LeighAnn's Story
My husband and I always dreamed of having a family together, we were just never sure when the “right time” would be as he is the planner amongst us and I tend to just go-with-the-flow. In the summer of 2013, we decided that we would let nature take it from there and figure out the rest. The week leading up to Thanksgiving was a busy one for us… we were finalizing the settlement of our new home, closing in on an offer on our townhouse, and finding out we were pregnant with our first child! We were ecstatic and nervous while also feeling like this was all too surreal, especially having everything fall into place at the exact same time! We were beyond thankful that Thanksgiving, but decided not to share the news of our pregnancy until after the first ultrasound, right before Christmas. We shared the news with our immediate family as an early Christmas present and they were beaming with excitement!
The excitement continued to grow and as we neared the “half-way” mark, we really started to have fun with the pregnancy! We planned an intimate gender reveal party, enjoyed special dates with each other after each doctor’s appointment, booked our maternity photo session and started planning our first BBQ at our new home for Memorial Day.
Memorial Day Weekend was here and it was time to get ready for our maternity photos and our BBQ! As I was getting ready for our pictures in the nursery, I noticed I wasn’t feeling very well, something was just off. I rested for a little and then quickly shook it off as just a normal pregnancy feeling. We were so excited for our pictures, so I never thought twice. Later that night while falling asleep on the couch I felt what I thought was a big kick and a sudden loss of my bladder… I called the hospital but they didn’t seem too concerned. About 30 minutes later I was in pain and bleeding. Terrified and naïve, we quickly drove to the hospital so they could check the baby… as we were leaving the house it didn’t even cross our minds that everything might not be okay… how could it not be okay? Our drive together became silent and I felt it in my gut that we would be meeting our son much sooner than expected. I was hours shy of 30 weeks.
Once the doctors confirmed that our son was healthy and not suffering any complications, the plan was to keep me pregnant as long as they could. While shaking uncontrollably and feeling the first bit of contractions, the team knew they needed to act fast. I received the first round of the steroid shot and was about to be transported by ambulance to another hospital with a higher level NICU care than at the hospital we had planned to deliver. Right before being placed on the stretcher I told the doctor the pressure became greater and asked her to check me out one last time… things had progressed so quickly that I was already 5 centimeters dilated and she told me to forget the plans of hospital bed rest as I would be having my baby right here, right now.
Within the next two hours, our little guy Landon was here weighing 2 pounds 15 ounces. It was a miracle for us to hear him cry and to see him kick his leg from across the room as they whisked him away. That was my first and only glimpse of him for what seemed to be an eternity until he was stabilized and I was strong enough to walk to the NICU to see him. We knew not to get comfortable though as he was not healthy enough to remain in this hospital. Six hours after birth we were both discharged; however not together and on our way home, but rather he was alone in an ambulance on its way to another hospital an hour away and we were following behind not knowing what would come next.
As traumatic as the birth and NICU experience was for us, we were very fortunate to have a strong, little fighter. While there were many ups and downs during our 52 day stay, and while there was nothing that could have prepared us for that journey, we learned to count our blessings every day. I will never be able to truly put into words how our experience has impacted me and how grateful we are, which is why I decided to join Project Sweet Peas. I am hopeful that my involvement in Project Sweet Peas will help provide hope and encouragement to others in a similar situation, while I am able to continue to express my gratitude and remain humble from our experience.
I am beyond excited to partner with Maria Bentin to continue the success of the Greater Philadelphia Area division!
To learn more about our journey, please visit ourlittleguylandon.blogspot.com (and please forgive me in advance for the lack of frequent posts!)
The excitement continued to grow and as we neared the “half-way” mark, we really started to have fun with the pregnancy! We planned an intimate gender reveal party, enjoyed special dates with each other after each doctor’s appointment, booked our maternity photo session and started planning our first BBQ at our new home for Memorial Day.
Memorial Day Weekend was here and it was time to get ready for our maternity photos and our BBQ! As I was getting ready for our pictures in the nursery, I noticed I wasn’t feeling very well, something was just off. I rested for a little and then quickly shook it off as just a normal pregnancy feeling. We were so excited for our pictures, so I never thought twice. Later that night while falling asleep on the couch I felt what I thought was a big kick and a sudden loss of my bladder… I called the hospital but they didn’t seem too concerned. About 30 minutes later I was in pain and bleeding. Terrified and naïve, we quickly drove to the hospital so they could check the baby… as we were leaving the house it didn’t even cross our minds that everything might not be okay… how could it not be okay? Our drive together became silent and I felt it in my gut that we would be meeting our son much sooner than expected. I was hours shy of 30 weeks.
Once the doctors confirmed that our son was healthy and not suffering any complications, the plan was to keep me pregnant as long as they could. While shaking uncontrollably and feeling the first bit of contractions, the team knew they needed to act fast. I received the first round of the steroid shot and was about to be transported by ambulance to another hospital with a higher level NICU care than at the hospital we had planned to deliver. Right before being placed on the stretcher I told the doctor the pressure became greater and asked her to check me out one last time… things had progressed so quickly that I was already 5 centimeters dilated and she told me to forget the plans of hospital bed rest as I would be having my baby right here, right now.
Within the next two hours, our little guy Landon was here weighing 2 pounds 15 ounces. It was a miracle for us to hear him cry and to see him kick his leg from across the room as they whisked him away. That was my first and only glimpse of him for what seemed to be an eternity until he was stabilized and I was strong enough to walk to the NICU to see him. We knew not to get comfortable though as he was not healthy enough to remain in this hospital. Six hours after birth we were both discharged; however not together and on our way home, but rather he was alone in an ambulance on its way to another hospital an hour away and we were following behind not knowing what would come next.
As traumatic as the birth and NICU experience was for us, we were very fortunate to have a strong, little fighter. While there were many ups and downs during our 52 day stay, and while there was nothing that could have prepared us for that journey, we learned to count our blessings every day. I will never be able to truly put into words how our experience has impacted me and how grateful we are, which is why I decided to join Project Sweet Peas. I am hopeful that my involvement in Project Sweet Peas will help provide hope and encouragement to others in a similar situation, while I am able to continue to express my gratitude and remain humble from our experience.
I am beyond excited to partner with Maria Bentin to continue the success of the Greater Philadelphia Area division!
To learn more about our journey, please visit ourlittleguylandon.blogspot.com (and please forgive me in advance for the lack of frequent posts!)
