Little did Mindy Yeager know that just a three-pound being would
end up changing her life one day.

Aiden Orvis Yeager, the eight-month-old son of Mindy Yeager, 24,
of Bradford, was born 12 weeks early. Without the available
equipment and treatment, which the March of Dimes helped develop,
Yeager said Aiden may have had more problems than he did.

“He wouldn’t have been as good as he is now,” she said
Wednesday. “He probably could have died.”

Yeager and Aiden, who now weighs 17 pounds and looked eager
Wednesday as he rotated and bounced in his walker, will both be
participating in the WalkAmerica this year. Yeager said this will
be her second time participating in the event, and said she was
walking in hopes that the research the March of Dimes funds can
help someone else whose child has to go through what Aiden did.

Yeager said she was taken off work when she was around four
months pregnant because her pregnancy was high risk.

“I was diagnosed with having two uteruses when I was 16 years
old,” Yeager said. “The doctor talked to me about how pre-term
labor in the future was a big possibility. But little did I know
how stressful and wonderful having a baby could be.”

On vacation visiting relatives in Ohio, Yeager said she started
leaking water and went straight to the hospital upon returning
home. An obstetrician who looked at her decided she was going into
labor, and she was taken by helicopter to a Pittsburgh hospital.
There, she was put through different tests to make sure there were
no infections inside the womb that could harm Aiden.

“For the next week things went pretty normal,” Yeager said.
“Then around 8 p.m. on Aug. 29, my water broke for the second time,
but this time it was more alarming. At first the nurse didn’t think
anything abnormal was going on. But I guess my motherly instincts
were already in full force, and I knew something wasn’t right.”

Yeager said she was hooked up to a contraction monitor, and
Aiden began to come out feet first. Doctors performed a cesarean
section, and Aiden was born at 5:19 a.m. Aug. 30.

“After that nothing was the same,” Yeager said. “I never knew
that someone as small as 3 pounds and 3 ounces could put a person
through that much stress.”

In his first week, Aiden stayed in the neonatal intensive care
unit – something the March of Dimes spearheaded the regionalization
of. Yeager said Aiden had many different procedures performed on
him, including a heel stick, IV, blood pressure and daily weighing.
As a result of coming out feet first, Aiden needed to be under a
special light for a week because of all the bruising.

“We were actually planning on transferring closer to home,”
Yeager said. “Apparently, Aiden wasn’t ready.”

Yeager said the night before the transfer, Aiden ended up
getting an infection that could have destroyed his intestine and
had a peripherally inserted central catheter, a form of intravenous
access for a prolonged time, inserted – since he liked to move
around a lot.

“He ended up getting sick, but it turned out not to be such a
big deal,” Yeager said. “He got through all that stuff.”

Yeager said for the next week Aiden’s condition improved each
day, and he was transferred to Erie two weeks later. After a total
of seven weeks in neonatal intensive care, Aiden was able to go
home, since he was able to keep his own body temperature and eat
enough formula from a bottle, but he needed to be on a home monitor
to track when and how many apneas – suspensions of breathing out –
he had.

“He was in an (incubator) for a couple of months,” Yeager said.
“Aiden had a lot of people awaiting his arrival home. He definitely
has a lot of people who love and care for him. He has definitely
been a big blessing in my life.”

The Bradford WalkAmerica, the premier fundraising event locally
for the March of Dimes, will begin at 1 p.m. Sunday in Callahan
Park. The mission of the March of Dimes is to improve the health of
babies by preventing birth defects, prematurity and infant
mortality. Funds raised support programs of research, education,
community service and advocacy. This year, WalkAmerica hopes to
surpass the $20,000 mark.

To get involved, visit walkamerica.org or call the local office
at 1-800-433-5210.