Mighty Mia

Mia was born a week late at forty-one weeks to the date. I pushed for only an hour (which I’ve heard is great in comparison to other labor and delivery stories), and delivered a perfectly healthy baby. As soon as I saw her I was overwhelmed with emotion. “She looks like ME!”, is what I thought to myself, as an overwhelmingly amount of emotion rushed over me. I was happy. We were happy, and ready to start our beautiful family.

I was nervous about what the future might bring, but in no way could I ever have been prepared for what was to come.

It was my last day of maternity leave. I had some errands to run with Mia, which included odds and ends in preparation for her first day of daycare. That evening, I had plans to go to a concert with my sister, as it was my last day before heading back to work. Not long into intermission, I received the news that Mia was in pediatric emergency. I was told that there had been an accident and that Mia had fallen from her changing table. Heart racing, shallow breaths, I tried convincing myself that she would be okay, and that it was just a small injury. I arrived at the hospital to be taken to her. Crossing the threshold from the waiting room to the emergency department only intensified my anxiety. I was escorted to a room with too many doctors and nurses to count.

There was tangible shift in the atmosphere. the room fell completely silent as I entered. I will never forget the looks of their faces. At that moment, I knew Mia was seriously hurt.

I was surrounded by doctors who spoke to me as if they just knew I was going to breakdown any second. I was told that her dad said that she had fallen from a changing table, had severe injuries, and that they were contemplating taking her into emergency surgery due to a skull fracture and brain injury. I remember asking if I was allowed to touch her. It was with every hope and prayer in my heart, that Mia would know her mom was with her now, despite arriving unresponsive to the hospital. The decision had been made to not take her to surgery, but to let her brain reach its peak swelling, and to monitor her before they declared it was safe for surgery. I was escorted to another area of the hospital and was told that they would find her dad and bring him to me. After waiting for several minutes, I hear a sound of agony coming down the hall.

I believed him, well, wanted to believe him. I kept thinking, “What if this were me? What if something was truly an accident, but no one believed me?”…He was arrested five days later.

Mia’s list of injuries included a right parietal skull fracture, right and left side brain hemorrhage, several hematoma’s, compression fractures in her T-spine, and a completely displaced left femur fracture. Mia had been hooked up to video EEG to monitor subclinical seizures (seizures you can not see physically). She was placed in a medically induced coma, in order to allow her brain rest from all of the seizures and hemorrhaging. She had surgery on April 11, 2017 to repair the skull fracture. With this surgery, her neurosurgeon had to remove brain tissue that hemorrhaged past her fracture, repair the skull fracture (her neurosurgeon described this area as shattered), and drain all of the blood that had collected. The doctors informed me that they would slowly reduce the sedatives to bring Mia from her coma. I remember asking how long it would take for Mia to wake up. They said they did not know, and that it was a possibility that she may not. Two days after surgery, Mia began showing signs of cognition. The photo below is a screenshot from a video I took the moment I noticed her wiggling her toes and fingers. The doctors said it was reflexive. I knew otherwise. Mia began breathing on her own and was successfully removed from the ventilator 6 days after surgery.

The next day, I was able to hold my baby for the first time in 18 days. I nearly held Mia for over six hours. i wept as i held her, and all of the background noise went away, and it was just she and i.

Fast forward to a month later prepared for discharge, I noticed some increased swelling in Mia’s head. Surgery was scheduled to remove, what was thought to be just fluid collection from a MRI, but it was discovered that Mia contracted a staph infection in her brain (skull, and tissue). Subsequently, Mia had to undergo two surgeries to drain the fluid buildup from the infection, an aggressive regimen of intravenous antibiotics to rid her of this infectious disease, which continued several months post hospitalization. The schedule was daunting (antibiotics administered through a broviac line every four hours and sterile dressing changes ) but necessary. Mia’s white blood cell count dropped dangerously low at one point during this process. During this period, we had to stay in the house, or she had to stay close to me if we ventured out for fresh air.

Mia had to relearn everything from her two short months prior to her injuries, and be taught new things in a different way. I can say this now, many did not believe Mia would survive. I can remember asking questions about ‘tomorrow’ and being told to just focus on right now. That was code for, “she may not make it to tomorrow.”

Not only did Mia make it, but she has surpassed everyone’s expectations.

Mia may not be able to crawl, walk, sit up unassisted, or verbalize, but she makes progress everyday! She rolls all over the living room, communicates a few words through sign language, and does not require a feeding tube for her nutrition. She responds appropriately to familiar faces, voices (familiar, tone, and inflection), auditory cues, and physical stimuli. The full extent of how greatly Mia was affected will remain unknown until she continues to grow. Currently, Mia suffers from CVI (cortical visual impairment), hemiparesis on the left side of her body (cerebral palsy) , chronic constipation, and focal and generalized tonic seizures. She and I attend physical, occupational, and speech therapy each week, along with developmental specialists through local agencies.

Mia’s middle name is Grace. I now know that I named her that for a reason. God saved my baby. Mia should not be alive, but HE had other plans. He deserves all my praise and adoration. Despite all my baby has encountered, she still has a will to live, and does so joyously. She is strong, determined, brave, and beyond resilient. Mia wakes up with a smile on her face eagerly anticipating her day, and goes to bed with one, fulfilled and happy. With five surgeries to date and a hectic therapy schedule, Mia has proven time and time again that she is truly, MIGHTY. I am convinced that she is here to teach us all a few things.