Kyla Hull

I was 24 weeks, 4 days gestation. I had started having what I thought was Braxton hicks contractions while at work. They continued through the day, but never got strong enough for me to question anything. I came home and laid down in bed and they seemed to have increased slightly but still nothing close to me thinking anything of it. It wasn’t until I had started bleeding that I got very concerned (for those who know I had a threatened miscarriage with her at 13 weeks). It was time to get to the hospital. I grabbed my blanket and shoes while Allen packed a bag for work thinking he’d go straight in tomorrow morning. I hadn’t packed a hospital bag or had anything prepared for myself to bring as I didn’t expect the turn of events that occurred. At around 8pm, we arrived at Anderson Mercy and they rushed me into a room and got all the monitors on me and began an IV. My doctor arrived and checked me - I was already 3 cm dilated. Raegan was breach. They were concerned, they gave me something to try to stop the labor. They also have me my steroid to help Raegans lungs as a just in case. Two doses are needed but I only had time to get one unfortunately. My thought was that we were going to get this into me and I’ll get to go home and go to bed. Things would be fine. While we were there, my nurses name was Reaghan. I took it as a sign. Time went by and things continued to get wild. They started talking about how if I delivered there, my baby would not survive because they can not deliver babies under 35 weeks because they don’t have the proper equipment/medicine/ect to keep them alive. They began telling me it would be best to be sent over to University of Cincinnati Medical Hospital. They tried getting an ambulance but none were available until many many hours later. They then stated air-care was the next option. I’m in a panic. My mind & heart were racing. I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t believe all that was happening. Allen was terrified of flying and I surely wasn’t going alone. They loaded me up on a gurney to get me into the helicopter. My doctor just kept saying you have to keep that baby girl in there til you land. They cannot deliver in the helicopter. I prayed and prayed and asked my great grandma in heaven to please just help me keep this girl inside til we are safe. The flight was 8 minutes. I saw the whole city from above while trying to not think about all the what ifs. We landed and go into the room and by that point the medical staff came in to do another ultrasound , Raegan was still breach. They wanted to check to see how dilated I was and I was at a 10, also Raegans hand was sticking out of my uterus to top it off. They immediately said, we have to get you to the OR now. Everyone seemed panicked, i didn’t know how to react or feel. Allen is normally the calm one, i looked over at him and his face is pale, hands to his face with a whole look of distress. I knew it was time to freak out. They rushed me back. I’m terrified, I’ve never had surgery. I’ve never been put under. My anxiety took over and I felt a panic attack coming on. I remember the anesthesiologist coming in and telling me to begin counting backward and I just looked at the clock. It said 11:55pm. I had so many worried and fears crossing my mind. I’m going to die. My baby is already dead. What did I do wrong? How did this even happen? Why me? Finally my mind stopped and I guess I was out. It was 12:45am when I was awaken by the anesthesiologist saying he heard I had a girl and her name was Raegan. He said that’s his daughter’s name and it was spelled the exact same way. I sobbed. It happened. I just could only ask if she was alive. Yes. She survived. I survived. She was born at 12:11am. She was 670 grams, 1 pound 7 oz. They had to resuscitate her twice. She was born dead. They brought her back. They saved my girl and got her on the vent. (I found all this out at a later date) They took me into the recovery room. I had no details of anything. Allen came back into the room about an hour later with a few photos of Raegan. He said she was stable and hooked up to all kinds of stuff. He had tears in his eyes. It was a lot. He said she was the tiniest thing ever. I just wanted to see her. I was so upset. I was angry. I felt so many emotions. This is not how this was supposed to go and it was only the beginning of her journey in the NICU. Raegan spent 145 days in the NICU, 45 weeks being monitored and cared for. During those 45 weeks in the NICU, she experienced NEC (a life-threatening condition that affects the baby’s intestines) twice, a PDA that never fully closed, two grade 3/4 brain bleeds, BPD or severe chronic lung disease, and she ended up with a fungal infection that started in her blood stream and eventually made its way to her heart causing subsequent endocarditis. After being in the NICU for those 145 days of her life, we are very aware of just how truly lucky we are with our outcome. What March of Dimes is able to do, can help others receive the treatment necessary so that they can have the same outcome, should prematurity be something they encounter. We share our story so people know that premature birth affects many people. This problem is too important to ignore. That is why I am asking you to support my fundraising campaign. By raising money, one of the things I am helping March of Dimes fund is important research to find out why premature birth happens and what can be done to prevent it. With nearly 4 million babies born each year, we have a lot of work to do to help them all. The funds I raise enable March of Dimes to support research, lead programs and provide education and advocacy that truly makes a difference to families in our community and across the country. If you believe, like I do, that every baby deserves the best possible start, please march with me or donate to support this community effort. Together we can fight for the health of all moms and babies!