Thursday, April 14, 2011

March of Dimes

We are going to pound the pavement again in order to raise money and awareness for the March of Dimes.  Their organization played direct role in the twins' lives.  Without their contributions that funded the research for surfactant, my Adeline would not be with us today.  The same could have been true for Lila Grace.  I sit here today and try to imagine my world without my baby girls.  I can't wrap my head around how devastating that world would be.

I remember very little of Adeline's birth - my eyes were closed until she was out and being worked on by the NICU doctors.  I wanted to see her but all I saw was more than twenty scrubs surrounding my one pound baby.  I kept repeating, "She has a name.  Please God, let her live, she has a name."  She was my baby, a life, a life that I so desperately wanted to live.  While I was chanting my incoherent thoughts, Dr. Chang was ventilating my baby girl and administering surfactant inside her tiny lungs.

By the grace of God and modern day research, both of my girls are alive and thriving.  We are the lucky ones.  I don't know why we were chosen to carry our babies out of the NICU when so many others never get to take their babies home.  I struggle with this thought frequently.

As we gear up for our walk in two weeks, please feel free to join in on the fun.  There is a fund raising button on the side of this blog.  A big thanks to our very generous supporters in years past.  If it better suits you, we  would love for you to lift us up on 4/30 as we walk.  It is an emotional experience.  It is a time when we are forced to face what could have been, which leaves me holding my girls close to me while my heart swells with gratitude.

Here is our story. . .