Well, we are gearing up for the Mother's Day Run again in Calgary. It's always a very special day for our family and something we've been doing since 2006!! The run raises money to buy equipment for the Neonatal Intensive Care Units in Calgary. We can tell you firsthand that the money goes to good use. And the neatest thing is, the foundation asks the units what equipment they want or need and then they actually buy that exact equipment. It's very cool!! We put together a little slideshow showing some of the NICU days, along with shots from the run over the years.
Every year, I look forward to this day. Partly, because I'm a mom now, and Mother's Day is just kind of fun that way, but mostly, because this run highlights a cause that's very close to us, and helps ensure future babies have the best equipment available as they begin their NICU journeys!!
And if you are checking out this page for the first time, in 2006, we were blessed with our first born son. He was born at 28 weeks after an ultrasound revealed he had fetal hydrops. He was in rough shape inutero, and we were given the option of continuing the pregnancy, knowing our child would die, or take our chances and deliver, and he may have a chance. We opted for giving him a chance, and rushed to the hospital for an emergency c-section. It was a very scary day, and I remember vividly being in the operating room and seeing a whole team of doctors and nurses waiting for his arrival. He was born and immediately intubated. His road was very rough for the first couple weeks and we didn't know if he would even make it. He was maxed out on the ventilator, moved to an oscillating ventilator, nitric oxide was added, he was maxing out on that and all sorts of meds. And then, at one week old, he had a code blue because of a bowel perforation. This became a turning point for him, and slowly after the code blue, they began weaning his settings, his meds etc. At 17 days old, I got to hold him for the first time. As they laid him on my chest, tears streamed down my face as I felt so special to finally be holding this precious little boy!! He continued his NICU journey for a total of 72 days at which point we finally got to take him home!! Unfortunately, ROP in his eyes was rapidly progressing and two weeks later, he was back in the hospital for surgery to fix his eyes and we piggybacked a hernia repair onto that as well. He spent another two nights in Intensive Care and on Father's Day, came home for good!!
We went on to have a second son, monitored very closely throughout the pregnancy, and born full term. And today we have an amazing little 6 year old and 3 year old. We will always be grateful for the amazing doctors and nurses and the care they gave to our little one in the NICU at Foothills and PLC. We will spend the rest of our lives trying to give back for the amazing care we had.
So, if you are looking to support an amazing cause, go for this one, cause truly, it will make a difference to many families!! Sebastian is 6, and once again, he will be running 5km to raise money for the very units that saved his life!! Here is the link to make a pledge online. http://goo.gl/JwzjO
