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Isaiah's Story
"Hello, my name is Kendra and I am a mother of four young boys..."
My youngest son has CMV. He was born February 28, 2011. I found out that I had contracted CMV from my oldest son when he was in the hospital and I was caring for him while I was in my first trimester of being pregnant. I found out that I got CMV when I was right around 16 weeks pregnant.
My pregnancy was miserable because I was so concerned about Isaiah's health and constantly being worried. I got many ultrasounds and I had a specialist OB. Everything went fine but Isaiah stopped growing about three weeks before my due date so I got induced.
When I delivered Isaiah they immediately took him from me, it was the scariest and most upsetting thing that ever happened to me because I just wanted to hold my baby. Everything looked great but he went to the NICU because he was jaundiced and a little underweight. He stayed in the NICU for a week and then we got to go home.
A week after being home Isaiah had blood in his stools and I had to take him to the ER. Isaiah ended up with NEC. We then were in the hospital for 18 days. We got home and everything was good until Easter. On Easter I went back to the hospital for blood again, this time it was a milk protein allergy.
Isaiah has stayed out of the hospital but he still can't hold his head up and he is 11 months old. He also is developmentally delayed. He has hearing loss in his right ear, but other than that he is just as happy as ever and loves a routine and cuddling with his mommy. His brothers love him so much and it is hard sometimes raising them all.
I thank God everyday for all my children but, in particular little Isaiah, because he has taught our family so much, like don't take the little things for granted because you never know when it might be gone. He has taught us how people take everything for granted such as their babies being able to roll over or walk or hear completely, when mommies of CMV don't get to watch their children do that, it's our lives that consist of jumping up and down with excitement because our baby said momma or our baby reached for a toy.
Stay strong CMV mommies, because I believe there is great light in all of this!
- Shared by his mother, Kendra