Abigail Grace made her miraculous entrance at 29 weeks gestation. She weighed 2 pounds and and was diagnosed in-utero with Omphalocele and a congenital heart defect (among other small issues). Her limb difference went undetected and we didn’t know about it until the day she was born. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
On her first day on this earth Abigail was given a 30% chance of survival. I remember the doctors telling me they didn’t want to do any surgery on her at that point because she wouldn’t make it out. We prayed and prayed she wouldn’t have any issues and would just be allowed to grow and get strong for the upcoming repairs.
She grew stronger every day in the NICU and at 9 pounds the doctors finally felt confident to do her open heart surgery. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Abby got her broken heart fixed at 5 months old. During her stay in the NICU Abby continued to have minor problems, but always managed to fight through them. At 6 months old Abby came down with pneumonia and it took a complete toll on her underdeveloped body. The doctors had to do a tracheostomy because Abby now had become vent dependent. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Despite it all Abby fought and got well enough to graduate from the NICU. Abigail is now 21 months old and lives in a rehabilitation hospital. She still has her Omphalocele and doctors are waiting for the right time to fix it. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I begged and begged God to let me keep her when she was born and he did. And I understood at that moment he said yes that I would need patience because he was going to have to work on her. Hearing similar stories to mine remind me I’m not alone and how very blessed and lucky we are despite it all. You never see life again the same way. In a good way! All they need is for us to be here and to love them. Now my prayers are that she is well enough to come home. That day my life will be truly complete again.
Abigail Grace
