Our sweet baby girl, Wynne, was born on December 12, 2018 and passed away comfortably in our arms on December 21, 2018. She was delivered via an emergency c-section at 35 weeks and 6 days after a routine prenatal checkup and resulting NST indicated some issues with her heart rate. This followed what we thought was a completely normal pregnancy. When she was born it was clear that she was very sick, so she was immediately taken to the hospital's NICU and then transferred to a different hospital with a more specialized NICU that same night. CMV was initially suspected due to her low birth weight at delivery (3 lbs 14oz) and the presence of petechiae. It was confirmed the next day that she had been infected with CMV while in the womb.
Doctors are not sure when she was infected since her 20-week anatomy ultrasound was normal. Unfortunately, due to the severity of her infection, she was born experiencing liver failure, low platelets, high bilirubin, and trouble breathing which progressed over the next few days to brain bleeds, hydrocephaly, seizures, and heart failure. The damage being so severe that she had no hope of surviving. For her short time here, she fought so so hard. We could not be more proud of our tiny warrior. All of this came as a complete shock to my family and I. I had never heard of CMV prior to delivering my daughter, and surprisingly many others haven't as well. This must change.
I hope to see major strides in CMV research and awareness within the next decade. We miss Wynne every single day and feel so robbed of what this virus took from us: a daughter, sister, and granddaughter. Although she was only here a short time, she was here for a reason. My family and I will continue to advocate on behalf of our sweet baby warrior.
- Shared by her mother, Lindsay