Our Families NICU Story
Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2023 10:49 am
Hi Everyone!
My name is Alexandria (Allie) and my husband is Corey Daria. We've been together for 9 years and married for 6 years, coming up in October 2023. In 2019, after moving into our first home and getting a puppy - we found out we were expecting our first! The joy and excitement was overwhelming and were so excited to start our parenthood journey together.
Everything was going smoothly with the pregnancy until we hit about 14 weeks. I was admitted into Triage with unexplained bleeding but according to the ultra sound, baby was active and healthy. It wasn't until our 17 week check up that we were sent to the Seton Center for a more in depth ultra sound of our little one. That is when it was confirmed that my water had completely broken without me even noticing it, leaving absolutely no ammonic fluid around the baby to help for lung development. We were ultimately lucky enough to have a medical team who supported us when we had chosen to fight for our baby's life. From 17 weeks on, we were prepared by the OB team, NICU team and other departments what to expect with our timeline and the journey we were about to experience. I was bed rested at 17 weeks and at 26 weeks admitted to the high risk floor for moms to be closely watched. A week exactly after being admitted, contractions started to ramp up. The team decided that it was our best option to put me on magnesium (which makes you feel absolutely horrible) and start steroid shots to give our little one the best outcome. The contractions did let up for 24 hours but came back more intense later the next evening. In the middle of dinner I told my husband "I am contracting harder this time but let me eat first because if I go on magnesium again, I can't eat for 24 hours." After finishing our dinner, I called the nurse and it was confirmed that I was contracting again, so then started the second round of magnesium. After getting off my second round, all I wanted was a McDonalds Big Mac. The whole team teased that Big Mac was the reason why our little one gained so much weight from the last ultra sound to the time of birth. Eventually we found out that the magnesium was not working and I had started to dilate. After being dilated to 5 cm, I was sent in for an emergency c section. Our son Larkin J. Daria was born October 19th, 2019 at 27 weeks. My husband always tells me "If you hear a newborn cry and just turn the volume all the way down to 10, that is what I heard when he was born." Larkin was taken by the NICU team as soon as he was born, where Corey followed.
Larkin's journey was touch and go for four months and ten days. He was very fortunate enough to have no perforated bowels or brain bleeds but had the battle of his lungs being severely under developed. The entire time Larkin was with us at Good Sam, he was on a ventilator, experienced numerous amount of episodes and had steroid shots twice. There were 2 nights that I can remember vividly, my husband and I were being prepared to say our goodbyes. Larkin was not giving up though! That is when we had a talk with the Cincinnati Children's team about a Tracheostomy Surgery to help give Larkin a better chance of living somewhat of a normal life. In December of 2019 we had to transfer Larkin from Good Sam to Children's. Leaving Good Sam and the NICU staff was extremely hard on myself personally because we had made such a strong connection with the nurses, doctors, RT's and everyone else. Larkin again had such a rough journey at Children's where it was touch and go all the way up to his surgery. Early February 2020 Larkin received his Tracheostomy surgery which was successful! Unfortunately a couple days after his surgery, Larkin caught an infection. With that infection, his lungs and body were too weak to fight it and on February 29, 2020 Larkin had passed and we had to say our goodbyes.
No one can ever prepare you enough for any type of NICU journey you experience, let alone potentially losing your child pending on their health battles. After losing Larkin, we knew we wanted to give back. Larkin's diagnoses was extremely rare and in most cases, unsuccessful of living after birth. Larkin though knew he had a fight to face and he fought it so well! If it wasn't for the Good Samaritan team standing by us with every choice we made, we may have never had the chance to meet our son.
Since losing Larkin, we started a foundation in memory of him - Larkins Legacy Foundation. With this foundation, we have held drives for the NICU every year on Larkins birthday, made t shirts, provided holiday snacks and coffee for the NICU team, raised money for March of Dimes in his name and raised money specifically for the Good Samaritan hospital NICU with the Tiny but Mighty Gala. Larkin has shown us that even though he had such a limited time with us here Earth side, that there are families out there who are about to endure what we went though, that need that support.
What are we doing now? Well, a month after losing Larkin, we had found out we were pregnant again. As excited as we were, we were also scared of the journey we may have to endure once again. Luckily our daughter's pregnancy was watched extremely closely, as high risk. Everything went so smoothly and on December 11, 2020 - we welcomed Lucy Daria! Since having Lucy, we have experienced back to back miscarriage's in 2022. I kept questioning my body because out of 4 pregnancy's, I've so far had 1 successful one with a healthy child. As of today on April 18, 2023 - we will be welcoming another little one in three short weeks.
The journey of expanding our family has been a bumpy road to say the least but the one thing we've learned is you've got to trust your feeling. Whether it's a "mom feeling", "dad feeling" or even just a feeling for your personal health - don't lose track of fighting for it.
My name is Alexandria (Allie) and my husband is Corey Daria. We've been together for 9 years and married for 6 years, coming up in October 2023. In 2019, after moving into our first home and getting a puppy - we found out we were expecting our first! The joy and excitement was overwhelming and were so excited to start our parenthood journey together.
Everything was going smoothly with the pregnancy until we hit about 14 weeks. I was admitted into Triage with unexplained bleeding but according to the ultra sound, baby was active and healthy. It wasn't until our 17 week check up that we were sent to the Seton Center for a more in depth ultra sound of our little one. That is when it was confirmed that my water had completely broken without me even noticing it, leaving absolutely no ammonic fluid around the baby to help for lung development. We were ultimately lucky enough to have a medical team who supported us when we had chosen to fight for our baby's life. From 17 weeks on, we were prepared by the OB team, NICU team and other departments what to expect with our timeline and the journey we were about to experience. I was bed rested at 17 weeks and at 26 weeks admitted to the high risk floor for moms to be closely watched. A week exactly after being admitted, contractions started to ramp up. The team decided that it was our best option to put me on magnesium (which makes you feel absolutely horrible) and start steroid shots to give our little one the best outcome. The contractions did let up for 24 hours but came back more intense later the next evening. In the middle of dinner I told my husband "I am contracting harder this time but let me eat first because if I go on magnesium again, I can't eat for 24 hours." After finishing our dinner, I called the nurse and it was confirmed that I was contracting again, so then started the second round of magnesium. After getting off my second round, all I wanted was a McDonalds Big Mac. The whole team teased that Big Mac was the reason why our little one gained so much weight from the last ultra sound to the time of birth. Eventually we found out that the magnesium was not working and I had started to dilate. After being dilated to 5 cm, I was sent in for an emergency c section. Our son Larkin J. Daria was born October 19th, 2019 at 27 weeks. My husband always tells me "If you hear a newborn cry and just turn the volume all the way down to 10, that is what I heard when he was born." Larkin was taken by the NICU team as soon as he was born, where Corey followed.
Larkin's journey was touch and go for four months and ten days. He was very fortunate enough to have no perforated bowels or brain bleeds but had the battle of his lungs being severely under developed. The entire time Larkin was with us at Good Sam, he was on a ventilator, experienced numerous amount of episodes and had steroid shots twice. There were 2 nights that I can remember vividly, my husband and I were being prepared to say our goodbyes. Larkin was not giving up though! That is when we had a talk with the Cincinnati Children's team about a Tracheostomy Surgery to help give Larkin a better chance of living somewhat of a normal life. In December of 2019 we had to transfer Larkin from Good Sam to Children's. Leaving Good Sam and the NICU staff was extremely hard on myself personally because we had made such a strong connection with the nurses, doctors, RT's and everyone else. Larkin again had such a rough journey at Children's where it was touch and go all the way up to his surgery. Early February 2020 Larkin received his Tracheostomy surgery which was successful! Unfortunately a couple days after his surgery, Larkin caught an infection. With that infection, his lungs and body were too weak to fight it and on February 29, 2020 Larkin had passed and we had to say our goodbyes.
No one can ever prepare you enough for any type of NICU journey you experience, let alone potentially losing your child pending on their health battles. After losing Larkin, we knew we wanted to give back. Larkin's diagnoses was extremely rare and in most cases, unsuccessful of living after birth. Larkin though knew he had a fight to face and he fought it so well! If it wasn't for the Good Samaritan team standing by us with every choice we made, we may have never had the chance to meet our son.
Since losing Larkin, we started a foundation in memory of him - Larkins Legacy Foundation. With this foundation, we have held drives for the NICU every year on Larkins birthday, made t shirts, provided holiday snacks and coffee for the NICU team, raised money for March of Dimes in his name and raised money specifically for the Good Samaritan hospital NICU with the Tiny but Mighty Gala. Larkin has shown us that even though he had such a limited time with us here Earth side, that there are families out there who are about to endure what we went though, that need that support.
What are we doing now? Well, a month after losing Larkin, we had found out we were pregnant again. As excited as we were, we were also scared of the journey we may have to endure once again. Luckily our daughter's pregnancy was watched extremely closely, as high risk. Everything went so smoothly and on December 11, 2020 - we welcomed Lucy Daria! Since having Lucy, we have experienced back to back miscarriage's in 2022. I kept questioning my body because out of 4 pregnancy's, I've so far had 1 successful one with a healthy child. As of today on April 18, 2023 - we will be welcoming another little one in three short weeks.
The journey of expanding our family has been a bumpy road to say the least but the one thing we've learned is you've got to trust your feeling. Whether it's a "mom feeling", "dad feeling" or even just a feeling for your personal health - don't lose track of fighting for it.