March Of Dimes Luncheon

Well today was the kick off luncheon for our area WalkAmerica. It was a really good day. I was asked to speak and tell a little of our story. I didn't know that I would be the only parent speaking, but it went very well. I was very honored to speak on behalf of our little miracle and be able to tell his story to a few more people all to benefit the MOD.
Here is a copy of the speech that I gave. Enjoy!

Hello, my name is Johnette Covington. I’m very proud to be here today. On this day 2 years ago, I would have never dreamed that I would be standing here about to tell you the story of my son’s premature birth. At that point, I had no idea what my life would become only 2 weeks later. You never think it will happen to you.
After suffering a miscarriage, I got pregnant with William. And after a very tough beginning, my pregnancy became pretty much normal. While everything progressed well, I just had to take it very easy. I did just what the doctor ordered, with very few no-no’s in the process.
On July 20, 2005, at 31 weeks and 6 days, our world turned upside down. My husband and I rushed to Woman’s Hospital at 1 am that morning and I was admitted into L&D with what was determined to be PROM, my water had broken 8 weeks too early. I was hooked up to monitors and given the round of steroid shots to help mature William’s lungs. I was having no contractions at that point and William was doing just fine, so I was moved to antipartum and hoped to stay there for at least 2 weeks. William couldn’t wait and made his arrival on July 24, 2005 at 2:15 pm at 32 weeks 3 days.
When William was born, I don’t remember ever being so scared in my life. We had talked with a neonatologist and knew of the possibilities with a baby born at his gestational age and all of the worst case scenarios were running through my mind. He helped to relieve my fears by letting out this wonderful cry as soon as he was born. He had apgar scores of 8 and 8. He weighed in at 4 lbs 2.3 oz and was 16.5 inches long. One thing that stands out in the blurr of that first day, other than him being so tiny with lots of wires and tubes, was his head full of dark hair.
He was taken to the NICU and was put on a nasal canula at 0.1 liter per minute of oxygen (the lowest setting) and was on room air by the next day. My cousin is a NICU nurse at Woman’s and was working that night. She took William as her primary patient. It made me feel so much better having a familiar face there taking care of him.
I got to hold him the first time that I went to the NICU, around 8:30 that night. It was an amazing thing, this tiny little person is yours. My husband was scared to hold him that first night. I made him hold him and then had to remind him that it was my turn again every day after that, he was hooked! William spent the first week in the NICU and was then moved to the Special Care nursery.
William faced the normal preemie problems. He was jaundiced and went under the lights twice for a total of 5 days. He was put on liquid caffeine for apnea episodes and also had bradichardia episodes where he would drop his heart rate dangerously low.
Like most babies, he lost weight at first. His lowest weight was 3 lbs 11 oz at 1 week old. After that, he steadily gained weight.
His main problems were the apnea and brady episodes, as well as eating. He had a lot of trouble coordinating the suck swallow breathe reflex. He didn’t pace himself, and would forget to breathe. It was quite tricky feeding him, even after we came home. You had to make sure to pace him and make him take breaks to breathe.
William came home after 29 days in the hospital weighing 5 lbs 7 oz. We roomed in with him the night before he came home. I did not sleep 10 minutes the entire night. I was so scared that he was going to have an alarm and they weren’t going to let us take him home. He came home on liquid caffeine and with an apnea monitor. Home Health also came home with us and followed William’s monitor, as well as gave him his RSV Synagis shots through the winter. After coming home, he was put on Zantac for reflux. His caffeine dose had to be upped 1 time after we came home because he continued to have apnea episodes, but after that he was allowed to outgrow his dose. We discontinued the caffeine in Nov of 2005 when he was 4 months old. William stayed on the monitor until Feb 28, 2006 due to continued episodes of bradys. He was 7 months old. As a Mommy, this was a wonderful day. My baby spent the first day in his entire life without a wire connected to him!
William has done very well since being discharged from the hospital. Health wise, he has had minimal problems. He developed an umbilical hernia which healed itself, thank goodness. We have a nebulizer at the house due to the fact that his colds have a tendency to develop into chest congestion. He also received a second round of RSV Synagis shots this past winter. He had troubles with ear infections and got tubes placed in both ears in January and that helped drastically.
Developmentally, he has met his milestones by his adjusted age (his due date) and was pretty much “caught up” by the time he was a year old. He is now a happy, healthy little boy who will be 2 years old on July 24th. He weighs about 30 pounds and is 34 inches tall. He is running and climbing. He loves playing outside with his new puppy and swimming. He says more words than I can count and is now talking in 3 and 4 word sentences. He is a very loving little boy who enjoys giving “tight, tight” hugs and kisses.
I thank God every day for the March of Dimes and their research. Without them, my little boy may not have lived, much less thrived the way he has. William is a true success story and our special miracle!