National Prematurity Awareness Day

As I did last year I'm blogging to raise awareness about prematurity.  I didn't know about this day in 2008, but I did participate with my husband and then 2yo daughter Africa in our first March for Babies to raise money and awareness for prematurity. However in 2009 the cause struck closer to my heart and my family as our son Kirikou was born 20 wks to soon.  Being so early and under developed we were told there was nothing that could be done for him.  He lived for 4 hours after being born.  He was a strong baby no matter how small.  The short time that he lived raised the love and appreciation for others going through this situation.

In 2010 I hit the streets again raising money for the March for Babies.  This time I upped my goal.  I have yet to meet it, but still have till the end of December.  We were also blessed this year with a beautiful little girl, Khalifah. But the heartache of the outcome of my last pregnancy made me a little paranoid this time and also classified me this go around as High Risk of preterm labor since I had a previous early birth.  Therefore I was prescribed weekly P17 shots to keep all the parts that usually start labor closed and was  closely monitored by my OB and a Perinatologist.  My little one still arrived 2 weeks early in the 'Full Term' range, but still at risk for issues.  However (Alhamdulilah-All praises to God) she had none.  I like to think that people like myself that see the need to assist families like myself and others that have lost a child, has one with ailments, or is currently perfectly healthy but all born too soon that this blog post and the money we raise yearly for the March for Babies is doing something.

Please take this blog and think about someone you may know that was born premature whether it be a family member, friend, or child of a friend if you think hard enough you will find that there are more premature births than you realize.  After thinking about it look into the March for Babies and if in Houston I would love to see you marching on either April 24th in Montgomery county or May 1st at UH Robinson stadium(<-I will be at this one).

Help me spread the word and Reach my goal!

My not so little girl

So today my lovely daughter Africa is the big 05 . 

Ah I remember the days when.....(drifts down memory lane)

Africa still in mommy's tummy

Africa 1 mo old

Africa 3 mo old

9 months

3 years

The ripe old age of 5 yrs.

(Waking up from the dream) ahh my little girl is a big girl now.  Hmmm, stay tuned for the sequel

Trip down memory lane 2 Starring Khalifah Bint Qhamata

Little Piggy

Doctors have been worried about my little angels weight since she was born.  She went from 6lbs to 5lb 13 oz while in the hospital.  Granted it's normal for babies to loose weight the first 2 wks of life, but then start to gain or return to their birth weight shortly after.

We hit a little hiccup during/following her second week at her first doc appt she was 5lb 10 oz which is another 5% loss from the hospital weight.  So they freaked, but shortly after I realized that my iron pills were the cause making my poor little one constipated enough to not eat on the regular also causing her minor jaundice to almost be serious.  So I immediately stopped the iron supplements and moved to food supplementation.

Here next weight check the next day she already jumped to 5lbs 13 oz (by her next doc apt she wants her to be at her birth weight if not heavier)  so I'm like this is good.  Here next doc appt was 3 wks after the first and she was 6lb 15.5 oz on the cusp of 7 lbs. Alhamdullillah!  So she has one more weight check before her 2 mo doc visit to which the doc says she needs to be no less than 8 lbs by then.  Between the last doc visit and this weight check have only been 3 wks and with the docs 1oz a day weight gain min she was to be at a min 8lbs 5.5 oz.  My little princess tipped the scale at 8lbs 11.1 oz!  At this rate she will be 10 lbs by the 8th of November.


 Keep up the good work Munchy!

It's Official....

After 3 years and a new office on a new side of town I am officially official. (Granted I've been a full time staff employee since March 2008) However the difference now is this:

I not only have an office, but a NAME PLATE on my door with my name spelled correctly.  Alhamdulallah! (All praises to God!)

Good bye foam letter stickers from hobby lobby (seriously that's what I used to put my name on my door at the last office building to feel special)

Fight for Preemies is fast approaching

http://marchofdimes.com/fight

Objective:
Every year, 20 million babies are born too soon, too small and very sick-half a million of them in the U.S. November 17th is when we fight!

World Diabetes Day is coming

http://www.worlddiabetesday.org/

Objective:
It engages millions of people worldwide in diabetes advocacy and awareness.

Khalifah's Birth Story

Khalifah's Birth Story

Not all details will be remembered the IV drugs made me kind of loopy/sleepy so definitely no time table.  However here goes….

Friday, September 3rd: While enjoying iftar (fast breaking during Ramadan) my oldest daughter was on the playground and my DH was about to get ready for Isha prayer.  I had already done so, so I was outside walking around the playground to keep an eye on my daughter and just to kind of start walking the baby down. 

9:00 pm All of a sudden I feel liquid leaking into my pad.  I had just went to the restroom so I was pretty sure I didn't have to pee more or that wasn't pee leaking.  It was only a little so I kept walking.  The more I walked the more started to leak.  Thinking OH MG! this is probably it, I rush back to the bathroom to check my pad to see if I can tell if it was pee and also if it was my water check the color.  The color is normal/clear and it has no smell.  I get somewhat excited because I'm pretty sure, but I have to be absolutely sure b/c DH refuses to go back to the hospital until it is really it.  Since we've been to the hospital twice in 2 weeks and was sent home both times. :D my bad….  So I go outside and start walking again to see if it continues, b/c I haven't really had any gushes just continual leaking when I move.  So it keeps coming  enough to soak the pad and start to wet my pants.  THIS IS IT!

9:03 So I call my DH who is already in the mosque.  No answer phone is already on vibrate so I leave a message, send a text that my water just broke and call back again.  Whoo hoo he answers.  I tell him I'm pretty darn sure my water broke.  He was like ok I'll be out in a second.  Then I get a text (he really doesn't want to make a blank trip, but really?) "check again and make sure it's your water."  I'm like are you serious trust me THIS IS IT!  So I get my DD who doesn't want to leave the playground.  I try to entice her by telling her that  we are going to the hospital and if mommy is right she will have a baby sister soon.  DH finally comes out and I'm like I'm sure I'm standing her wetting my pants as we speak.  So he's like ok and we get in the car and DH starts to do his fast and furious impression to get me to the hospital since I'm GBS+ I have to be there w/in the hour . 

9:15 I call the docs office in the car and they tell me to go ahead to the hospital they will let L&D know I'm coming.  DH really trying to make sure this is it asks if I'm still leaking.  I'm like I'm staying still so that I don't, but just to see I try to adjust in my seat and almost gush.  I tell him um yeah I'm still leaking.  We get to the hospital about 9:35-9:40 and I get that gush as I try to transfer myself from the car to the wheelchair. 

9:50 I sign in, change into the gown, go to the bathroom thinking a have to pee and another gush, but bigger.  Get in the bed, the nurse checks to make sure my water broke with this little strip.  And it was blue (+) whoo hoo. 

They start my antibiotics, but I'm not really contracting regularly so they let me know they spoke with the on call OB and he said that if by 6am if I'm not  regular they will start pitocin to induce labor.  So at 11pm I get an ambian from the nurse to get some sleep. 

Nothing happens so they start pitocin at like 8 or something and I'm ok.  As it gets higher I feel like I just want to crawl out of my skin.  Uggh.

So we keep going and the baby stalls coming down.  I am progressing in dialation, but there is like one small bag of water that just won't pop. 

Around 3:50pm my OB shows up as I'm 9 cm and ready to go.  The bag of water still hasn't popped so she takes the plastic hook thing and pops it.  As soon as she does I am like wide awake and screaming I feel something ahhh ahhh….. The nurse looks down and there's Khalifah's head.  She followed the flow of the water out of the birth canal while I was still only 9 cm.  Due to this I had a 2nd degree tear. But she came out screaming which was music to my ears.

I did skip the part where I did the unthinkable….the BM while pushing/progressing.  The nurse had me push a couple of times to try to pop the water before the doc got there to no avail.  I told her I had to go, but she just chocked it up to pressure from the babies head and I was like no so she didn't believe me till I went.  Not as embarrassing b/c she was the only one besides DH that was in the room and he wasn't paying attention at the time b/c he was on the phone with family.

All and all for my precious Khalifah Ameenah  born 9/4/2010, 6lbs 0oz 19in at 4:12pm I would do it all again.