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Raychel's Story
"My husband and I were expecting our first child, a baby girl..."
My pregnancy was going all good. It was a normal pregnancy and I had the normal sickness, hormones and weight gain at least I thought I did until June 17, 2006 at 3:34 a.m. in the Cape Fear Valley Triage in Fayetteville, NC.
When I went in to the Triage that hot early morning in June I met a nurse whom I will never forget as she pulled my shirt up to put the monitor on me for labor pains. Her comment still stays in the back of my head to this day. “How far along are you,” she exclaimed. My thought was, “are you kidding me?” I told her I was due on June 22 so I wasn’t but two weeks early. She could not believe that I was only two weeks away from my due date because she thought that I was so small to be nine months pregnant. To the day she was the only one who had even mentioned that I was not the average nine-month pregnant woman. What in the world was she talking about? I didn’t understand but I did know that I was in labor and my husband and I were ready to meet our baby girl.
After only 6 hours of labor and 20 minutes of hard pushing, Raychel Elizabeth Dale was born at 9:23 a.m. June 17, 2006 weighing only 3 lbs and 11 oz and 17 1/8 inches long. NICU nurses were already on standby in my room because Raychel had a bowl movement during my labor so if she were to swallow the bowel the NICU nurses would have to go to work on her immediately. However, the NICU nurses ended up being there for something that I never thought would be. I will never, ever forget the look on my doctor’s face and her exclamation as my child was born. She looked up at me and exclaimed, “oh my gosh, she is so little.” As my daughter was put in my arms for the first time all I could do was gaze down at her and cry. I knew she was little but at that moment I didn’t really seem to mind, she was PERFECT in my eyes!
Raychel was rushed to the NICU and put on IVs and we were told we would be able to go in and see her a little later. While waiting to go in and see our angel, all I could do was wonder why and what in the world was going on. I never smoked or done anything to harm my unborn child but all I could ask myself was what did I do wrong? My doctor explained to me that it was surely nothing that I had done nor did she understand what was going on because Raychel was healthy and had no other complications except for being a full term, low birth weight baby. After hours of tears and questions we were finally able to see our baby girl. Of course, the tears did not stop as we approached our baby in the NICU. She was hooked up to all kinds of wires and had something on her head to help her oxygen levels. As we were being reunited with our baby girl doctors came in and told us she would have to be transferred to another hospital because their NICU was full and they had no place to put her. At 4:30 p.m., Raychel was transferred to Durham Regional Hospital in Durham NC. This was a blessing in disguise which was later uncovered after Raychel was diagnosed.
I was immediately in distress because my baby was being taken away and I had to stay at another hospital. My husband had left to follow the ambulance and my mama was left with me. My doctor came in at 8:30 p.m. to let me know she was there to check me and I would be checked out as long as everything was ok. I rushed to Durham Regional to be with my baby.
On Sunday, June 18, 2006 tests were being ran on Raychel’s brain and her entire body. God sent us a guardian angel, which wanted to test her for some virus due to her low blood platelets and low birth weight. We would later on learn it was called the Cytomegalovirus or short term CMV and Raychel had been tested positive for it. What in the world is that? That is what my husband and I were thinking? What did I do to cause my baby to get CMV? How did I contract it? Was it deadly? Was my baby going to have physical health conditions? As all the doctors came in to explain the virus to us they also explained all the effects that the virus could have on Raychel. We were told about liver damage, cerebral palsy, blindness, hearing loss, mental retardation, learning delays and or growth retardation. All the tests that were performed on Raychel all came back normal. She had a normal brain, her liver looked great and there was no sign of visual loss or hearing loss. However, we were told that the only effect of CMV on her would probably be growth problems. After a week and a day of monitoring and getting blood platelets back to normal we were able to bring our baby home at only 4lbs and 3 oz. She was our little blessing and no matter her size she was ours.
The first 3 years of Raychel’s life were spent going from doctor to doctor. From eye doctors to ear doctors we were constantly going to a doctor to keep her monitored. She was released from the eye doctor at 3 years old and was released from the hearing doctor at 2 years old. Although we still have her hearing monitored every year she doesn’t have a hearing specialist whom we see. We took our last trip to the Baby Steps program at a year old.
Raychel has never been on the charts for her weight and she has barely been on the charts for her height. At 4 years old she now weighs 28 lbs and is 40 inches tall. She will be 5 years old on June 17, 2006 and will be starting Kindergarten in August. She is a loveable, energetic, smart and sweet little girl. Although she is tiny she is our little miracle baby whom we would not change for anything in the world. God wanted our baby girl to be the way she is and we are learning to accept that she may later on develop some hearing loss. My husband and I are so blessed and fortunate that Raychel is mildly affected by CMV and the only symptoms she suffers from are growth problems. We live each day to the fullest and do not take anything for granted. We take one day at a time and our family has grown so much stronger because of CMV.
CMV is so unpredictable and has such little signs and symptoms during pregnancy. The signs and symptoms may be similar to those of a common cold. When a pregnant woman contracts CMV it attacks the fetus’ brain causing damage to the fetus. We do not know exactly when I caught this virus during my pregnancy but we do believe it was later on into my pregnancy because Raychel is only mildly affected by CMV. CMV changed our lives but it will never, ever bring us down. We will continue to fight it and as Raychel grows much smarter and stronger everyday!!!!
- Shared by her mother, Amy