November is Prematurity Awareness month, and today is Fight For Preemies day! The March Of Dimes has taken today to reach out to bloggers everywhere to write about preemies to raise awareness for preterm labor!
I know a few special little babies that were born too early. My best friend has a beautiful thriving little girl who just celebrated her 1st birthday. Kenzie was botn at 34 weeks. She stayed in the NICU for a week and was released with a monitor to alert her parents on her apnea. A few months later she was taken off the monitor and is healthy as ever!
Another great friend of mine is a really special friend. People roll their eyes when they hear about couples meeting over the internet, but I will never judge someone for that. I have met some of the most AMAZING people online. Some of these girls I can truely call my best friends even though I have never met them face to face. Nicole is one of these girls that I met through a miscarriage message board through Babycenter almost 2 years ago. Since her early miscarriage, she has been through even greater trials and tribulations. She is now the mother of two. Eli is 3 1/2 months, 1 month adjusted (meaning if born at full term 40 weeks, he would just be a month old now!) and Brie. Nicole just celebrated Brie's first birthday last week, but instead of having a birthday party with family and friends, she and her family made a trip to the cemetary where little Angel Brie is buried. She was born at 26 weeks and her little lungs were not able to support her life. She used this day to celebrate the short, but VERY sweet, time she had with her precious daughter. They had a balloon release, pink and white!
I asked Nicole to guest blog for me because she has been through both traumatic NICU experiences, one that ends happily and one that does not. She knows the fear of both, and she is eager to educate women on their body's and right's and the signs of preterm labor. She is an amazing mom and when little Bumble B makes his way here I hope to be as great of a mother as she!
BRIE
The day my daughter was born was the best day of my life, like a firstborns birthday is for all parents. It was also the most terrifying and devastating day of my life. Why? Because I was only 26 weeks pregnant.
We were literally in the middle of a cross-country move. Halfway between our old home and our new home. I had felt "off" all day, and started having what I thought were gas pains around noon. Eventually I noticed that the pains were consistent - every 5 minutes. We were traveling, so we stopped at the first emergency room we came across. I wasn't in a lot of pain, just a little uncomfortable, so I felt really, really silly going in to an emergency room. I was told I probably wasn't having contractions, because they didn't feel my WHOLE tummy getting hard. The baby was listened to with a doppler - she sounded beautiful. The doctor came in, repeated everything the nurses had done and told me I was having Braxton Hicks contractions due to the long car trip. "Drink more water, get up and walk around every 2-3 hours, and follow up with your OB when you get home" were the orders I was sent away with. I was not checked for cervical dilation. Because this was my first pregnancy, I had no idea that I should have been.
About eight hours later I was trying to sleep in a hotel room. The "Braxton Hicks" were getting worse. I thought "Wow, I must really be a baby if these are Braxton Hicks. I wonder what real labor is like?!" I thought maybe my appendix had burst or something weird like that, so I dragged my husband out of bed and we went to a different hospital. I was taken to triage where I was checked for dilation. I was 8 cm dilated and the baby was at +2 station.
There was no going back. I delivered her, and she let out the most beautiful cry. I was allowed to kiss her on the cheek before she was whisked away to the NICU. Forty-six hours later, we were told that she was suffering from pulmonary hemorrhage due to the immaturity of her lungs. They had done everything they could do, and it wasn't working. We chose to remove her life support and end her suffering. We held her for the first and last time, and she passed away peacefully in her parents arms.
ELI
As a result of my history, we were much better prepared this time around. We took precautions against preterm labor with weekly progesterone shots, and biweekly cervical ultrasounds. I started having what I knew to be Braxton Hicks quite early in the pregnancy, which made me very nervous. I went in to be checked, in tears, more times than I can remember. I always thought I was in labor, or I was leaking fluid or something. All the times that I went in, I was wrong, and everything was fine.
Until I got to 23 weeks. I had just eaten dinner and was having more Braxton Hicks than usual. I decided to go lay down on my left side and drink a bunch of water before calling, because I knew that's what they'd tell me to do anyway. After an hour and a liter of water, I was still having them frequently, so I called my doctor. The doctor on call at L&D said she wasn't worried, but due to my history she wanted me to come get checked so I would be able to sleep that night.
My heart stopped when I was told I was dilated a centimeter and a half. I was admitted to the hospital and put on complete bed rest, continuous monitoring and a cocktail of drugs to prevent labor. The next day an ultrasound of my cervix showed funneling that hadn't been there 2 weeks prior. I only had half a centimeter of cervical length left.I was given steroid shots for the baby's lungs, and it was just a waiting game until my cervix would give out.
I held onto that half centimeter for 6 weeks in the hospital, only allowed in a wheelchair for my weekly appointments with my perinatologist. At 29 weeks I went into labor that was unstoppable with drugs. I delivered a screaming baby boy! He was whisked off to NICU right away, and spent 45 days there. He sailed through, needing little respiratory help. He was basically a feeder/grower the whole time.
We now know that I have incompetent cervix AND preterm labor, and I will probably never carry to term. I may be able to get a few more weeks with the use of a cerclage, but it's my doctor's feeling that the PTL would eventually break through.
As a preemie mom, I've seen so many wonderful people who fight for preemies. From the neonatologists in the NICU, to volunteers for the March of Dimes, people are working every day for these little ones. 23 and 24 weekers are surviving at higher rates than ever. The technology and life saving measures they can take now are astounding.
But the most important thing I feel we can do to fight for preemies is to educate pregnant women. Every week, day, and even every hour in the womb is so crucial. Three weeks and a couple of steroid shots made the difference between a baby who I buried, and a baby who I've had to stop writing this post a billion times for because his lungs are so good he loves to use them :).
So be educated. Go to your doctor when you feel something isn't right. I probably went about 8 extra times during my pregnancy with Eli, each time worried that something wasn't right. I was only correct one out of those eight times, but if I hadn't gone in at all, who knows what would have happened? Trust your gut, and remember, you are the ONLY advocate for the little preemie living inside you. Do everything you can to keep him in there!!
Thanks Nicole!!!! LOVE YOU!!!
3 comments:
Thank you so much for your support of our Fight for Preemies event. Nicole's post about Brie and Eli was so moving. It does speak to the power of education and trusting your instincts.
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