March for Babies
Cherokee
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Etowah River Park
600 Brown Industrial Pkwy, Canton, GA 30114
Date: Friday, April 28, 2017 7:00 PM
600 Brown Industrial Pkwy, Canton, GA 30114
Date: Friday, April 28, 2017 7:00 PM
By participating in this March of Dimes event, you assume all risks related to attendance and acknowledge and consent to the event terms, including but not limited to March of Dimes' liability waiver and health and safety guidelines, as set forth in detail here.
Our ambassador
2017 Cherokee Ambassador Mia
2017 Cherokee Ambassador Mia
Mia's Story as told by Mother, Shannon.
On June 11, 2015 I started having back pain while at work. I just ignored it and went throughout my day, but when I got home I just wanted to lay down. The pain was getting worse. I was almost sure it was Braxton Hicks contractions so I started timing them, they were all over the place. I was told if they aren’t consistent then it’s nothing to worry about. I woke up at 3AM that night in even more pain. I decided to call the midwife, she told me that if I have more than 6 contractions in an hour then I must go to the hospital. My husband and I sat in bed and counted my contractions, I had 15 that hour. So off to the hospital we went.
Once we got there and settled in, they checked me. Turns out I was 3cm dilated already. The doctor put me on medication to slow down the contractions and also gave me the first set of steroid shots for the baby’s development. He said the goal was to make it to 24 hours so the steroids could do their job and hopefully help my baby’s lungs develop faster. I was terrified! I just prayed that my baby Mia would be okay, I was only 30 weeks along.
On June 13th, 2015 after a rough 24 hours my doctor came in to check me once more, I was now 7cm dilated. He took me off all medications and broke my water. I was not allowed to have an epidural, I was told it was stress the baby out and we couldn’t jeopardize anything, so I went all natural during labor. After about 45 minutes of pushing out came Mia. She was so tiny, only 3lbs 6oz and 15 ½ inches long. My doctor was just holding her; we were all waiting to hear for cry. After what seemed like forever she let out the tiniest most pitiful cry I have ever heard. They took her away instantly to make sure she was okay. Once I was all cleaned up I made my way down to the nursery. Mia was just lying there crying, hooked up to million machines as the nurses were running a bunch of tests. I asked how she was doing and they all said surprisingly she was very well developed for being 10 weeks early. They put her on a breathing machine just in case, even though she didn’t really need it.
Mia was born at Northside Cherokee, but they didn’t have a NICU department so she had to get transferred. We waited for the special ambulance to come get her. Once they arrived she was put in an incubator and when she was stable enough they were going to bring her to Northside Forsyth. My husband went with our daughter while I had to stay in the hospital. Since I delivered naturally they allowed me to be released after 6 hours. I was released at 2AM, my sister drove me all the way to Forsyth. We went up to the NICU department, and they took us to her room. There she was, in another incubator and a ton of monitors everywhere. All the nurses had to wear special suits for the first 24 hours before entering the room. They told us she was doing great so far, her breathing was amazing and didn’t need assistance with the machine. She was there to make sure everything was okay while she grows and develops. That’s the beginning of our 7 week NICU journey….
Thank you to our local sponsors