MARCH FOR BABIES: A MOTHER OF A MOVEMENT™
Coastal Empire/Savannah
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Daffin Park
East Victory Dr , Savannah, GA 31404
Date: Saturday, April 29, 2017 10:00 AM
East Victory Dr , Savannah, GA 31404
Date: Saturday, April 29, 2017 10:00 AM
Our ambassador
2017 National Ambassador Ismael Torres Castrodad
2017 National Ambassador Ismael Torres Castrodad
Raylan Matthew Gunter was born October 16, 2013 at Memorial Hospital, in Savannah, GA at only 25 weeks 1 day, to Matt and Renee Gunter. This was Renee’s first pregnancy at 32 years old.
Six days earlier Renee had experienced mild spotting and cramping and went to her doctor’s appointment. On the monitor, Renee was having contractions every 5-10 minutes and had dilated to 2-3 cms. Renee was admitted into her local hospital’s High-Risk Pregnancy Unit for pre-term labor in Statesboro, GA and was started on magnesium to stop the contractions. She also received the first of two steroid shots to help with her son's lung development should he be born early. Renee was then sent by ambulance to Memorial Hospital in Savannah, 50 miles away, that was equipped with a level III NICU, which was needed for what was about to come.
The magnesium helped stop the contractions, Renee received her second steroid injection, and was put on bedrest for an indeterminate amount of time. All was well, resting in the hospital for five days, meeting with the on call NICU doctors in case Raylan was born. Then, on the sixth day of Renee’s stay, the contractions started again, harder and faster. Within two hours, her water had broken and the Gunter’s little miracle was born. Raylan weighed 1 ½ pounds and was 12 inches long. He was taken from the room in the High-Risk unit to the NICU and was placed on a ventilator and oscillator to help with his breathing. Raylan received Surfactant, a medicine developed by March of Dimes funded research, to inflate his lungs and he received multiple blood transfusions during his NICU stay. He contracted Respiratory Syncytial Syndrome at six weeks old and had to have even more medicine to close the patent ductus in his heart as well. The Gunters were blessed that Raylan never developed any brain bleeds or intestinal troubles on his journey, but he did have a long struggle with Bradycardia (an abnormally low heart rate) and came home on an apnea monitor. It was a grueling 94 days, but The Gunters DID bring their SON HOME!! It was 11 days before his original due date of January 28, 2014. He was 13 weeks old, 5lbs 5oz.
Post NICU stay, Renee says, “I learned so much being a first time mother, and I am incredibly grateful to the support team and classes the Mach of Dimes staff had available at our hospital. I felt educated, I felt important, and I felt understood.”
The Gunters now have a very rambunctious, thriving, and independent bundle of energy. Raylan is inquisitive, tough and observant of his environment. He misses nothing, he wants to know how things work and he is very independent. He will be three years old on October 16 this year. Each day he breathes is a miracle and the Gunters can't wait to see what he accomplishes in his life.
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