Natalee’s Story
O Warrior Stories
Written by: Jesse DeJesus
Like every story you have come across Natalee’s story begins the same. After miscarrying about 8 months later I found out I was pregnant. Me and Rey were happy but scared. Every week was a milestone for us! We wanted to tell family as soon as possible but wanted to make sure everything was going well and our plans were to let everyone know after our anatomy scan. We agreed on letting my mom know and have her come along for the ultrasound. Everything was going well until the tech said she would bring the doctor in and handed me our ultrasound sound pictures. Right before the doctor walked in I looked at Rey at the same time my mom said, gracias a Dios la nina está bien. In Spanish this means thank god, the baby girl is fine. I asked Rey what’s that big white ball around her stomach? The doctor walks in breaking the news. Natalee has a omphalocele. My prenatal care would be transferred to the children’s hospital fetal care center. The car ride home I was scared and sad. I had no idea what Natalee’s diagnosis meant for us. Like many moms on here I asked god why did my daughter have to go through this.
Every ultrasound from that moment on was filled with so much anxiety! I would walk into my appointments hoping that by some miracle someone would tell me, “We made a mistake, Natalee is perfectly fine.” I’d leave those appointments upset because those words I would never hear during any of my prenatal appointments.
I was told Natalee would need to be born at 37 weeks no later than that. It broke my heart terribly, I wanted to protect my baby as much as I could.
Natalee was born April 26, 2004 weighing 4 pounds 10 ounces. When I first laid my eyes on her she was perfect, she is perfect!
After spending 20 days in the NICU we finally got sent home! Natalee met many milestones while at the NICU, she took her bottle successfully no feeding tube was needed at discharge. Her pulmonary hypertension was no longer present. Natalee however needed to go home with a small amount of oxygen.
Natalee is loved by so many family members, to us Natalee is perfection and a true blessing! We can not wait to see what the future holds for Natalee. Porque con Dios todo es posible! Translates to, because with God everything is possible!
I am pleased to share that Natalee had a successful closure surgery on October 24, 2024! She is now doing great.
