions, and we were sent home, knowing that if Ava by some fluke was able to stay put, my daughter would be hospitalized at about 24 weeks.

Things were looking really grim, even though the doctor was trying to be very hopeful. He said it is important to try to stay positive. We tried to then turn our focus on to my son's wedding which was now just the next afternoon. Well, got to stop here, so please come back……… If you know someone going through an experience similar to this, send them here, they may find comfort in this story.