Asked to be Ambassador

now please remember this is just a first draft i have not done any grammer spelling or puncations. i was just trying to get something on paper to start off with.

Good evening and welcome to the March Of Dimes Walk-a-Thon kick off supper. My name is Jessica Howard and my son Blaine was born prematurely in March of 2004.We are extremely honored to be this years ambassador family. I am here tonight to shire with you the adventures we have encountered during the birth and life of our preemie.
Blaine Carson Viger was born at 29 ½ weeks. His early birth was slightly expected do to polyhydramnios or extra amniotic fluid. In my case two times as much compared to the average pregnancy. Blaine was born by c-section due to the extra fluid and him being breech right here at Rumford Hospital. The best option for him was to be transported to the neonatal Intensive Care Unit also known as the NICU at Maine Medical Center. The NICU at Maine Med actually had a team of doctors and nurses with an ambulance just for transporting babies like Blaine. My son weighed 3lbs 2ozs and was 15in long at the time of his birth. During the transportation from Rumford to Portland He was intabeted yet shortly after his arrival at Maine Med he was extubeted and placed on a C-PAP. A few days after his birth he was moved to just O2 by nasal canula. Slowly Blaine required less and less O2 till the +finally was removed it completely. Even though Blaine no longer required constant O2 he would have apnea often called spells in the NICU. This cause him to require blow by O2 which is just what it sounds like. The nurses would hold an O2 mask in front of Blaine’s face. During this time Blaine was getting Brest milk through a tube placed down his nose and in his stomach. This was because infants born this early do not know how to suck swallow and breath all at the same time. Yet in the life of a premature baby nothing is ever as simple as it sounds. It old adage two steps forward and one back certainly applies to preemies yet sometimes it feels like your take more steps backward then forward. We had been fooled in to thinking that things where going to go this smoothly during his whole NICU stay. That was about the time that things stared to go down hill. Blaine ended up with bacterial meningitis. This caused his stomic to swell and fill with gas as well as being in his blood stream. The meningitis required Blaine to be on antibiotics for about 3 weeks. During this time he was losing weight because he could not eat. He want down to 2lbs 5ozs at the lowest. Blaine went thought a lot of blood testing while he had meningitis so much so that he needed to have blood transfusions at times. When the blood test came back that the meningitis had cleared we thought that we might be able to breath for a bit. We where wrong ! The next road bump or bumps was the thoughts that Blaine might be lactose intolerant to my breast milk and also diabetic. Blaine was switched to a formula which seemed to do the trick. Yet he endured heal sticks a few times a day until they could steady his blood sugar levels. Through all his testing they discovered they Blaine also had acid reflux. After things settled out Blaine started making great forward progress. He was finally out of the incubator and starting to drink from a bottle. Yet my eager little guy had a very strong suck and need a special bottle that could better control the flow of the formula. Blaine was soon well enough to move to the Continuing Care Nursery also called the CCN. This was the nursery that the babies went to in order to prepare them to go home. Blaine was still battling with his reflux and no being able to control the flow of the formula out of the bottle yet with each passing day he was getting better. We grew increasingly more excited at the thought that he may come home with us soon. Then the ophtomalogist came to check Blaine’s eyes for Renopathy of Prematurity or ROP. This is where the blood vessels on the backs of the eyes grow very rapidly and threaten to detach the retinas. This requires laser surgery to correct to prevent blindness. They found that Blaine did indeed need this surgery and that it would be done right away. The procedure went well and Blaine sent a few days back in the NICU to recover. When he was moved back the CCN we struggled to find a way to thicken his formula so it didn’t flow so fast and also find a bottle that would work well with the thickened formula. After a lot of trial and error we found what worked best for Blaine and stuck with it. The next few weeks we worked on getting Blaine to eat the amount that he needed to gain weight and to keep it in his stomach. At long last we could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Blaine came home with us after three and a half months at Maine Med. Now please don’t be fooled a preemies adventures do not stop when they leave the hospital. Much like parents of full term babies we where nervous about taking care of our little bundle on our own. After all for the last 3 ½ months we had had nurses and doctors hovering over us at almost every moment. As well as the monitors that Blaine had been attached to for 24 hours a day. Blaine was sent home with discharge instructions to make appointments with multiple doctors all of which had offices in Portland. This meant traveling to Portland one to two times a week. Blaine had a cardiologist, gastroentrologist , geneticist, ophthalmologist, and nephrologist all in Portland he also has his primary doctor here in Rumford plus a visiting nurse that comes twice a week. Since the discharge from the hospital we have slowly lowered the number of doctors Blaine needs to see as well as how often he needs to see them. Yet we have also added Occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy. Our goal is to help him catch up in his development we are slowly reaching that goal. But not with out set backs Blaine’s weight gain has been a constant struggle as well as keeping his reflux under control. We also have to worry about Blaine getting sick because what would be a simple cold for a full term baby is devastating for a preemie. At this time Blaine has done well in his almost 8 months home he has only been sick and had to be admitted to the hospital once. Some babies are not that lucky. Some never make it home and some spend most of there lives in and out of the hospital.
During our adventure I spent a lot of time researching Blaine’s various conditions on the internet. Which is where I found the March of Dimes and remember helping my aunt with the snack stations along the walk route while my mom did the walk. I remember knowing that the March of Dimes helped sick babies and that was really all I knew about it. Now maybe this was because I was young or maybe it was because the word of the March of Dimes was not well known. Not only did I know much about March of Dimes I didn’t know anyone that had had a preemie. Now that I have a preemie it seems that everyone is telling me they had a preemie or know someone who dose. I know that the number of premature births is increasing each year in this area while the amount that the March of Dimes is receiving in donations is decreasing. I feel that all charities deserve the money they receive but the March of Dime is one I truly believe in. I hope with all your help that we can make this year one of the March of Dimes best years! Not only for my son but for every baby that did make it and for all the ones still in the NICU struggling to live. Also for each baby that is not born yet in the hopes that the can make it to full term.
I want to thank you all for coming tonight and giving your time, effort, and money to the March of Dimes. I know that all the families that have had premature births touch their lives thanks you just a mine dose.

You remembered a lot! I would suggest that you could add some numbers from your state to give actual FACTS of how many babies were born early.

Over 1/2 million each year in the US, but, if you go to MOD's peristat (Perinatal Statitics) page and click on your state you can find exactly how many. Hope this helps, too.

Keep up the great work. As for spelling, since you're reading it aloud it doesn't really matter, but some medical words don't show up in spell check, like:
intubated, extubated, cannula, etc





March of Dimes' PeriStat Page

Darcy

Darcy your such a help to me.... sometimes i feel like i'll never get this done by the 13th.... i guess moving while being an ambassador is not the best thing to do

Good evening and welcome to the March Of Dimes Walk-a-Thon
kick off supper. My name is Jessica Howard and my son Blaine was born
prematurely in March of 2004.We are extremely honored to be this years
ambassador family. I am here tonight to share with you the adventures we
have encountered during the birth and life of our preemie.

Blaine Carson Viger was born at 29 ½ weeks. His early birth was
somewhat expected because of me having polyhydramnios or extra amniotic fluid. In my case two times as much compared to the average pregnancy. Blaine was born by c-section due to the extra fluid and him being breech right here at Rumford Hospital. The best option for him was to be transported to the neonatal Intensive Care Unit also known as the NICU at Maine Medical Center. The NICU at Maine Med actually had a team of doctors and nurses with an ambulance just for transporting babies like Blaine. Can you image having a baby and only getting to see him for a few minutes because they had to take him to a hospital two hours way. Then not being able to see him again for almost 24 hours. I was luck some mothers don’t get to see there babies for days or even weeks after the birth. My son weighed 3lbs 2ozs and was 15in long at the time of his birth. During the transportation from Rumford to Portland He was intubeted yet shortly after his arrival at Maine Med he was extubeted and placed on a continues positive airway pressure machine or C-PAP for short. A few days after his birth he was moved to just O2 by nasal cannula. Slowly Blaine required less and less O2 till finally it was removed completely. It was only at this time that we where really able to see what our son looked like. Anytime before he had so many different tubes on his face and all the tape needed to hold it in place. Even though Blaine no longer required constant O2 he would have apnea often called spells in the NICU. This cause him to require blow by O2 which is just what it sounds like. The nurses would hold an O2 mask in front of Blaine’s face. During this time Blaine was getting Brest milk through a tube placed down his nose and in his stomach. Can you believe that the amount he was eating at this time was less the a ¼ of an ounce. This was very slowly increased. This was because infants born this early do not know how to suck, swallow, and breath all at the same time. Yet in the life of a premature baby nothing is ever as simple as it sounds. The old adage two steps forward and one back certainly applies to preemies yet sometimes it feels like your take more steps backward then forward. We had been fooled in to thinking that things where going to go this smoothly during his whole NICU stay. That was about the time that things stared to go down hill. Blaine ended up with bacterial meningitis. This caused his stomach to swell and fill with gas as well as being in his blood stream. The meningitis required Blaine to be on antibiotics for about 3 weeks. Blaine had Ivs in every possible place they could get one. Then even had to use veins in his little head. It is very hard to keep Ivs in such small veins. During this time he was losing weight because he could not eat. He want down to 2lbs 5ozs at the lowest. Blaine went thought a lot of blood testing while he had meningitis so much so that he needed to have blood transfusions at times. When the blood test came back that the meningitis had cleared we thought that we might be able to breath for a bit. We were wrong! The next bump in the road was the belief that Blaine might be lactose intolerant to my breast milk or even diabetic. Blaine was switched to a formula which seemed to do the trick. Yet he endured heal sticks a few times a day until they could steady his blood sugar levels. Through all his testing they discovered that Blaine also had acid reflux. After things settled out Blaine started making great forward progress. He was finally out of the incubator and starting to drink from a bottle. Yet my eager little guy had a very strong suck and needed a special bottle that could better control the flow of the formula. Blaine was soon well enough to move to the Continuing Care Nursery also called the CCN. This was the nursery that the babies went to in order to prepare them to go home. Blaine was still battling with his reflux and not being able to control the flow of the formula out of the bottle. Yet with each passing day he was getting better. We grew increasingly more excited at the thought that he may come home with us soon. Then the ophtomalogist came to check Blaine’s eyes for Renopathy of Prematurity or ROP. This is where the blood vessels on the backs of the eyes grow very rapidly and threaten to detach the retinas. This requires laser surgery to correct to prevent blindness. They found that Blaine did indeed need this surgery and that it would be done right away. The procedure went well and Blaine spent a few days back in the NICU to recover. When he was moved back the CCN we struggled to find a way to thicken his formula so it didn’t flow so fast and also find a bottle that would work well with the thickened formula. After a lot of trial and error we found what worked best for Blaine and stuck with it. The next few weeks we worked on getting Blaine to eat the amount that he needed to gain weight and to keep it in his stomach. With Blaine each calorie counted. Just a few calories could mean the difference between gaining weight or losing weight. Blaine was weighed each day and we were excited with every ounce he gained. At long last we could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Blaine came home with us after three and a half months at Maine Med. When Blaine came home with us he weighed only a mere 6lbs the amount that a lot of babies weight when they are born. Now just remember my son was 3 ½ months old! Now please don’t be fooled preemies adventures do not stop when they leave the hospital. Much like parents of full term babies we were nervous about taking care of our little bundle on our own. After all for the last 3 ½ months we had had nurses and doctors hovering over us at almost every moment. As well as the monitors that Blaine had been attached to for 24 hours a day. Blaine was sent home with discharge instructions to make appointments with multiple doctors all of which had offices in Portland. This meant traveling to Portland one to two times a week. Blaine had a cardiologist, gastroentrologist, geneticist, ophthalmologist, and nephrologist all in Portland. He also has his primary doctor here in Rumford plus a visiting nurse that comes twice a week. Since the discharge from the hospital we have slowly lowered the number of doctors Blaine needs to see as well as how often he needs to see them. Yet we have also added Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Speech Therapy. Our goal is to help him catch up in his development we are slowly reaching that goal. But not with out set backs Blaine’s weight gain has been a constant struggle as well as keeping his reflux under control. We also have to worry about Blaine getting sick because what would be a simple cold for a full term baby is devastating for a preemie. At this time Blaine has done well in his almost 8 months home he has only been sick and had to be admitted to the hospital once. Some babies are not that lucky. Some never make it home and the ones that do sometimes spend most of there lives in and out of the hospital.

During our adventure I spent a lot of time researching Blaine’s
various conditions on the internet. Which is where I found the March of
Dimes and remember helping my aunt with the snack stations along the walk route while my mom did the walk. I remember knowing that the March of Dimes helped sick babies and that was really all I knew about it. Now maybe this was because I was young or maybe it was because the word of
the March of Dimes was not well known. Not only did not I know much
about March of Dimes I didn’t know anyone that had had a preemie. Now
that I have a preemie it seems that everyone is telling me they had a preemie
or know someone who does. I know that the number of premature births is
increasing each year in this area while the amount that the March of Dimes
is receiving in donations is decreasing. I feel that all charities deserve the
money they receive but the March of Dime is one I truly believe in. I hope
with all your help that we can make this year one of the March of Dimes
best years! Not only for my son but for every baby that did not make it and for all the ones still in the NICU struggling to live. Also for each baby that is not born yet in the hopes that they can make it to full term.

I want to thank you all for coming tonight and giving your time effort
and money to the March of Dimes. I know that all the families that have had
premature births touch their lives thank you just as mine does.