Day 13 of 30 Days of Project Sweet Peas Giveaway!

As I have written about so many times before, one of the things that I do to remember and honor my son is donate care packages to families that have a baby in the NICU. I am able to do this through the help and support of Project Sweet Peas, which is a group of families just like mine, who have been in the NICU and know how hard it is. There are twelve local project spread out across the country that deliver these care packages. I am honored to be a part of this organization. And we need your help!!!

We have applied for a grant through the Pepsi Refresh Project, and have been selected as a finalist to win a $25,000 grant!! So here is how you can help us: vote once a day, every day for Project Sweet Peas to win. We need to be in the top ten at the end of the month to win. And to entice you to help us out and vote every day, I am doing a 30 Days of Project Sweet Peas giveaway! Everyday in the month of April I will be writing about the amazing things going on in Project Sweet Peas. And if you leave a comment that you voted each day, I will randomly pick one of these comments to win an Awareness Braceletof your choice! I make awareness bracelets of all colors, and I have a Pregnancy and Infant Loss Charm Bracelet featured right now.

**Please note that you must leave a comment each day to qualify for the giveaway for that day. **

WELL!! We are now NUMBER THIRTEEN on the THIRTEENTH  day of voting! How awesome is that?! Thank you all so much for your votes, now go vote again! LOL  Today I am going to highlight another amazing local project: Amazing Grace, who donates their packages to hospitals in Washington. For more information about Amazing Grace, please email Heather at heather@projectsweetpeas.com Here is Grace's story . . . 

Hello, my name is Heather and I would like to share my story with you.

My husband Tom and I are high school sweethearts and have been married for four wonderful years. We always knew we wanted to have children and decided to add to our family back in June of 2008. We are planners so when my goal of becoming pregnant in the late spring early summer had come true we where thrilled. My pregnancy was going great. Not much sickness, a little tired but not more than you would expect. I was making big plans for the baby room, and of course planning out what our baby would wear home from the hospital. Things couldn’t have moved any smoothly.

It was just after Christmas 2008 when I went in for my 7 month check up. It wasn’t until after the nurse had taken my blood pressure 5 times that I realized there was something seriously wrong. My doctor had told me that he was going to send me over to the hospital for more testing because my blood pressure was very high and my body was producing a very high amount of protein that was unsafe for me and my baby. After several tests and a night in the hospital it was determined that I had developed a disorder called Preeclampsia. Although the cause of Preeclampsia is still unknown it affects 5-8% of pregnancies and the only cure is to deliver the baby. As you can imagine my husband and I where not ready and had no idea what the future had in store for us. My doctor had told me that the chances of our baby surviving at 28 weeks was hopeful but everyday that he could keep her in the womb would increase her chances of survival. I was put on bed rest to avoid any chances of high blood pressure induced seizures and given steroid injections to help our babies lungs develop. After a week of bed rest and several trips to the hospital I had become very sick. The Preeclampsia had started to shut down my kidney and liver functions and the decision was made to deliver the baby before both of our lives where to weak to survive.

Our precious baby girl Grace Lynn Morgan was born at 12:45pm on Tuesday January 6^th 2009. She weighed 2lbs 2oz and was 15 1/4 inches long. Immediately after she was born she was placed on a CPAP to help her breath and taken to the NICU.  My husband was by her side every step of the way while I was in recovery, along with two NICU doctors, 5 NICU nurses and several machines. Grace pushed through and hung on. I had to wait several hours before I could see her and I will never forget the first time I was brought to see my little miracle. She was hooked up to a breathing machine, two heart monitors, and several iv’s. Thankfully, Due to the steroid injects I was given she only had to be on the CPAP for 5 days. The pain I felt not being able to leave the hospital with my baby or hold my baby for the first week of her life will never leave my heart. Because God was watching over her and because of her strong will and amazing perseverance Grace made it through her two month stay in the NICU.

On March 2^nd 2009 Grace came home! This was truly the most amazing day of our lives. I know that if it where not for the love and support from the doctors, nurses, family, and friends my husband and I would not have made it through the toughest time of our lives. I want to give back to those families who are going through the horrendous pain we had gone through. This is why I have created “Amazing Grace”.  Grace is doing great now and is developmentally right on track. We are so blessed and will never take a day with Grace for granted.