We are often asked, "What is wrong with Emma?" We tend to think nothing is wrong, she is who God made her, using the word wrong means "by mistake" and Emma is no mistake. But I do understand people are curious to why she is different. So here is the story--
Emma was born Oct 16, 2004 about 10 seconds before her twin sister. I found out at 8 weeks I was having twins. They thought they were conjoined but they ended up being something called monoamniotic monochorionic twins. That is a fancy word for saying their was no membrane seperating them and that they shared a placenta. It was a high risk pregnancy, because it put them at risk for cord entanglement and something called Twin to Twin Transfusion. I went into preterm labor around 25 weeks but thank God the girls made it to 31 weeks. Emma was 3lbs 6 oz and Ella 3 lbs even. They were both 15 inches long. Emma suffered a lack of oxygen due to cord entanglement and suffered brain damage. She has since been diagonosed with cerebral palsy. She has no swallow or gag reflex. She can not roll over, sit up or do things a "normal" baby can do,let alone a child her own age. She was given a trachestomy in her neck to help her breathe and a feeding tube to help her eat on Dec 13, 2004. She came home for the very first time about a week after that. She kept having problems breathing, she would just forget to breathe sometimes so on June 8, 2005 she was put on a ventilator and sent home July 5, 2005. That has made a world of difference.
She is in no pain. She isn't stupid. The part of her brain that controls intellect is just fine. The part of her brain that controls muscles is what is damaged, which is why she can't talk or move well. They are not sure why she forgets to breath sometimes, since the part of her brain that controls that looks fine on scans. Thank God we have our vent, so she is able to stay home and happy and she is able to enjoy life.
