Miracle Monday: Amanda and Emma
After an incredible fight for her life after 76 days in the Miracle NICU, Emma and her mom were able to return home after their incredible journey. Here’s their story in Amanda’s words:
“It all started on March 1, 2018 when I found out I was pregnant. I went in for a doctor visit on March 15, 2018 the ultrasound tech called in the other tech and said “do you see that!” They both looked at me and said “we think you are having twins” I looked at them like they were crazy!
I go back in for my 3rd visit on April 23, 2018 and they still haven’t determined the type of twins. They said that from what they could tell at this point they looked like Monochorionic Monoamniotic (Mono-Mono) which is very high risk. Mono-Mono twins is where there is one placenta (food source) and one amniotic sac (where the babies are) my babies could physically touch each other in the womb. [Mono-Mono pregnancies] only have a survival rate of 50%. I was scared.
I was hospitalized on July 24,2018 so that the twins could be monitored. On August 5, 2018 during my 4am monitoring is when the girls started declining. Baby Brooklyn’s heart rate would drop into the 80’s and the soar really high into the 200’s which isn’t normal. The nurses called the doctor and I was moved to Labor and Delivery for 24 hour monitoring.
They then started me on a magnesium drip (which is known to help control brain bleeds in premature infants) and gave me more steroid shots to help the girl’s lungs. Dr. Levine came in and was very real about the girl’s outcome. He said that babies born this early survival rate is less than 50%. I was in Labor and Delivery about another 2 hours when Dr. Reese decided it was best to go ahead and do an emergency C-section to help the girls even have a slight chance of survival. I was scared out of my mind knowing I was only 26 weeks 5 days along.
Everything happened so fast and my beautiful girls were born within the hour! Emma was born at 11:18am and Brooklyn was born at 11:20am and they were both rushed to the NICU. When I finally was able to go to the NICU to see my babies, I was scared. They were so tiny and beautiful. Emma weighed 1lbs 13oz and Brooklyn weighed 1lbs 9oz. I was told that the girls were stable for right now but things can change at any time. Both girls were on mechanical ventilation, and hooked up to so many different medications to help them survive. I spent the day and night going between my sweet girls rooms and the NICU nurses were wonderful and caring. They already loved my babies.
August 18, 2018 is a day I will never forget. I received a phone call to get to the hospital that Brooklyn was worse and not going to get better. I rushed to the hospital and when I got there, I was told that my baby was not going to make it and I was asked if I wanted to hold her before she passed. I held Brooklyn until her last breath.
Thankfully, Emma kept making progress and eventually was able to come off the ventilator and moved to a CPAP machine. She was still on high levels of oxygen and several medications but was a fighter. Our NICU stay was 76 days long. I was finally able to bring Emma home on October 20, 2018 weighing 5lbs 3oz.”
Click below to watch the video of their story and find out how Emma is now: