Thanks for taking the time to read more about me!  I'll let my mom tell you because she knows more about the technical stuff.  This picture is my mom holding me in the hospital when I was born.  I sure was little.

When I was 25 weeks pregnant, I fell down a set of steps so I decided to go to the obstetrician just to make sure the baby was fine.  Although the OB said everything was fine I requested an ultrasound to put my mind at ease.  The lab tech said that she thought the baby was a girl but she was concerned.  We were referred to a specialist in maternal fetal health who also did an ultrasound.  The specialist told my husband and I that the baby had fluid built up in the abdominal cavity, around the heart, and in the head.  He directed us to the university for a stay at the hospital.  Chelsea had a blood transfusion in utero at 26 weeks gestation.  After that we had 2 ultrasounds a week for 6 weeks and in the 30th week the fluid was all gone.  We thought everything was going be okay.  WRONG. 

Chelsea was born on March14, 2000.  She weighed only 4lbs 12 oz and was 18" long.  We were told she had hydrocephalus and needed a shunt.  Three days later on St. Patrick's Day she had surgery to place her shunt.  Again, we thought everything was fine and we were looking towards the future.  When Chelsea was 1 month old we learned that she was profoundly deaf in both ears.  She started receiving physical therapy once a week and developmental therapy to address her developmental and gross motor delays. 

Just when we thought things couldn't be worse Chelsea quit eating.  She went from eating three or four ounces every three hours to only about one ounce every four hours.  Her ped admitted her to the hospital and on October 13th she had a g-tube placed.  The surgery was a most difficult one for me and my husband.  This was quickly destroying our image of our normal, perfect little daughter.  The first time we fed her by g-tube there was an apparent problem with vomiting.  Six to ten times a day she was gagging, hacking and vomiting terribly.   

The next thing we discovered were her eye problems.  She is legally blind from damaged optic nerves and a coloboma.  She does recognize Mommy and Daddy but we are unsure if it is our touch that she recognizes or if she sees us.  Just another blow to our already shattered vision of our perfect child. 

Just before her first Christmas Chelsea went back in the hospital for choking on her vomit in the middle of the night.  They put her on Reglan three times a day which appeared to be helping for about two weeks, then she was back to her normal six to ten vomits a day.  Next, they added Zantac four times a day which helped for about three days.  The next plan of action was a GJ-tube....that didn't help either so we went back to the G-tube.  It is much more convenient as she had to be fed continuously 24 hours a day with the GJ-tube.  We have since switched to a pre-digested formula called Peptamen Junior which has helped somewhat.

Chelsea had her first shunt revision on February 19 of 2001 because of an obstruction of the shunt.  Thankfully, she did really well and came home the next day.  In May of  2001 we learned that she had an abnormal E.E.G.  She had two places in the back of her brain that were releasing epileptic fluid and she was having several different kinds of mild seizures. She was put on valporic acid and a vitamin called carnitor and over Memorial Day weekend she was in the hospital again for high fever, seizures, and vomiting.   They increased her seizure meds and sent her home after more tests.

In June of 2001 we were informed that Chelsea had microcephaly (small brain and small head).  Her brain was not growing properly, more bad news.  Microcephaly is often accompanied by mental retardation.  She just got a cochlear implant on the 20th of August and we hope that she will benefit from the input of sound.  No one knows what happened to her during my pregnancy, the doctors are blaming an unknown in-utero infection.  We know there was some brain damage sustained; however, they cannot tell us the extent of the damage.  

Chelsea still cannot hold her head up, she cannot roll over, and she doesn't talk or eat but she can smile, laugh, and giggle and she knows when mommy and daddy are close by.  A tremendous amount of emotions have filled our life since my pregnancy and the birth of our daughter.  We have days of being angry at the world and hating everyone that can change in an instant to tears and sadness for our daughter.  Thankfully, most days we are overwhelmed with happiness, joy and love for Chelsea and the things she teaches us everyday.  We continue to look for answers and know that one day there will be a place that our little angel can finally rest without doctors and surgeries and medicine.  Best of all there will be no more pain and suffering.