March of Dimes, “Walk For Babies” is Tomorrow in Waterville, See You There!

At this time of year, March of Dimes has their "March For Babies" walks throughout the State. Locally, the walks are in Waterville tomorrow, Augusta on Sunday and coming up next weekend there is one in Lewiston.

Tomorrow, I 'll see you in Waterville for the kick off at 8:30 and I'm walking as well and bringing family in tow. I don't have any real resources to give except for awareness and to thank the March of Dimes for their help during Vikki's birth almost two years ago.

Before I tell a brief story, I do realize there are some told that are far more powerful and harder to hear. I have to hand thanks over to Maine Medical Center (MMC) for keeping me and my wife sane with updates, telling me and showing me that everything was most likely going to be alright.

On Mother's Day in 2011 (okay, the Monday after at 12:30-1am) My wife Lynn's water broke at 29 weeks which is a full 11 weeks early. I drove her to St. Mary's in Lewiston. The nurse at St. Mary's immediately called Maine Medical Center and within an hour Lynn was in an ambulance on the Pike headed southbound about 30 miles to Maine Medical Center in Portland. I went home for a few minutes to call my mother-in-law and then immediately after, dropped the boys off at her house and headed to Portland to see what was up.

After a couple of hours later, maybe 4am? We saw the Doctor and had an ultrasound. Vikki in-utero had an itsy bitsy amount of fluid or "water." To make a long story short, Lynn lived at MMC for three weeks with daily ultrasounds and a belt monitor on her every four hours.

Throughout this three week period, I went back and forth to visit before and after work, on occasion we'd all stay overnight. Yes MMC allowed the four of us to stay in her Lynn's room which was very nice especially for the boys.

Also throughout Lynn's Stay at the hospital there were activities like fleece blanket making and beading classes which I actually enjoyed. The whole time living separately I was worrying every night about Lynn and the baby hoping they were okay. Doctors and nurses fed Lynn steroids to beef Vikki up while in utero. The goal was always to get Vikki to 34 weeks but at 33 weeks the Doctor decided it was time, so on May 31, 2011 at 3:16 pm Vikki was born at 4 lbs, 15 oz. Soon after her weight dropped to 4 lbs, 9 ozs but they say losing weight after birth is common.

Vikki was at Maine Med's NICU for about 8 days. There was nothing more upsetting than Lynn being discharged and Vikki having to stay in the hospital. After 8 days she was transferred to the NICU in Lewiston at Central Maine Medical Center (CMMC) for what ended up being just a few more days. CMMC is a lot closer to where we live and easier and cheaper to get to. Think it was June 11, 2011 we finally were able to take Vikki home.

It's hard to believe Vikki has gone from jaundice and gavage feeding to eating everything in sight with her beautiful eyes. I was going to wait until her birthday to write this but with the walks I figured it worked here as well.

That's story of Vikki in a nutshell and again not to insert myself into this event but I do have a place in my heart for March of Dimes and think it's an amazing cause. So along with my wife Lynn, Vikki and our oldest, Dylan we will see you tomorrow at 8:30 am at the North Street Playground in Waterville.