Cassidy Leigh's Birth Story
Born 11/18/97
Delivered by Dr. Charles Eisenbeis At 32 weeks gestation, on Saturday November, 15th, while enjoying a quiet supper with my family, my water broke. I have never been so scared in my whole life.
The whole way to the hospital, I was sure that my baby would die. I was in full labor and having contractions 2 minutes apart. I was dilated to 3 by the time I got to the hospital. The staff told me that they wanted to airlift me to The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, because they have such an incredible pre term birth and neonatal program, but my ob did not think we had time to get me there. They had a helicopter and a ventilator on stand by to airlift the baby to there. I prayed and cried and prayed. Suddenly, miraculously, the contractions started to slow down. They set me up on intravenous antibiotics to help prevent infection, and they injected me with Betamethazone to help mature the baby's lungs. They told me that I needed to have it in my system for 24 hours to have any effect. I did not think I could make it that long. By Sunday morning, my contractions had stopped. I was amazed, and hopeful, and terrified. They had me laying on my left side, with the head of my bed tipped down. No movement was allowed at all. On Sunday night I received another Betamethazone shot and was told to hang in there. Now it was a waiting game. 72 hours after my water broke (Tuesday night) I was laying in the bed cuddling with my oldest son, Hunter, when I had a terrible cramp and felt a huge gush. I checked thinking it was more amniotic fluid, but it was straight blood. My husband took the children away immediately. Suddenly there were about five nurses in my room running around, sticking needles in me, checking my monitors, and throwing an oxygen mask on my face. I hear a nurse in the hall scream, and I do mean scream, "Stat section Wanderscheid...prep her". For the second time in a week, I was more scared than ever. Within minutes I was out. I remember waking in recovery and not hearing a baby and beginning to cry. I asked a nurse what happened to my baby, and she smiled at me and said, "SHE is with your husband, and SHE is just fine." SHE???? I finally had the girl I have wanted forever. I almost didn't believe it. There has not been a girl born into my husband's family for over 60 years. Could it be true?? They wheeled my bed to the nursery, and pointed to a warmer bed. I remember seeing the little pink hat and thinking, "WOW. I really DID have a girl" Cassidy Leigh Wanderscheid made her fantastic debut into this world at 7:14 pm on Tuesday, November 18, 1997. Although 8 weeks early (my due date was January 10), she was 4 pounds 11 ounces. Her lungs were fully developed and her apgar scores were 8 and 9. I still can't believe it. She is thriving, and breastfeeding like a trouper. The nurses were amazed that such a tiny premature baby could even nurse, but she is doing tremendously. I was told later that she almost died on the table. What happened was that my placenta decided to take a hike out of my uterus without asking first, and I started to bleed horribly. Cass got caught in a large clot of blood and almost choked to death on it. For the first day she threw up a lot of blood and didn't eat much and she lost a lot of weight. She got down to 4 pounds, 2 ounces by Friday, and by Saturday she had gained half an ounce. Oh, how we rejoiced. On her fourth day she began to show some signs of jaundice, which is common in preemies, and she had to spend the last 24 hours under bili lights. At 5pm Saturday, November 22, we were allowed to bring our Tinkerbell home. She is beautiful, healthy and I have never felt so blessed in all my life. Doctors and nurses from all over the hospital came to see the baby they dubbed "The Miracle Baby". No one could believe that she was alive, much less that she didn't need a ventilator or oxygen, that she didn't need to be tube fed, that she could maintain her body heat and that she came home just five days after birth. God bless you and yours. Love,
Jenny
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Cassidy Leigh's Birth Story Tuesday, 13 January 2009 Cassidy Leigh's Birth Story Born 11/18/97 Delivered by Dr. Charles Eisenbeis At 32 weeks gestation, on Saturday November, 15th,...
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