Help us raise money

July 16th, 2020 - the best and worst day of our lives.  The day Norah Joy Courtney was born.... and the day we found out she would not be in our arms for long.  

My entire pregnancy was normal so that morning when we headed to the hospital, we had no reason to believe anything could/would go wrong.  I labored all day long.  About ten minutes before Norah was born, her heart rate started to crash.  The doctor came in and said we needed to get her our NOW so I pushed like hell and, with vacuum assist, Norah Joy Courtney was born at 8:53 pm.  They quickly whisked her over to the NICU team who worked so hard to get her heart beating again while I was sewn up from an emergency episiotomy.  As soon as they got her heart beating, they rushed her up to the NICU.  

A few hours after she was born, the neurologist came in to have a discussion with us, Norah's parents... a discussion that no parent should ever have to have.  She said that Norah was showing no signs of brain activity, she had been without oxygen for too long.  An EEG that night and an MRI the next day confirmed this devastating news.  

My first real time getting to see my daughter, it was hours after she was born and she was hooked up to what appeared to be every cord there was in the NICU.  It was very scary to see her that way.  I just hope that she was so far gone at this point that she wasn't able to feel fear.  

The next day, I gave Norah her first bath (sponge bath) and the NICU team helped me get her dressed all pretty!  She was going to meet some of her family this day.  She met her grandparents and one of her aunts.  We so badly wish we would have had the time to introduce her to so many more.  

Norah slept with us in our room that night, as we knew it would be her last.  I woke up every hour or so checking on her and when I woke up at 5:30 the next morning, I knew she had passed.  The nurse came in a minute later and confirmed.  She passed away in the comfort of our arms.  

Leaving the hospital without your baby is probably one of the saddest things out there.   I will always wonder where our lives would be if we had not lost Norah or the losses that came after her.  

So we have decided to use our tragedy to help others who will, unfortunately, be in our shoes some day.  If I could use these donations to ensure no one would ever have to go through this ever again, I most certainly would.  We will be walking this day to remember and honor all the babies who should be here with us today.  Please feel free to join us if you would like!