March of Dimes: Miracle Baby
Published: October 4, 2005
Bailey Strickland is a 3-foot-tall prizefighter. Her opponent? Her own body.
Bailey, 3, was born prematurely at 24 weeks’ gestation, which is the first week of viability, said her mother, Dorothy. She weighed 1 pound and 10 ounces and was 12 inches long.
To get an idea of just how small Bailey was, Mrs. Strickland said she was the length of two one-dollar bills and the width of one. Bailey’s legs and arms were the size of her mother’s pinky finger. Place your thumb and middle finger together and Bailey’s little head could fit inside, Mrs. Strickland said.
Bailey was placed on a ventilator within five minutes of her birth. Several machines and medicines helped her fight to live and, at 1 month, she had heart surgery.
When Bailey was 6 weeks old, the doctors told her parents they had given her every treatment available. The rest was up to the tiny infant and to God, Mrs. Strickland said.
“You really learn to live day to day,” she said. “Your quality of life was better then because you knew what was important. God brings you to a place where you are so centered and so focused. You have to trust and believe because you have to have hope.”
Mrs. Strickland and her husband, Talmadge, lived in Charlotte with friends while Bailey was in the neonatal intensive care unit.
“We would sit in the hospital 12 hours a day,” she said. “They would call and say, ‘She is going to die today,’ and she would live. We would go to the hospital, leave to eat, and that was it.”
Little Bailey was 2 months old before Mrs. Strickland was allowed to hold her. Until then, she would reach through the holes in the Isolette to touch her child.
During the 118 uncertain days that Bailey was in the hospital, it helped to know that family, friends and strangers were praying.
“I believe in the power of prayer,” she said. “You can’t look at my child and not believe that there is something greater and greater than you.”
She also believes in the work of the March of Dimes. Since the organization helped to find a cure for polio in 1948, it has led efforts to reduce premature birth by supporting research and by educating the public and health care providers.
One of the medicines given to Bailey to help with breathing problems was surfactant. Surfactant is a naturally occurring detergent-like substance produced by the lungs. It keeps tiny air sacs in the lungs from collapsing after exhaling. Babies who are born prematurely often have breathing problems, due in part to a lack of surfactant.
The March of Dimes played a leading role in developing surfactant therapy for premature babies.
Bailey does have bronchopulmonary dysplasia — chronic lung disease — but none of the usual health problems associated with prematurity. Mrs. Strickland said her daughter did not have brain hemorrhaging or cerebral palsy. She is not blind or deaf.
Bailey loves to play outside in her sandbox and eat pizza. Her favorite TV characters are Big Bird from Sesame Street and Dora the Explorer. Her favorite book is the one her mother reads to her about Winnie the Pooh.
When people look at her energetic daughter, it’s easy for them to realize the role March of Dimes plays in saving the lives of premature babies, Mrs. Strickland said, but the research offers benefits to all babies.
“Her survival is a miracle … but the miracle is the gift of every life. It’s the gift of every child,” she said.
“Most people don’t know that they are affected by the March of Dimes. Every woman knows to take folic acid during pregnancy and that is because of the March of Dimes. Every woman would like to have a chance to decrease their chance of having a baby with birth defects.”
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