Gracie was born at 23 weeks weighed 1lb. Stayed at Primary Children’s Medical Center for 6 months. She is 11 yrs old and is still on a feeding tube. She is one happy little girl. We love her to the moon and back.
A Miracle is Born!
Living in Colorado Springs in February 2012, and attached to the Army, my wife and I were suddenly surprised with the news that we were going to have another child. What a rough pregnancy this was for my queen. My experiences and all the Army training that I had gone through had never prepared me for the feelings of helplessness I had with this pregnancy. Sunni became very ill where there were days that she would be stuck in bed or on the couch unable to move without losing her lunch. She looked very ghostly for quite some time. Her mother came out a couple of times to help us. It was pretty rough.
Sunni, after a visit from her mom, became very homesick and wanted to go to Utah for a visit. I tried to get vacation time from the Army but was denied. It was decided Sunni and our two girls would go without me at the end of May and I would follow in June. She packed everything up and drove from Colorado Springs to Salt Lake City.
After being home for several days, she fell ill and was having complications. Her mother took her to the women’s center at the closest hospital. Upon an exam they found she was dilated to a 2 and 80% effaced. They checked her into a room right then and was hospitalized for a week.
I got a call on June 9th from her mom explaining to me what was transpiring. Frightened and feeling helpless again, I hung up and waited to hear for more information on the events that were unfolding before me. Just then I received a call from the Red Cross with a family emergency message that I was desperately needed in Utah with my family. Then I was called into the office by my commanding officer and first sergeant. They told me to immediately pack my bags and go home.
I made the trip from Colorado to Utah in 8 hours, instead of the usual 11. I arrived early in the evening on June 10th at the hospital where my wife had been put on total bed-rest. I had such fear in my heart that we would lose this little princess who was in a huge hurry to join our family. When I walked into the room I was greeted with the warmest, relieved face I have ever seen. I spent a week by Sunni’s side.
In the wee hours of the morning on June 16th Sunni went into hard labor. She started screaming in intense pain and I pulled the emergency cord so hard it came off the wall. The Drs. and nurses came rushing in to check on the situation. They quickly grabbed a gurney to wheel her into the delivery room. I managed to send a message to her parents and they soon joined us. At 8:05 AM Grace had made her way into our family weighing 1.5 lbs and measuring only 12 in. She was born at 23 ½ weeks gestation. In other words she was 4 months early.
The Drs. handed Gracie through a window into the neonatal intensive care unit and started to resuscitate her. When we were allowed into her room she had been placed in an Isolate and had a respirator into her lungs with a feeding tube down her throat. In the Isolate they kept the temperature and the moisture as close to Mama’s womb as possible.
After two weeks in the N.I.C.U. at the IMC hospital, she needed surgery to close a hole in her tiny heart. She was Life-Flighted to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. Her surgery took place on July 12th, our wedding anniversary. The nurse on duty placed my wedding band and my wife’s diamond right around Gracie’s wrist. We took pictures and then waited to see how the surgery went. It seemed like several hours before the surgeon emerged from taking care of her and told us the surgery went well. He said she would recover well. She later had surgery on her stomach and one to place a G-tube for her feedings.
We spent the first six months of her life in the N.I.C.U. at Primary Children’s with lots of ups and downs. Finally the awaited day came when we could take her home. It was Dec. 14th, she came home with the feeding tube and an oxygen cannula. She needed oxygen for another month at home.
We picked the name “Grace” because of God’s Grace that she lived and continued to be our miracle child, blessing all our lives.
On her first birthday she weighed 19.11 lbs. She laughed, played, and watched everything that went on around her. She has some “Special needs” but her giant spirit makes up for them.
Written by Grace’s father, Nephi L. Miller
