{"id":178581,"date":"2018-02-05T11:47:20","date_gmt":"2018-02-05T16:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=178581"},"modified":"2018-01-31T17:50:51","modified_gmt":"2018-01-31T22:50:51","slug":"malachi-premature-25-weeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/malachi-premature-25-weeks\/","title":{"rendered":"My miracle baby Malachi was born premature at 25 weeks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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My name is Samantha Curtis. I\u2019m 20 years old. And my son,\u00a0Malachi Elliot, was born premature at 25 weeks and 3 days.<\/p>\n

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I wasn\u2019t supposed to get pregnant. I was diagnosed with PCOS — polycystic ovarian syndrome — in 2016. PCOS is when you have ovarian cysts that transfer onto your eggs making it impossible for the sperm to reach the egg. Doctors put me on birth control in an attempt to balance my hormones, so my body could try to fight off the cysts instead.<\/p>\n

In July 2017, I got pregnant. Over the course of the next 6.5 months of this beautiful baby boy growing inside me, we went through a lot, including a lot of stress. I moved to Virginia to be with my baby’s father, but things got very bad (we\u2019re both so young) and I ended up moving back. Two days before I moved, I suffered some trauma to my stomach, which resulted in Malachi\u2019s heart stopping. When I went to the ER — and I have absolutely no clue what they did or how they did it, or if it was just too quiet and slow to hear — they got his heart beating again.<\/p>\n

\"premature\"<\/p>\n

I moved home, got two jobs, and was trying to get on my feet (the move really messed me up financially), and then I got ulcers. But every night I sang to Malachi, or I told him a story about all the fun we\u2019re going to have and how excited I am to hug him and kiss him and hold his little hand. I\u2019d apologize for the stress I was causing on him. And when I cried, I\u2019d apologize for that too.<\/p>\n

Then, on January 1st, 2018, I began having noticeable contractions at 7:00 a.m.<\/span><\/span> I was in the hospital by 9:00 a.m.<\/span><\/span> (4 cm dilated), and was transferred and arrived to a bigger, more sufficient hospital for a premature 25 weeker by 12:45 p.m. (fully dilated before they could even check me in as a patient).<\/p>\n

\"premature\"

Baby Malachi<\/p><\/div>\n

I gave birth to my handsome boy at 2:26 p.m. on that day. He came out doing what the doctors said he wouldn\u2019t: he opened his big eyes and cried. Because he was premature, his lungs weren\u2019t even supposed to be developed enough for that. They said he\u2019d be lethargic and not breathing, and encouraged me not to get scared. But, sure enough, he was looking right at me, crying and squirming.<\/p>\n