4 pounds 11 ounces and 17 inches long.
Not too shabby for 7 and 1/2 weeks premature.
I have a pretty big story for a little girl. When I was 18 weeks along, my mom had an ultrasound that showed that I have Spina Bifida. Boy were my parents surprised! The doctor told them that they had 2 choices for treatment. They could terminate me, (thank you mom and dad for not picking that one) or they could wait until I was born, at which time a doctor would sew up the hole in my back and put a shunt in my brain! My mom and dad didn't pick that one either.
Our doctor had said that I would be in a wheelchair and have no bowel or bladder control and I might have brain damage.
My mom got on the Internet to try to find out more about SB. When mom was on-line she found "Little Ana's Page." Mom read about a little girl who was diagnosed with SB and her parents went to Vanderbilt University Medical Center and had Fetal Surgery for Spina Bifida. Wow!
Then mom found the Fetal Surgeons Home Page, she watched a Virtual Surgery. She kept saying, "Oh my gosh! That is somebody's uterus! I can't believe they can do that!" The next day was Sunday and mom was sitting in church. The whole time she kept thinking about the surgery and suddenly she started thinking, "Oh my gosh, I could do that, I KNOW I could do that!"
Mom e-mailed Dr. Bruner and voila... we were on our way to Nashville,Tennessee. (It wasn't that easy, it took a lot of help from friends and family and a few miracles, but we made it!) On March 9th I became the 82nd baby to have Fetal Surgery for SB at Vandy. My lesion level is L4-S1.
Within 11 days of surgery my hydrocephalus went down 3mm.
I do not need a shunt and the brain malformation that I had prior to surgery has been completely reversed! I can wiggle my toes and flex and rotate my ankles. My doctors had been pretty cynical while I was in my mom but, now they are really impressed with me.
