My preemie story (LONG)

I planned on doing this post on Thursday. But since tomorrow is preemie day, I figured I can get two posts in one.

My preemie's story.

After three very uneventful pregnancies, I could never imagine things would go bad. I was 4 days early with K, with minor problems sending him to the NICU for a hour. J was nine days late, we again had minor problems, she had meconium, they sent her to the NICU just to be sure her lungs were clear. Neither of them, I walked into the NICU, I just knew they had went. R was born on her due date, with no issues (minor ones but no NICU time).

In Oct of 06 P and I decided to complete our family. We became pregnant right away, I found out just before Thanksgiving 2006. We were due 8-2-07. Things were rather uneventful until 1-2-07, went I had a gush of brown fluid. I called the doctor, they told me not to worry, brown blood=old blood. On 1-5-07 after 3 day of on and off bleeding, I passed our baby. I went to Urgent care who did an ultrasound, and told me I had passed everything and sent me home. One 1-8-07 I was gushing blood. I went to the ER where they found I had a uterine polyp. The reason I lost our baby. I saw a new gyn (needless to say I was not happy with the one I saw with R and the miscarriage). She checked, and felt like the polyp was not big enough to worry about (pea size), that it would dislodge with one of my cycles.

I didn't give that polyp much thought. P and I went back and forth on trying for another. I wanted to but the thought scared me enough I would not commit to it.

In May of 2008, we decided that it was now or never. Either I get over my fear, or we are done.
We again became pregnant right away. But my fears would never subside. I lived in a state of panic the entire time. A few days after my BFP I had bleeding. I saw the doctor at 5 weeks, and every 4 weeks there after.

At 11 weeks I had bleeding, outright bleeding. I was sure I had lost the pregnancy. I went to the ER to find my cervix was closed tight, and it was "cervical irritation". The bleeding continued for several weeks, finally the doctor said I had a low lying placenta. Which turned out to be false. At this point I changed doctors, meeting Dr Mcd. Who was totally awesome, he was able to put all my fears at ease. From that point (15 or 16 weeks) until 23 weeks everything was going great. I had no issues, baby was moving well. He looked great on ultrasound.

That is until Oct 23, 2008, I went to my 23 week exam, where I was told the baby had ABS (amniotic band syndrome). We were told the chance of cleft lip or palette, or amputation was close to 60%.

On Oct 25, 2008, my world crashed. I was preparing for work, and I felt a gush. I went in to use the restroom expecting that C had just kicked my bladder. Boy was I wrong! After several more gushes I knew it was my water. We headed to the hospital were it was confirmed. I was airlifted into Reno. Where I met Dr O (who is an evil, evil person). After a long ultrasound, Dr O suggested we abort. C's heart was 60% enlarged and he had pericardial effusion (fluid around his heart), and instead of ABS the sacs failed to fuse. We decided that we would fight for C as long as he had fight in him. Until we were proved wrong we would not be killing our child.

After several days in the hospital it was determined that the outer sac had rupture, but had resealed itself. I was sent home.

On Oct 29, 2008, at 24 weeks 2 days, my inner sac ruptured. I was now a pPROM Queen. I was given two doses of Betamethasone (a steriod), I was given terbutaline about every 24-48 hours for 3 weeks.

On November 19, 2008, my prison sentence ended, but my heartache started. At 5:30 in the morning, I woke to use the restroom. I found not only was I covered in blood so was my bed. On shaking legs I called my nurse. We found I was contracting every 45 seconds, with the terbutaline, not even touching them. They found my cervix was closed, but blood was pooling. After several hours of debate it was decided that at 4 pm I would have a c-section.

(the actual birth story I typed days later)

At 4 pm I was wheeled down to the OR, the spinal was given, I LOVED Dr S, he held me the entire time, gave me his hand to squeeze, and just talked me through it. At 415 the first cut was made. At 423 pm C came into this world weighing 2 lbs 7 oz and 14 inches long, he was a lot bigger than any of us expected. We had asked not to be told what was going on, so all I heard were times. The anesthesiologist asked if we were having a boy or a girl, we said a boy, he said well it is a boy. That is the ONLY way we knew C was here. Fast forward to what seemed like an eternity, they rolled C up for me to see before he went to the NICU. He was so tiny, but very alert.

The first time I saw him, I mean really saw him, was well after midnight. Even though I was prepared for the NICU, I wasn't prepared for what I saw. C was hooked up to the vent, and lines were coming from every where.

By November 28, 2008 C was on the high flow O2 at 4 liters. He had two doses of meds to close his PDA (a valve in the heart that leads to the lungs it normally closes at birth, but with preemies it doesn't). Thankfully his closed with the second round of meds.

He would go back and forth between the CPAP, and high flow for several weeks. Really, we had a pretty level ride during the time. No bad days was our saying for C. Because really we didn't have bad days, just level days. Of course there were bad days, we just learned to roll with it.

On January 16, 2009, our level ride hit a nose dive. C aspirated. We were ONE week, ONE week away from discharge, and he aspirated. He pulled through, but that was the one time in all of it I was terrified, panic attack terrified we were going to lose him. We talked funeral plans, everything. We said, no matter what, C was coming home, even if it was in a little urn, he would come home.

C being the little fighter he is survived, and thrived.

On Febuary 1, 2009, after our come home date changing THREE times, we were finally able to bring our baby home. After spending 95 days total (my stay and C's) we were headed home! But we were not able to relax. Once a week we were running to doctors. We had many, many, alarms, some false, most not.

In April C finally became a wireless baby! He finally was able to come off the o2, and the apnea monitor. Awesome! It was the first step in seeing a "normal" baby.

What we deal with now, C still has BPD: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia involves abnormal development of lung tissue. It is characterized by inflammation and scarring in the lungs. It develops most often in premature babies, who are born with underdeveloped lungs. We are seeing signs of asthma, but it is not strong enough for a definite diagnosis. C's heart is still enlarged, but not as enlarged as what Dr Evil let on. While he may grow into it, it also may become an issue later on.

We are still seeing stiffness in Cs legs, could be minor, but it could be something else. We are seeing C has issues with his vocabulary. We know the chance of C having learning issues are very high. But we will roll with whatever is handed to us.

Now you maybe asking what caused this. A polyp, a f'ing polyp. While it was no longer pea size, and it didn't dislodge, it caused one child to lose it's life, and another to fight for his.