Happy Monday! Today, we have an important person to meet, and I’m so glad you’ve joined us again for another Micro Preemie Monday. If you missed last week, you can read about identical twins, Nicolas and Lucas HERE. You can also read my post for World Prematurity Day HERE. We still have a week of November left, so I will be trying to squeeze in more about Premature Birth Awareness…even if it’s just one fact every day.
Micro Preemie Taliyah
We will meet Taliyah. Her mom, Terry, was kind enough to share her story about her premature birth experience. Taliyah was actually born at the same gestation as my twins. So, let’s get right to it and meet Taliyah.
1. Please tell us about your baby.
My daughter Taliyah Marie was born October 24th 2008 at 25 weeks 5 days and weighed 1 lb 14 oz (was 1 lb 5 oz at her smallest) and 13 inches long. She was born at the wrong hospital as it was not equipped to take care of babies under 32 weeks gestation so a team had to come for her birth, stabilize her and move her to the proper hospital.
2. How long was your NICU stay? What was the hardest part?
Taliyah stayed in the NICU for 99 days and came home 2 weeks before her due date. Unfortunately she caught RSV not long after coming home and was re-hospitalized for another 10 days. The hardest part about her stay at the NICU was probably the unknown and the seclusion. We had no idea what we were facing (there wasn’t the support there is now with FB when she was born 7 yrs ago) we didn’t have access to all the success stories or other parents to reach out to ask questions ect. That and spending her first Christmas in the hospital, although the NICU team went above and beyond as usual.
3. Do you know what caused your premature birth?
At the time we had no idea why she came so early. I went into the hospital with lower back pain and mild cramping at 2 am and ended up in full-blown labour and delivered by emergency c-section at 10 am. My second pregnancy, at my 19 week scan, they found that my cervix had shortened so they put me on bed rest and at my next scan 2 weeks later it was down to 0.4 cm! I had a rescue cerclage* placed at 22 weeks and put on strict bed rest for the rest of my pregnancy. I carried my son until 38 weeks. At this point it looked pretty likely that I have an incompetent cervix. My third pregnancy I had a preventive cerclage placed at 14 weeks and carried my 2nd son to 38 weeks 3 days with no bed rest so I am confident in the diagnosis of an incompetent cervix*.
4. How are you and your baby doing now?
Taliyah is now a happy and healthy 7-year-old. She just had her birthday Oct 24th. She still has a small heart murmur (PDA) that didn’t close so she is followed by a cardiologist we see every 2 yrs. She also has struggled with a severe speech delay her entire life and done countless amounts of speech therapy, but I am proud to say thanks to her hard work and determination, as of last year, she can finally communicate for the most part with everyone she meets. She still has a ways to go but this has made her day-to-day life much easier. Taliyah had laser eye surgery done while in the NICU for ROP and so far her vision is perfect. Her father and I are doing well. It was a very hard time on our family, but I think we came out stronger because of it. I suffered mildly with post partum depression when she was in the NICU and also PSTD. I am also left with severe anxiety although I find it’s getting somewhat better as the time goes by. We feel truly blessed that Taliyah is here, happy and healthy.
5. What advice would you give to a new preemie parent?
Advice to a new preemie parent: take it one day at a time, celebrate every milestone big and small. Take care of yourself because your baby needs you to be strong. You are stronger than you think. Your people won’t understand what you’re going through but that’s okay, reach out to people who have been there or who have a baby in the NICU too. Ask questions, you have a right to know everything. Buy a parking pass. Don’t beat yourself up, you are only human, just do the best you can.
*Cerclage and Incompetent Cervix
From Wikipedia:
Cervical cerclage, also known as a cervical stitch, is a treatment for cervical incompetence or insufficiency, when the cervix starts to shorten and open too early during a pregnancy causing either a late miscarriage or preterm birth.
I really think that is great advice from Terry. I am so happy to see Taliyah is doing well, as it gives me hope for my boys. I hope it has brought you hope too.
Please feel free to leave any comments or questions for Terry below.
I love this series, Shann. I enjoy learning about others’ birth stories and learning about mico preemies. Such a beautiful story.
Thank you so much Lindsay!
She is so cute! And the advice of taking one day at a time seems like the best advice you could give!
Aww she is such a beautiful girl! Glad she is doing so well 7 years later! I hope her speech continues to improve! Best wishes to her and her family <3
Sweet girl! A blessing! Thanks for sharing this story. My oldest was only 6 weeks early. But when I was diagnosed with liver disease during my last pregnancy, one of my drs said his advice was to abort or deliver at 28 weeks. I put my foot down and made it to 38. Im glad that your anxiety is getting better. And that you guys were able to unite and grow stronger together!
Wow. Thank you for sharing your story too, Kim. That is awesome that your fought your doctor and did what was best for you and your baby.
She has great advice. And her daughter is beautiful! Continued luck to them with the improvements she is making!
She is absolutely beautiful! I’m so glad to hear she’s doing well now.
Thank you Shann for sharing this inspiring story of this little premie named Taliyah 🙂 She has grown into a beautiful little girl! Awesome post!
Great story of strength and encouragement! Taliyah is beautiful! Hope all continues to go well!
What a great story! My sister-in-law was hospitalized over the weekend and we aren’t sure if she will be leaving anytime soon. I’m sending her this story right now. She is at 21 weeks with twins. Love these stories! Over the weekend we looked at a few to keep reminding us to stay strong!
Oh no! Please let me know if I can answer any questions or be of any help.
Such a beautiful girl! I am so glad to hear that she is doing better and I hope she continues to grow. This series is so amazing! I love that you do this Shann!
What a beautiful little girl! I am so glad to hear that she’s healthy and happy!
She’s adorable! Glad to hear that everything turned out well!
Another great story Shann. Loved the story of this beautiful little angel. God bless her.
So cool that you share this series. Hopefully a lot of parents feel better seeing all of these inspiring stories.
<3<3<3 What a sweet little girl!!!
So glad that she’s doing so good now! That’s for sharing her story!
I love this series and it blesses so many other women and families! You give all of us hope – so glad this beautiful girl – Taliyah – is thriving and well! Blessings!
Thanks for sharing Taliyah’s story with us. She was so tiny but look at her now…she is a beautiful little girl. I wish her and her family all the best.
Cori
Oh my, your story is so similar to mine (except my micro-preemie is 10 now). So glad that she’s doing well! Things will continue to get better and better!
What a sweet angel. I love this series you have, Shann!
Such a beautiful little girl! I’m so happy to hear how well she’s doing. This is a wonderful series you’ve got, its a great resource for parents who may be going through the same thing. 🙂
I had no idea an incompetent cervix was a condition. So amazing Taliyah is such a bright, beautiful little girl now and that the mom carried her second and third pregnancies to 38 weeks!
As the Grandfather of Taliyah & Father of Terry I would just like to say that I feel blessed having both of them in my life. They are fighters, both of them.
This is my favorite blog series ever. I love reading these stories and what a sweet girl she is!