Miracle preemie baby Harper Sage
Baby Harper was given a ZERO chance of survival at 20 weeks gestation. Our daughter Liz and Son-in-law Gaige were devastated. However, on CHRISTMAS DAY Harper was born at 31 weeks gestation weighing 1 pound 14 oz. she cried when she was born, something doctors thought wasn’t possible since she wasn’t supposed to survive. Not only is she so very tiny, she has a life threatening heart defect that will require surgery.
Harper’s parents live 90 miles away from the NICU at MUSC in Charleston. Her care had to be transferred to MUSC due to the higher level of care she would need. Her mommy and big sister Athena are staying with us, her grandparents here in Charleston but her daddy who is in the Airforce in Sumter has to go back and forth often. They have 3 fur babies that need to be cared for when they are not in Sumter and they need babysitters for Athena when we are working and Liz and Gaige want to be at the NICU with Harper.
The emotional struggles that NICU parents endure is so challenging, the last thing they need in addition to that are financial worries which is why we organized this account.
The following are the words of our daughter Liz, Harper’s mommy. I copied these words from a Facebook Journal she has for Harper.
Hi! Welcome to Harper’s journey!! For those of you who are new to following along, Harper was prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome. Kiddos born with Down syndrome usually have some type of congenital heart defect. While I was pregnant we got several detailed ultrasounds done to try and see what type of heart defect she has. For a while we thought she had double outlet right ventricle but we recently found out she has tetralogy of fallot which is a combination of 4 defects in one. Harper will need open heart surgery when she is the ideal weight which is a while from now. Right now it is very very important she can stay strong for long enough to grow in order to get the surgery. She is on medicine called prostaglandin to help keep a hole in her heart open in order to function in an alternative way. The reason she is so small for her gestation is because she was diagnosed with intrauterine growth restriction. Her placenta was cystic and clotted and her cord had absent diastolic flow and only about 4 inches long so she wasn’t getting much oxygen and nutrients at all so she would go weeks without growing at some points. Harper also has dilated brain ventricles meaning there’s extra fluid in her brain. She gets brain US every Monday and Thursday along with head measurements daily to make sure that remains unchanged.
Whatever y’all do, please keep your prayers coming because we know that they are working.
May God bless you all ❤️
