My parents learned at my twenty week ultrasound – the one they thought finding out the sex of the baby was the biggest news they’d get – that I had two separate birth defects. The first was Gastroschisis. My abdominal wall didn’t fully develop, and my intestines were on the outside of my body.
The second was that my kidneys had too much fluid on them, or hydronephrosis. My bladder was also enlarged, which gave the doctors the impression that there was an obstruction distal to my bladder, causing the urine to back up into the bladder and the kidneys.
My parents were referred to a high risk perinatologist with maternal fetal medicine. The goal during the pregnancy was to keep me cooking as long as possible. Get to 37 weeks, induce labor, be admitted to primary Children’s NICU, surgically repair my abdomen, then reassess my kidney function/urinary obstruction.

But things don’t ever go as planned, amirite?

We had monthly ultrasounds, and twice weekly non-stress tests. On the 30 week ultrasound my kidney dilation had significantly worsened, and now my mom had oligohydramnios, or low amniotic fluid. At our non-stress test the following week they measured the amniotic fluid, and it had decreased more. Two days later our ultrasound showed anhydramnios. Or zero amniotic fluid. The doctor came into the room, apologized, and said she wanted to admit us for closer monitoring and to induce earlier than planned. We were currently 31 weeks/6 days pregnant.
After 7 days of monitoring, we were transferred to labor and delivery to be induced.
48 hours of labor and 3 pushes later, I made my long awaited debut! September 8th, 2018, at 10:38pm, weighing 5 pounds 7 ounces at only 33 weeks/1 day gestation.
They handed me through the window to the NICU doctors and nurses. They placed me in a plastic baggie – kind of like a sleeping bag – to keep me warm. I was at risk for hypothermia with my intestines being exposed. They placed an IV in my hand, placed an Anderson tube down my throat to decompress my stomach, and I was put on oxygen via nasal cannula because I was slightly hypoxic.
The Airmed nurses rolled me in my incubator to go see my mom and dad before transferring me to the NICU at Primary Children’s Hospital.