Doctors can’t always give a reason why women go into pre-term labor.  It is a very difficult thing to go through, and a even bigger fight for those babies survival.  My daughter Olivia was born prematurely at only 24 weeks and 3 days gestation.  I started having contractions the night before the 4th of July.  Not sure what was going on, I went into the hospital the morning of July 4th to be checked, and after several tests it was found that I was already 2 cm dilated and the amniotic fluid bag was bulging through the opening. The doctors quickly transferred me to Norfolk General Hospital so I could be near the Children’s Hospital of the Kings Daughter’s next door. I was not tracking any more contractions so they moved me to a long term room hoping I would stay on hospital bed rest until she was further along.  My little one just couldn’t wait any longer to arrive and Olivia was born via emergency c-section at 7:24am on July 7th after my water broke. She weighted 1 lb and 10 oz and was 13.1 inches long.  She was beautiful, and had a lot of fight in her.  We visited her every day, and were prepared for the long road ahead of us.  On the morning of July 9th doctors discovered a bacteria infection in Olivia’s blood that was not responding to the general antibiotic they had her on.  They switched her to the “big gun” antibiotic but my little girl just didn’t have the immune system to fight off this aggressive infection and after a great attempt by the doctors and nurses at CHKD, little Olivia lost her battle, and passed away in our arms.  I miss her every day, but know I have a angel out there watching over us.

After Olivia’s death, I wanted to do something to honor her, and keep her legacy alive so she would indeed have a impact on the lives of others for years to come.  I decided that I wanted to start a non-profit organization in Olivia’s name, and so I’m in the start up stages of “The Olive Girl Project”.
Having been through this experience, my heart goes out to the families who are still there with babies in the NICU fighting for their lives.  During the short time we were there, our lives were turned upside down and we needed to rely on help from others to get though.  I know that those parents who sit tirelessly by their children’s isolette’s have a commitment to be with their child, and I would like to offer support to NICU parents by holding fundraisers throughout the year to raise funds to go towards items that will help them cope with the many challenges of having a baby in the NICU.