MARCH FOR BABIES: A MOTHER OF A MOVEMENT™
Columbia
https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key=YOUR_API_KEY
&q=Fairmont+Empress,Victoria+BC
&attribution_source=Google+Maps+Embed+API
&attribution_web_url=http://www.fairmont.com/empress-victoria/
&attribution_ios_deep_link_id=comgooglemaps://?daddr=Fairmont+Empress,+Victoria,+BC
Stephens Lake Park
2001 E. Broadway , Columbia, MO 65201
Date: Sunday, May 03, 2015 1:30 PM
2001 E. Broadway , Columbia, MO 65201
Date: Sunday, May 03, 2015 1:30 PM
Our ambassador
Olivia Logan and Caden Wood
Olivia Logan and Caden Wood
Our triplets, Olivia, Logan and Caden Wood, were born 12 weeks early on August 31, 2009,
following a relatively uneventful pregnancy. My water broke the morning I was getting ready to go
to a scheduled doctor’s visit. The medical team tried to stop my labor using magnesium and gave
me steroids to help the babies’ lungs. However, after several hours, it was clear that my babies were
coming.
There must have been over two dozen people in the delivery room. In addition to doctors for me and each of the babies, there
were nurses, respiratory therapists, anesthesiologists, and students in the room. It was beyond crowded! My triplets were born
just minutes apart, weighing 2 pounds, 1 ounce; 2 pounds, 10 ounces; and 2 pounds, 5 ounces. My husband Mark and I took a
quick picture with our babies before they were whisked off to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
All three of our babies had their own struggles in the NICU, but Olivia had the most. The boys stayed in the hospital for two
months, coming home on November 1. All three were born with patent ductus arteriosus (PDAs), which is a congenital heart
defect of irregular transmission of blood between two major arteries that remain open. The triplets were given ibuprofen and
indomethacin in an attempt to close the open blood vessels. The boys’ closed on their own, but Olivia had to be transported to
Columbia Regional (now Women’s and Children’s) in order to have a PDA ligation.
While she was there, she had many significant, prolonged hypoxic episodes which required several extubations, reintubations,
and many rounds of surfactant and antibiotics. After a long five weeks, she was transferred back to Boone Hospital where she
received nitric oxide therapy and steroids. Olivia quickly began to improve. Next was a trip to St. Louis Children’s Hospital for
surgery for Retinopathy of Prematurity. She finally joined us at home on the day before Thanksgiving – nearly three months after
she was born and two days before her due date.
Today, all three babies are happy and healthy. Olivia has mild cerebral
palsy and epilepsy, but has come such a long way. She used oxygen
at home until she was nine months old. Today she is walking and
running (though sometimes wobbly), participating in gymnastics,
reading books, and playing with animals. Her brothers are wild,
crazy, and rambunctious boys. Their pediatrician says it’s hard to
believe that they were micro preemies. Caden is in the 90th percentile
in both height and weight, and Logan is not far behind him. All three will start
kindergarten in the fall.
The March of Dimes provided many research resources that made it possible to have our family
together: prenatal steroids, surfactant, PDA research, and so much more. Nitric oxide therapy was in
the early stages of research when used on Olivia. All of the research done for my babies was from the
March of Dimes. This will be our sixth year walking in March for Babies.
NATIONAL PARTNERS
Thank you to our local sponsors