When my husband and I found out we were pregnant we were completely happy.  We had a very normal pregnancy with doctor visits and ultrasounds coming back great!  Towards the end of my pregnancy, between 35-36 weeks, I developed high blood pressure.  During my 36 week check up my doctor sent me to the hospital to have the baby monitored just to make sure that my blood pressure wasn't affecting her in any way.  I was in the hospital that day for a good three hours and was even visited with a specialist who wanted to induce that day.  They wanted to give the baby a good week or so before they induced and ordered me to be on bed rest.  I agreed and told them I would behave myself, so I went home and vowed to take it easy and just laid down the rest of the evening.

     The next morning around 4:30 I woke up with something very warm and wet in between my legs.  I assumed it was my water, so I ran to the bathroom and pulled my pants down to find dark red blood running down my legs.  Much to my surprise this was not amniotic fluid!  I called for my husband and he rushed into the bathroom and he was surprised by all the blood that was on our floor.   We quickly got dressed and he drove me to the hospital.  We rushed into the ER and they paged labor and delivery to come get me.  As soon as the nurse showed up I mentioned to her about the blood and she says, "Oh that's normal to have some blood in the amniotic fluid."  I thought nothing else...I thought she was right.  When we arrived they settled me in bed with a fetal monitor and the nurses started to do the ivy.  They called my doctor and made sure they were on their way.  The baby's heart rate was dropping and one of the nurses decided that I needed an internal fetal monitor.  They tried to connect one to the babies head and no success...she did pull her hand out and it was covered in blood.  The nurse was alarmed and yelled to get the doctor back on the phone. I heard many voices in the room more intensely, they were wondering if the blood was from the baby or from me.  Five minutes later they were telling my husband to change into surgical clothing and they were wheeling me out of the room.  I was panicked!  They weren't telling me anything I began to cry and called out for my husband.  No one was listening.  They moved me into OR and everyone around me was racing around the room yelling and screaming to get NICU on the phone.   The next thing I remember was a mask going over my nose and mouth.  I began to breath in and started to fade slowly....

     Two hours later they woke me up in recovery.  I was drowsy and very much in pain.  It literally felt like a truck ran over my body hundred times over.  My throat was very sore to later learn that I had a tube down my throat to help me breath.  I had many people around me and I had asked for my baby and my husband.  My husband was with me and he held my hand.  The hospital chaplain was there and my doctor.  They were telling me how sorry they were about what had happened.  I couldn't understand what could possibly be wrong...the chaplain held up photos of our little girl.  The first time I got to see our daughter was on Kodak film.  Then our doctor explained to me what happened and what Vasa Previa was and then explained what happened to our daughter.  She was born without a heart beat and massive amount of blood loss.  They had to perform two transfusions on her and it took them 10 min to get her heart beating again.  She was in critical condition and her prognosis wasn't good.  They wheeled me over to see her in bed and when we arrived I just couldn't believe how many lines she had coming out of her body and how they all connected to machines to help her stay alive.  They had her eyes covered and a ventilator was down her throat.  I began to cry and began to think that this wasn't suppose to be this way.   I only got to touch her foot and tell her that I loved her.  They wheeled me to my room and set me up with pain meds.  The day she was born was on 12/21/06.  The next day I went to see my little girl again.  She wasn't doing any better, that morning she suffered a seizure and had some swelling around the brain.  Her whole body was swollen from the impact and her kidneys had suffered the most.  The doctor explained to us that due to her blood loss it affected her kidneys a great deal.  They started to shut down from all the blood loss.  And it was only a matter of time for our Emma.  I began to cry over her and held on to her tiny hand. 

     On Christmas Day I was released from the hospital.  That day I was so reluctant to go home.  I had a very hard time leaving her behind.  She was in critical condition still and the doctors of course were telling us that it still wasn't looking good for her because she hadn't urinated, which was a sign of kidney failure and renal failure.  Later that day when we called to check in with her and her nurse said that she had urine in her diaper!  We were so excited to receive the news...but it was only the beginning.  During the next few weeks she was urinating blood and she wasn't making enough urine to relieve the edema (swelling) that was affecting her body.  She was extremely swollen.  The doctors had her on various meds to relieve the swelling and to help her urinate it out.  During this time her heart and lungs were in perfect condition.  She was on the ventilator to help her breath because the swelling was too much for her lungs to handle. She wasn't on oxygen only on room air.  We were their twice a day by her side praying and holding her hand.  Meanwhile, since her little body kept growing from the swelling the fluid was developing her in abdomen and each day it kept getting bigger and bigger.  It literally looked like a basketball was placed in her stomach.  The doctors grew concerned and performed an ultrasound of her abdomen to see what the fluid was doing.   They found  a pocket in her abdomen where the fluid kept collecting and they had a serious talk with us to see it would be okay to perform a tap on her.  Which means to stick a needle in her abdomen and drain the fluid from this pocket.  They were hoping it would relieve the pressure off of her kidney's so they can continue to work. It was a dangerous procedure because they didn't know how her heart would take the sudden loss of weight due to the fluid.  But we were hopeful and never lost faith.  She did fine, they drained 600 cc's of fluid and she handled it well. 

     After the procedure she only continued to make progress.  Her kidneys were functioning better and their was good signs of increased urination.  2 weeks later her urine started turning a yellowish color and the blood that was found in her stool and urine started to diminish.  We were so excited.  The Dr's still warned us that she still wasn't out of danger...but we still didn't loose faith.  2 weeks after that I got to hold our daughter for the first time and it was the greatest moment in our lives because I never thought that I would hold her unless something were to happen to her such as death.  I held on to her tightly as she looked up at me.  The tears streamed down my face as my husband leaned over us to kiss us both.  The very next day she didn't need her ventilator anymore.  They removed it and she was doing well off it.  I got to see her face for the first time without tubes in her throat.  She was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen.  I couldn't believe how much progress she was making.  Neither did the doctors.  A week later they moved her to a different side of the room and she was no longer considered critical.  She still had several of her lines such as pik lines and ivy's to administer her meds.  They were still drawing blood from her daily to check her blood counts and blood saturation levels.  I still was going to see her two times a day and I held her the whole time I was there. Telling her how much we loved her and that we would never leave her side.  A couple of days passed and they decided to bottle feed her...she didn't quite take to it at first but she slowly started latch on.  They gave her a special formula which helps her kidneys (so its not as harsh)  and they were also feeding her through a tube that went into her nose and down to her stomach only until she got bottle feeding down.  Another few days her lines came off...we were delighted.  We got to dress her in her clothes for the first time.  Every nurse in the NICU were developing a relationship with her and us and they were all so excited to see Emma off of her lines and bottle feeding.  She had come a long way. 

     Its has been almost 8 weeks since she was born and she still remains in the NICU and the doctors are giving her days....until she can come home to us.  The only worry now is her feeding. They want her to gain more weight then she can come home to us.  Its a long way from worrying about her making it to the next day from worrying about her gaining weight.  They do see some brain damage from the loss of oxygen but that is the least of our worries...we love her anyway and we are glad she is still with us.  Only time will tell for her and so far she has proven a lot of people wrong.  When people were giving us their condolences we never gave up hope that our little girl was going to make it.  We believed in her and her inner strength and she fought tooth and nail to where she is at today.  Even though we officially haven't brought her home, I know it will be soon.  I will keep everyone updated as best as I can on her progress and when we get to finally bring our miracle home.