I woke the morning of June 20th, 2008
and I was soaking wet! I've had two
other full-term babies so I was well
aware from the smell and the amount of
the fluid that my membranes had
ruptured. I was only 14 weeks along. I
rushed to the ER only to have them
tell me that I had wet the bed and to
go home. They did several tests and
not one came back positive for
amniotic fluid. After sitting at home
for an hour or so, I sat up and felt
another gush of fluid. I was convinced
that there was trouble. Only a few
weeks earlier, my cervix had prolapsed
(came out) but my doc said that it
shouldn't affect my pregnancy. I
called my ob/gyn and he saw me right
away. He also did not get a positive
result with a ferning test but sent me
home for an ultrasound and bedrest.
The ultrasound showed that my amniotic
fluid was dangerously low. I had
another ultrasound the following
Monday that again proved no fluid
around baby. I was put on bedrest for
that week but the doctors were not
giving me any hope for the life of our
baby. My husband and I were devastated
to say the least. We were advised to
terminate -which of course we refused
to do. We waited, and week after week,
our baby girl's heart was beating
strong and loud. To make a long story
short, I was admitted to the hospital
for bedrest on 8/27/08 at the day of
viability (24 weeks)and began steroids
and continuous monitoring. On
September 17, 2008 our little girl,
Anna Joy, was born at 7:52 pm via
urgent c-section (she was compressing
her cord) and weighed 1 pound 11 ozs.
She squeaked a few times because her
lungs had not developed. She was 27
weeks along. Our story is long. Now,
10 weeks later, Anna is doing so well
and fighting hard in the NICU. To see
more about her story go to our
website. Thanks for listening and
never ever give up on your baby! We've
had so much support from family,
friends, and our community. With the
grace of God's love and healing
powers, our Anna Joy is proving
EVERYONE wrong and maybe, just maybe,
will be home for Christmas! God's
blessings to you!
~Emily
www.caringbridge.org
site: annajoylindley
password: september17
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