2015 Cape Girardeau Ambassador: My husband Bob and I always knew we wanted a family. When we found out we were expecting a child, we felt truly blessed. Aside from being exhausted during my first trimester, everything was going as planned. However, by 27 weeks, I developed nausea, intense pain under my rib cage, swelling and nasal congestion. A few weeks later we learned I had developed HELLP syndrome (Hemolysis, Elevated Liver enzymes, and Low Platelet count). I began weekly checkups with my obstetrician and rounds of antibiotics, but was not feeling any better. In fact, things were getting worse. At 29 weeks I woke up with blurred vision and was unable to find enough energy to crawl out of my bed. I couldn’t sleep or rest and my feet were swollen. I took my blood pressure to find it was 174/128 and, after a call to my doctor, I was instructed to go to the hospital. The urine and blood work revealed that I had severe pre-eclampsia. At only 29 weeks pregnant, Bob and I were told that I would not be leaving the hospital until our baby was born. There are no treatments available for HELLP syndrome. The cure is delivering the baby. We were beyond terrified. I was put on magnesium sulfate and blood pressure medication to prevent seizures. During the next couple of days on strict bed rest, we were told my kidneys and liver were not functioning properly. Every day I could keep our baby boy inutero would save him three days in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). However, my body was rebelling quickly. I was only 29½ weeks along when my doctor decided to give me steroids to hasten the maturation of our baby’s lungs. My liver began to fail. This meant it was time to deliver our baby. I was induced twice, but after 13 hours I was not progressing and our baby was unstable, which resulted in an emergency c-section delivery. Ethan Thomas was born at 29 weeks and 6 days on March 14, 2013, weighing just 2 pounds, 14 ounces. He was 15 ½ inches long. He was tiny, perfect - and mad! Ethan was whisked away and intubated, but after just a few short hours he was able to be extubated and put on positive airflow tubing to aid his breathing. This was great for a less than 30 week old baby. We believe the steroid doses, developed by the March of Dimes, were responsible for this wonderful development. Ethan could not regulate his own body temperature or coordinate a suck-swallow-breath, so he would spend six weeks in the NICU where he gained weight, upgraded from an incubator to a crib, and learned to nurse and take a pacifier. Ethan is now a healthy, energetic, and happy almost 2 year old. We couldn’t imagine our lives without his sweet smile, warm hug, and fight for life. ~Loretta and Bob Lents