Amelia’s Story

Amelia

We were first time parents with all the excitement and anticipation to meet our little girl, Amelia. I was induced at 37 weeks due to super imposed preeclampsia that was being controlled with medication.

As we started day 2 of the induction the nurses were struggling to keep our daughter on the monitor. Finally I was dilated enough to have my water break. Things moved at a fast pace from there. Amelia was born not breathing and was blue and floppy. They rushed her over to the side where the NICU team took over and worked on her for over 8 minutes to get her to breathe on her own. This was the longest 8 minutes of our lives. 

Once she was breathing on her own the team placed Amelia in our arms to love on. I was overwhelmed and over joyed to be holding this tiny pink bundle. We were then moved to the recovery floor. It was about 6 hours later when the nurses were doing their rounds and noticed Amelia’s temperature was low. Therapist nurse said they would take her to the warming lamp. Little did we know that would be the last time we saw our baby girl without being hooked up to machines.

Next thing I know the NICU nurse is in our room explain she is having seizures and needs some testing. I was still recovering from the epidural and couldn’t go with. A few hours later we get a call updating us that the team has done as much as they could do at that hospital and Amelia would need to be transferred to OHSU. 

I begged to allow my husband to ride with the transport team, we were still in Covid times, 2022, and they agreed to allow him to go with since I still had not been discharged. Finally after being apart for over 8 hours I was reunited with our daughter at OHSU where we would spend the next 16 days learning about her diagnosis.

Words you never expect to hear are stroke and H.I.E (Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy) in a newborn. This was a complete shock, in the coming days after Amelia’s  MRI we learned the extent of the damage to her little brain. It was not good. She had moderate to severe wide spread damage that would result in delays.

Finding resources and support has taken almost 3 years, but we finally have most of her team established. We still have some spots to fill as she gets old. Amelia is now almost 3 years old and our life is filled with appointments and weekly therapies, but they are also filled with laughter and tiny milestones being met. She will always have deficits, but she is an amazing and determined little girl full of life.