Charlotte Mikelle Harris

     Today is the day! Charlotte Mikelle Harris arrived at 12:34 P.M. She was delivered via emergency C-Section at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Laura was 28 weeks pregnant and we didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl.
     Since December, Laura has been facing many complications with her pregnancy, and the doctors suspected that Charlotte would be delivered early. However, with close weekly monitoring, the date on which Charlotte would arrive became closer and closer due to a diagnosis known as intrauterine growth restriction. Charlotte was not growing at the same rate as a normal baby. The cause of Charlotte's slow growth is that Laura's placenta, the organ that is supposed to give Charlotte nutrients, was less than 10% the size of a normal placenta. There is no known cause for why this happens. On February 8, after about a week of hospital bed rest with a monitor on Laura's belly to monitor the baby's heart rate, Charlotte's heart rate started dropping frequently and the doctors became concerned. So, Charlotte arrived in a very fast, 15 minute emergency procedure, weighing a teeny tiny 1 lb 9 ounces.