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Reed's Story
"My name is Alysha and my little baby boy Reed was diagnosed with CMV..."
My pregnancy was great until about 30 weeks. They started seeing things, like he wasn't gaining weight right and that the placenta hadn't moved like they thought it should. His measurements were fine and they found a calcium deposit in his heart and fluid in his bowels. He stopped gaining weight, so they induced me at 39 weeks and 1 day and I was in labor for 20 hours.
When he was born on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 2010, he weighed 5 lbs. and 8 oz. and was 19 and 1/2 inches long. He had a little rash and his belly was a little larger than it should have been. But just by looking at him he looked normal. He was doing very well until 2 nights later he became very fussy and I sent him to the nursery so I could get some sleep. Turns out his liver had been affected by CMV and it was not working like it should have been. He also had calcifications in his brain, he failed his hearing test twice, and his rash wasn't going away.
So he was transported to the Children's Hospital in Cincinnati and it was the most amazing hospital I had ever seen. They took such good care of my little Reed. He stayed there for 9 days. He was put on a lot of vitamins. During this time they had asked me questions concering about my health during my pregnancy. I told them that I never gotten sick, and they also found that my CMV results were igg positive. I am still not sure how that works but I already had CMV and was immune to it and that I could have also had it early in the pregnancy.
So then it was set. My little boy had CMV. How could that possibly be, I ask myself. How did I let this happen? Why my little boy? I asked myself these questions when he was still in the hospital. It wasn't fair watching my friends live their normal lives with their healthy babies, but me, no I couldn't have that. Not yet, I told myself. He will get better and he will live a normal life. I tell myself that everyday. That he will get better and he will go to school and be the smartest kid in his class, and maybe even be Valedictorian of his class. Those are my hopes and dreams for my little boy. That he will overcome this horrible virus like many others.
Right now he is doing well. He got to go home in enough time for Christmas. He is still on his medications and still can't hear out of his ears that well. They said his eyesight looks good and that his liver and spleen will take awhile for it to finally go back to its normal size. He now weighs 7 lbs. and 3 oz. I'm sure he weighs more, but that was his last weight check 1-2 weeks ago. He is recently on a 27 cal diet to gain more weight quickly and is roughly gaining a half a pound every week.
He is almost 2 months old and I am so excited. It seems like no time at all. I know that God has big plans for the both of us and is watching over us everyday. As we always say, if he wasn't meant to be here then he wouldn't be here, but he is thanks to God himself. I pray everyday and night that he will get better and live a normal life. I am just blessed to even have a child, even a child with CMV. I will always love my son no matter what happens.
- Shared by his mother, Alysha