Hello, I’m Emma’s mother, and I’d like to share a little bit about our family and the unexpected journey that brought our sweet baby girl into the world.

During my pregnancy, I failed both my glucose tests and was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. This affected my overall well-being in ways I had never experienced before. I did everything I could to keep my blood sugar levels and intake of carbs under control through careful monitoring and changes to my diet. My goal was to keep both Emma and myself as healthy as possible, avoid needing insulin, and reduce the risk of complications during delivery.

At my 38-week appointment, my doctor determined that I was experiencing symptoms of preeclampsia. Because of this, I was placed at the top of the list for elective inductions and was told I would receive a call either that day or the following day to come to Labor & Delivery for an induction.

But Emma had other plans.

At 1:45am, my water broke unexpectedly at home. While we were waiting for my mom to arrive to stay with our two young sons, I began having contractions at 2:02 a.m. Just 11 minutes later, at 2:13 a.m., Emma was already crowning. At 2:18 a.m., our beautiful baby girl, Emma, was born in our bathroom at home.

My husband immediately called 911, and the dispatcher walked him through on what to do. Emma was blue and had aspirated meconium during labor. Although she was breathing, she was barely making any sound and was hardly crying. Police, EMTs, and the fire department arrived and rushed us to the hospital. We made it to Labor & Delivery around 3:00am, even before my doctor!

I was extremely weak and required both an iron infusion and a blood transfusion because my hematocrit was dangerously low. Meanwhile, Emma was taken to the NICU because she was struggling on breathing and was not making the progress everyone had hoped for.

Our sweet girl spent 8 days in the NICU before she was finally strong enough to come home. Those 8 days were some of the most emotional, frightening, and exhausting days our family has ever experienced. We are incredibly grateful for the medical teams who cared for both Emma and me and helped get us through something we never could have anticipated.

At the same time, we can't help but feel like we missed out on the experience of bringing our daughter home normally and simply getting to enjoy those first precious days together as a family. My husband only had one week off from work, and because Emma spent that entire time in the NICU, he was able to spend only one day with her at home before having to return to work.

Now that Emma is finally home with us, we are incredibly thankful to have our family together. But we are also facing the financial reality of everything that happened. Between the hospital stay, NICU care, ambulance transportation, my treatments, and the other unexpected medical expenses, we are worried about how we will manage the bills.

I'm currently not receiving an income while I'm home recovering and caring for Emma. I will be returning to work in approximately 12 weeks, so for now, our family is relying solely on my husband's income while we adjust to life with our new baby and two young boys.

Any financial assistance, no matter the amount, would mean so much to our family. Donations would help ease the financial stress of these unexpected medical expenses and allow us to focus on what matters most—helping Emma continue to grow stronger, heal, and enjoy being home with her family. This was a circumstance we never could have planned for or prevented, and we are simply grateful that Emma is here with us today.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking the time to read our story, for supporting our family, and for helping us through this unexpected chapter of our lives. Every donation, prayer, and kind thought means more to us than we can put into words. With love and gratitude, Emma’s Family