We would like to say THANK YOU to all of our family and friends that have prayed for Emilia, Ashley, Robert and our families during this most difficult time. We ask that you keep your well wishes coming as Emilia continues her fight. Her medical care to date has been very extensive and it has only begun.

This is why we have decided to reach out to our family and friends in hopes that together we can help Ashley and Robert raise the needed funds to ensure the best possible care for this beautiful baby girl.

Her much needed medical care includes the possibility of being medically transferred to Boston Children’s Hospital where they specialize in the treatment of Esophageal Atresia. Please take a moment to read about Emilia, mom and dad’s journey and please help in any way you can. We thank you all for all of the support. With lots of love, the Calvert and Walling Family ❤️

Emilia's Story

Early December of 2020, Robert and I found out the most exciting news ever: that we were going to be parents. Being a mom is something I have always wanted and I could not have been more excited.

The majority of my pregnancy was perfect. All of my doctor appointments were great and everything was on track for us to have our beautiful baby girl.

At 20 weeks, we had the routine anatomy scan. Almost everything looked perfect, except for my placenta. My doctor thought I may have had an extra lobe on my placenta, but she wasn’t really sure, so I was referred to a specialist just to take a second look. I went to my appointment with the specialist and he took a look at my placenta on an ultrasound. It wasn’t shaped like a typical placenta, it had two halves that connected on what looked like a little bridge. The specialist explained that there would be no harm to me or the baby because of my placenta, we just needed to keep an eye on it to make sure my entire placenta was removed during delivery. The specialist wanted to see me again so we set up a follow up appointment.

When it came time for the follow up, I was expecting just the usual ultrasound and for him to say, “everything looks good, see you again in a couple weeks”. That’s not exactly what happened. The ultrasound revealed that I had a significantly high amount of amniotic fluid in my belly. The typical range for amniotic fluid index is 5-24 cm, and I was measuring at 38 cm: severely high. Typically at this stage in pregnancy (I was almost 31 weeks at the time), the baby is supposed to be swallowing the amniotic fluid, but it didn’t seem like that was the case. The specialist explained to me that this can be caused by a number of things: fetal anemia, a neurological condition that causes the baby not to swallow, or an esophageal atresia. Then he explained that we would likely have the baby early, and depending on the cause of the polyhydramnios (too much amniotic fluid), we would either need to complete a fetal blood transfusion, amniocentesis to remove the fluid, or surgery soon after the baby was born.

As you can imagine, this was a lot for Robert and I to take in and process. All we wanted was to make sure our baby girl would be okay.

Later that evening and into the next morning, I suspected that I was leaking amniotic fluid. I wasn’t 100% sure, but we felt it was best to get checked out anyway. Robert took me to the ER where they ran some tests and sure enough, it was amniotic fluid and my water had broken early. Luckily it was just a small leak, but because there was a leak at all, both my doctor and the specialist wanted to admit me into the hospital with one main goal: keep the baby in until she hits 34 weeks of gestational age. I was only 31 weeks at the time, so that meant a 3 week long hospital stay for us which we were not expecting to say the least.

The first few days were really hard for me. I was hooked up to monitors 24/7 and being given several different medications: steroids to boost the baby’s development, antibiotics to prevent infection, and magnesium sulfate to slow contractions and allow all the medication to kick in. Thank goodness Robert was by my side the entire time because I was really struggling mentally and was physically exhausted.

Things started to look up after those first few days. My monitoring was reduced to 3 times per day, I was off all of the medications, and life in the hospital became our new normal. We got into a routine and time started to go by a lot faster.

During our stay in the hospital the specialist came to see me several times and he diagnosed the baby with an esophageal atresia. An esophageal atresia is a rare condition in which the esophagus doesn’t fully form and does not connect to the stomach. The baby was swallowing in the womb, but since there was no connection to her stomach she was basically spitting the fluid back up, which caused the build up in my belly. Once we knew of the diagnosis, we met with neonatologists and the pediatric surgeon to go over a plan for when the baby is born. Now we knew for sure that she would have to have surgery shortly after she was born. There are a few different types of esophageal atresia so she would need an exploratory surgery to figure out which type she had, and then surgery to repair it.

On July 6 at 12:00 AM, my nurse came in to begin my routine monitoring session. She put me on the monitor and all was well. A few minutes in, I felt what I thought was a really strong kick (it was extremely painful) and then my water really broke. Turns out, it was actually my placenta detaching from my uterus. We immediately called my nurse in and the fluid just didn’t stop coming out, and then the painful contractions started. They called my doctor who thankfully was already at the hospital seeing another patient. My doctor said it was go-time and everyone prepped for an emergency c-section. The next 30 minutes would probably be the most terrifying of my life. As our room filled with nurses who were prepping me for surgery, the baby’s heart rate began to drop. This was because my umbilical cord became compressed. Both the umbilical cord compression and the placental abruption were potential risks with polyhdramnios and my water breaking early. It felt like everything that could go wrong was going wrong. All I could do was hope and pray that our baby girl would be alright.

Emilia Ann Walling was born on July 6 at 12:44 AM and she could not be more perfect. She weighed 3 lbs and 14 oz and measured 17 inches long (7 weeks premature). We are absolutely in love with her. She was taken to the NICU where they got her all settled in. She needed a little help breathing so they had her on a CPAP, but otherwise she was doing great. I finally got to meet her about 20 hours after surgery and she was just perfect.

Emilia spent some time in the NICU while we waited for her surgeon to evaluate her. Some x-rays were taken, and it looked like she likely had a long-gap esophageal atresia, which would take several weeks to repair, however we didn’t know for sure. On July 13, she was set to go in for the exploratory surgery and to put a g-tube in for feeding so she could have real food instead of just nutrients via IV. The surgery was successful, and our surgeon explained that the distance between the two ends of her atresia were much closer together than we thought, being only two rib lengths apart, so the repair would be very simple. We were thrilled! One more simple surgery and she would be good to go.

On July 15, Emilia was set to go in for surgery to repair the atresia. When the surgeon came back after surgery was completed, he told us that the atresia was actually further apart than he anticipated, which is a risk with the exploratory surgery. He still attempted to repair the atresia, but it is under a really high amount of tension which means it will likely leak and later on down the line will narrow, both potentially requiring surgery to correct. We were devastated to hear of these potential complications and the risks involved with them. We just want our little girl to be okay.

This go fund me was created to help Robert and I with our expenses and to fund sending Emilia to Boston Children’s Hospital’s Esophageal and Airway Treatment Center. Robert is currently out of work and in between jobs so we are relying solely on my income right now. The Esophageal and Airway Treatment Center in Boston specializes in dealing with esophageal atresias and is the only center in the country that does. We need to send Emilia there to put her in the best possible care for managing the atresia and any future complications.

Thank you for reading our story and for donating if you can. Our little fighter really appreciates it.

Love,

Ashley, Robert, and Emilia