"The Angel Child"

Jennifer is currently on Injured Reserve so I will be filling in for this ONE and ONLY post...so get ready!

Well, she's finally here. I don't guess I should say finally since she was actually 6 weeks early. Little Miss Marley just couldn't wait and had to be delivered at 9:29AM on October 11, 2008 and yes that WAS my birthday too, but not anymore.

It's a long story, but I've finally got a little time to tell it so everyone over 50, get your glasses and coffee ready. Oh yeah and the disclaimer, it may become a little graphic, but if I can handle writing it, you can handle reading it.

Within minutes after I arrived home from work, I found Jennifer in our bathroom crying and on the phone with her doctor because about 10 minutes earlier, she had some heavy bleeding. With it being tough to diagnose someone over the phone and Jennifer being approx. 33 weeks pregnant, the doctor told her to come to the hospital for admission. Initially, I figured we'd probably just be spending a couple of hours at the hospital before we would be able to head home. However, after further inspection, the doctor realized it was much more bleeding than she expected and told us we would be there for at least 48 hours so they could give Jennifer 2 steroid shots (24 hours apart) to help Marley's lungs develop in case they did have to deliver her.

The next morning, we had a "formal" ultrasound scheduled and that showed an "abruption" of the placenta approximately 9 centimeters long...big according to the doctors. Obviously, that had to be why she was bleeding and they decided it was going to be a longer stay than we initially thought. Jennifer was dreading the possibility of having to stay on bed rest for days or even possibly weeks. The only problem was, the bleeding slowed dramatically, but she began having pains in her lower abdomen. The doctors monitored her and debated the two possible outcomes...an early, but controlled delivery or an emergency C-section down the road. In the end, they decided on a C-section the next morning because of her continued pain in the abdomen and the slight bleeding that was still happening. That decision quite possibly saved Marley's life!

As they began Operation Remove Marley, it became apparent to the doctor that the bleeding was not caused by the abruption in the placenta, but from Jennifer's scar tissue on her uterus beginning to tear from her C-section with Berkley. Initially, none of us realized the potential complications this can cause, but the next day when the doctor came to visit she explained them in great detail.

Basically, she said this doesn't happen often and she has not heard of a case locally where it ever happened this early. She said the majority of the time when the scar tissue begins to tear, it's because the mother has gone into labor and this causes stress on the uterus and typically ends in a "still born." She said that Angels must have been watching over Jennifer and the baby due to the fact that she began bleeding so early and that we decided to immediately go to the hospital. She said that she and the other doctors had begun calling her "The Angel Child."

Marley Ridge Auttonberry weighed 5lbs 3.6oz and was 17 inches long. Initially, everything appeared good with her lungs as they immediately began monitoring her oxygen levels as they moved her to the Level II NICU, that's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for everyone that doesn't watch ER, Gray's Anatomy or is not Aunt Tina. However, after a few hours they determined she needed to have help with her oxygen so they put what looks similar to a gold fish bowl over her head. This helped for the first night, but her oxygen need was rising and she needed more help than they thought to breathe. They moved her to the Level III NICU where 1 nurse basically monitors just 2 babies each. After about 3-4 days, her lungs began to mature and her breathing ability expanded.

Then comes the next set of news about Patent Ductus Arteriosis (PDA), which is actually fairly common to premature babies. She basically had a valve by her heart that did not close and was just funneling blood from the heart to the lungs and nowhere else in the body. Luckily the medicine appears to have worked and the valve constricted so surgery was averted.

Currently she is completely breathing on her own, drinking milk (but still on IV for calories and nutrition) and has been moved back to the Level II NICU. The only thing left that they are watching is her low iron levels, which may cause her to need a blood transfusion. Hopefully that will not be the case, but either way it got me to donate blood for the first time and I will be going back every 8 weeks for as long as I can continue to donate...what can I say, I'm a sucker for chocolate chip cookies and Gatorade.

We have no idea when Marley will come home, it's been over 12 days now, but we're happy she has great people watching over her. We thank God everyday for blessing us with this opportunity to raise another child and we look forward to making the most of each and every day.

My beautiful wife will post some pictures tomorrow.