Chelsea Bassett

After 3 years of trying to conceive we finally got the  plus sign we've never seen! I have chronic high blood pressure and was followed by a maternal fetal medicine doctor. Around 20 weeks he informed me that Evangeline was measuring small and would most likely come early and I would do weekly appointments until she did.

On December 21st, 2020 I went for a visit at the Atlanta office and was immediately told to go straight to Northside Atlanta for 24-hour monitoring. It all hit me then. I called my husband and cried to him on the way to the hospital. He left work and met me there. That's when the NICU team called (no in person because of covid) and went over the procedures after birth and gave us the statistics of her survival. 13%. They gave me a round the steroids and set me up in a permanent room where we stayed for 4 days on 24-hour monitoring and daily ultrasounds. On Christmas morning (26+4 weeks) I was wheeled down for my daily ultrasound and they let me know that while I had some restrictive flow they thought we could go another day or two. Later that evening Eva's heart rate began to drop several times and my on call doctor ran up to tell us that they were going to go ahead and take her. My blood pressure shot up to very dangerous levels and I was given two bags of magnesium,🥵🔥 and prepped for a c-section. At 11:30 p.m. our beautiful 13.5 oz. Baby was here. She was whisked away to a team of at least eight people who worked on her and intubated her and then took her to the NICU. Matt was with her while I was in recovery. When he came back down to me, I met my daughter through pictures. Because my blood pressure was so high I had to be monitored every 15 minutes for 4 hours and got very little rest. The only thing I wanted to do was go up and meet my baby but I wasn't able to until the next day around 6:00 p.m.. when I finally got to meet her it was information overload. I spent the next 4 days in the hospital and was able to go to the NICU anytime I wanted while I was admitted, once I was sent home ( one of the hardest days of my life) we were only allowed to stay for 4 hours a day. 

We spent 121 days with a fairly uneventful NICU stay. She did have a PDA which we later had surgery for to correct as well as retinopathy of prematurity, that later resolved on its own, but other than that her job was to grow and for her lungs to get stronger. 

We came home exactly 4 months to the date on oxygen and a feeding tube. She had what felt like 10 specialists and we were always at a doctor's visit or therapy sessions. She was able to come off oxygen in August of 21 and in February of 22 she had her g tube placed. 

Today, she still has several specialists but we have been able to be cleared by a few. She still has her g tube and is fed about 40% of her calories through it. She weighs 27 pounds and is 36in tall. She is in 3/4T clothing and 7c shoes and overall just a "regular" kid. 

I'm so thankful for Northside Atlanta for never not thinking that our baby would make it. The first few weeks in the NICU felt like a fog and March of Dimes was extremely helpful with their app. I learned medical technology, what to expect, how to cope, pumping logs and connected with others who are going through the same things.