Today, a week later, I'm posting the email that I had sent out to friends and family from the NICU at A.I. DuPont Hospital the week after her birth. Some of you might remember reading this five years ago!
I found that the easiest way for me to tell her story, would be to write it from her perspective. Through the innocent eyes and voice of a newborn. Who knows what she was actually thinking, but I decided it was something like this...
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| Day old Baby Adria before her back surgery on Sept. 9, 2008 |
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| Baby girl after her spina bifida closure surgery. |
Adria Mychelle Seely… My First Week of Life Outside Mommy’s Tummy
(as told through my mommy Julleanna Seely, since I’m not much of a writer yet J)
On Monday I celebrated my one week birthday! For the first time I was able to lie on my back that day and be held by my parents without having a hundred wires plugged in…ok, it was actually only 4 or 5 wires but still they cramp my style.
My arrival into the world came with a bit of fanfare, having over a dozen doctors and nurses in the delivery room – half for mommy and half for me. I was delivered at Christiana Hospital on Sept. 8 at 3:58 p.m., a beautiful, healthy baby girl weighing 6 lbs. 15 oz. and measuring 19 inches long. So many doctors were there because I was born with spina bifida, a birth defect that occurs when a baby’s spine fails to close during the early months of pregnancy.*
A few hours later, I was transferred to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) at A.I. duPont Children’s Hospital in Wilmington. On Tuesday afternoon a pediatric neurosurgeon performed surgery to remove the spina bifida sac on my lower back and put my spinal cord back in place. Thankfully, the location on my back is relatively low which means that I have a good chance of being able to walk. In order for my back to heal, I had to lie on my stomach or side for the first week, but now I’m healing so well that I can be held or lie on my back!
Daddy has been here with me every day, but I did not get to see Mommy again until Thursday morning; she had to stay at the other hospital to recover from her c-section. When I saw her for the first time since my birth, she reached into my little incubator hospital bed, and I wrapped my tiny hand around her finger. She cried a lot when I did that.
So far, doctors seem impressed with my recovery and the amount of movement in my legs. I really like to kick and squirm a lot, which makes Mommy and Daddy very happy. The doctors think the only place I don’t have much sensation is the bottom of my feet, and one nurse said I have more movement than any other baby with spina bifida that she’s seen in her seven years working in the NICU. Mommy says that I’m doing so well because so many people from all over are praying for me.
While at the hospital, my parents help the nurses give me baths, change my diapers, and feed me. They love to sit and watch me, hold me and kiss me ‘cause I am crazy adorable with my full head of dark brown hair and little tiny baby features that are so perfect. They really hope to take me home soon, and I can’t wait to see my bedroom and try on all my pretty outfits. The main thing we are waiting on is an MRI that I am scheduled to have on Thursday to look at the fluid around my brain. A majority of babies with spina bifida have hydrocephalus and need additional surgery to remove the fluid. I am really hoping that the results from the MRI are good, and I will not need that surgery.
So, thank you so much for praying for me and I hope that you will continue to do so. I will need to have many more tests and physical therapy over the next months and years of my life and there are many unknowns about some of the physical challenges I will face, but I am a very active little girl with a good appetite and a strong cry so I think I will continue to do well.
With much love and a few hiccups, cries and coos,
Adria Mychelle Seely
*Spina Bifida: Also known as Myelomeningocele, occurs in about 7 out of every 10,000 births. There is no known cause but because it effects the development of the spinal cord, there are a variety of challenges that can arise. This includes various levels of paralysis, mainly in the legs; bowel and bladder problems; hydrocephalus which is excess fluid around the brain; and sometimes learning challenges. Most children with spina bifida have nerve damage that affects their ability to walk, and often require the use of leg braces or a wheelchair. No two cases of Spina Bifida are ever the same.
Daddy gets to feed baby Adria
Mommy sees her baby for the first time after 4 days apart
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