Wow! I thought, when I found out I was pregnant with this little
bundle of joy. So I started going to the doctor and my doctor
was concerned about me not being able to gain weight with Tara.
Well 2 months later I was fine with the weight gain. No problems came
about except for one. Tara kicked me so hard that I was doubled
over, she ended up bruising my abdomen. I had all the ultra
sounds done and nothing ever came about except for her being small,
but the doctors were not worried. So life continues with the
regular doctor appointments with no worries.
Well here comes the 23rd of October. I'm sick with the flu (so
much fun). Well after being sick all day with the vomiting and
the rest of the things that go along with the flu, finally at about
6:00pm I'm feeling much better and relaxed (finally over the symptoms
of the flu). I was getting ready for bed (brushing teeth going
potty), then I had to go potty again(11:00pm), this time my water
broke. I called the hospital and gave them all the information.
They said that since Tara is my first baby I didn't know if it was my
water that broke (they thought that I was crazy or something) So
before I went to the hospital (not feeling any contractions) I took a
shower to relax a bit, packed my bag to go to the hospital. So
they checked me and sure enough I was not crazy, I was right! 1 Week
early for Tara to be born. So they get me ready to have her and
they are charting away. They were watching my vitals all night
long. Well things were not going the way they were suppose to
and I ended up getting Pitocin (1:00 pm October 24th ) to make
my contractions harder and make things move. I could not take
the pain and had an epidural. Wow that was much nicer. The
nurse did not come in to check me when she was suppose to due to
friends and family being there. By the time the nurse came in to
check me I had already called and then they came in. Tara was
crowning already!!!! Finally here she comes my wonderful bundle
of joy. I could not wait for Tara to be here. She came
into the world at 6:04 pm on the 24th day of October. She was
18 1/2 inches long and weighing 5 lbs 6 oz. Born at Oconomowoc Hospital in Wisconsin.
It was nice for me but then turned to be the worst. Since every
parent expects to have a baby born with no problems what so ever.
Well the cord was wrapped around Tara's neck 2 times and she was bluish
in color.
How scary!!!! They doctors tried to be quiet but I was more
concentrated on Tara then they wanted me to. Tara had to be
"bagged" since she was not breathing correctly. They had doctors and nurses rush in
to get her breathing to "normal". She pulled
through!!! Thank God!! Tara spent 2 days at Oconomowoc Hospital
(they had to make sure she was going to be stable enough to be
transferred) Oconomowoc knew that there was something wrong with
Tara because of her cry but they could not put their finger on it,
Tara also failed her hearing tests they tested her
2 times. Then they transferred her to Waukesha Hospital where
she was in the NICU for 2 weeks and 2 days.
Week 1 at Waukesha NICU Tara ended up
have a PIC line in her arm, IV, a suction tube to clear out the
stomach and Oxygen. She was hooked up to the monitor the whole
time. She had lipids (liquefied fat) and sugar water for the
first week. Tara was not able to hold her body heat and needed
more then just the open bed while being hooked up so they had to put
her in an incubator. There she was able to get better.
Tara was born with pneumonia. So that made things even worse.
Tara also did not have a good suck at all, so breast feeding was out
of the question. Waukesha also tested her hearing and she failed
that one 2 times. Tara had multiple blood tests done to check for
everything possible. At this time the nurses and doctors took me
into a private room to explain what was going on with Tara and what
she has. They told me that she has a very rare syndrome called
CRI DU CHAT syndrome. They then had me on the phone with the
geneticist from Children's Hospital. She explained a bit of it
and then they wanted me to come down and get tested to see if I was a
carrier of this rare syndrome. They told me not to look on the
internet for information since it was so bad and harsh (they didn't
think I was going to be able to handle it). They told me that
Tara will not walk, talk, hear, eat normally, grow the right way, she
would have so many things going against her. They also told me
that Tara would most likely not make it through childhood. Tara
and I would be lucky if she made it to her 5th birthday. Then
they had the guts to ask me if I wanted to "pull the plug" (stop
everything for Tara and let her pass) I was so made and I cried
and cried. Week 1 went by (seemed forever).
Wow what kind of news is this to a first time
parent at the age of 20? Shocking? Freighting? How would you
have handled it? The way I did? Yes I cried! I was scared,
but more determined to find out more about it. Well this news
just made me more determined to help Tara and get through this.
So I had scheduled an emergency baptism, called my pastor before the
church service and told him he had to rush up to the hospital and
Baptize Tara because of the situation. He did. So Pastor
Schroeder rushed up to the hospital and baptized Tara. I
had asked the church members to pray for Tara and to ask God to help
her through this hard time in her life. Ok so Tara got baptized
so at least that was taken care of. Now just to get everything
else taken care of (ways and things needed to take care of her to the
best I can .)
Week 2 at the NICU in Waukesha Wisconsin.
Tara was still in the incubator and they were slowly decreasing the
oxygen and they were gavage feeding her. They put a tiny tube
down her throat every time it was ready to eat (every 2 hours) and
they were trying to get her to suck at the same time. By
Wednesday Tara was sucking and drinking out of a Haybermann bottle
(special bottle for babies that have a weak suck). Tara was able
to hold her body heat out of the incubator , off the oxygen, PIC line,
and IV by Tuesday the 7th of November. The only thing that Tara
was still hooked up to was the monitor for her pulse, BP, and oxygen.
The 9th day of November I was finally able to bring her home (This day
finally came.) Grandpa Kaun and I (Mom) brought Tara home.
I went to the genetics clinc and got tested
they had me come into the office for family history and to give me the
results of the blood test. How do you think it came out?
Tara was diagnosed to have "colic" (colic is marked by chronic
irritability and crying.) I took her to the doctor and the ER at
least 2-3 times a week trying to find out what is wrong. The
doctors (in the ER and her regular doc) said nothing that they can see
is wrong with her. So her regular doc switched her formula allot
to see if she was allergic or have bad gas from what she was on.
Tara went through every formula that was out there. Her doc even
paid for most of it since it was so expensive, well that wasn't it
either. So then(6 months later) we finally got referred to
Children's hospital in Milwaukee Wisconsin. There she was sent
to see and ENT and a GI. The ENT found out that she has Acid
Reflux problems badly. At this point Tara would hardly eat anymore
since it hurt. So now she was put on Pepcid suspension to help
with the acid reflux problem. Then the GI sent her to have a
swallow study done (1 year later) and come to find out she has been
aspirating, when I found that out it finally clicked that was the
reason why she hardly wanted to eat. It would take her forever to eat
8 oz of formula. That was it! That was the problem.
So on the 25th of July 2002 she went in to get a g-tube in.
She stayed in the hospital for 3 days. Wow, what a difference
that made!!
Tara is now not
considered a colicky baby. She is still having problems with
the acid reflux problems and "freed" from the aspiration
problems. The whole time all this was going on Tara was also
going to the Birth to Three program, to receive the therapies PT, OT,
and ST. Tara made great gains in this program along with me
working with her at home. Then she went into the Early Childhood
program through the school and now she is doing wonderful.
Tara never gave up
and I never have nor will I give up on her.
Yes it came
out that I do carry it, but I don't have a translocation.
