Born: May 8, 2011 ~ Due Date: August 14, 2011
Adam and I were trying to have another baby and we found out we were pregnant in December of 2010. When I was about 10 weeks pregnant I started to have really bad cramps followed by a huge gush of blood, while I was at work. I immediately went to my OB/GYN because I assumed I was having a miscarriage. I was pretty upset in the waiting room so my step mom Robin met me there for support. Although I knew miscarriages are a natural part of life I was still discouraged because we had gotten so excited about having another baby.
When I met with the doctor I described everything to her and she wanted an ultrasound to know what was going on. Well, I was still pregnant! I was balling and I sent Robin a picture of his sonogram from the exam room. I was ecstatic, I called Adam and told him the good news. It was crazy going from one emotion of accepting a miscarriage to an emotion of complete happiness. The doctor did however tell me to go on bedrest for just a week in which the blood should subside by then and it did.
About 2 months later I was 18 weeks pregnant and while at work again I felt a lot of wetness and I was under the impression that I had peed myself! I heard of pregnant women peeing himself all the time because of new pressure on the bladder as well as weak muscles. I went to my OB/GYN once again so she could make certain that I was peeing myself. She did a pH test to see if maybe it was amniotic fluid and not pee, but the test came back negative so I just went on trying to be careful every time I would sneeze or laugh.
At about 21 weeks we went in for the ultrasound to find out the gender. Along with Adam and I was Robin and Adam’s mom Debby. We all sat in the room watching the ultrasound take place and she asked me what I thought we were having and I told her I had a dream it was a boy, she said I was right! We were having a boy-SO exciting! She also immediately noticed that lack of amniotic fluid and asked if I had felt dehydrated or if I knew if anything was wrong. I told her about the peeing and right then I knew it WAS amniotic fluid that had been leaking out for the past few weeks! It was PPROM. She measured extremely low pockets of fluid around him and said something needed to be done so I wouldn’t lose anymore.
When my doctor came in to review this she basically said I have to be on bedrest for the rest of my pregnancy (19 more weeks to go!) She also explained to me that he might not survive because there was no way of know how healthy he was inside the womb without a sufficient amount of fluid. She told me the membranes had ruptured and there was no way of fixing it. All I could do was stay on bedrest with my feet up and drink a lot of fluids. There was also no way of knowing how far bedrest would get me in the pregnancy, but I had to give it a shot and follow her orders. I went in for ultrasounds every two weeks at which the fluids increased slightly and his kidneys seemed to be working and he was able to move around still and he was growing! All positives! I started bedrest the first week of April and lasted nearly 4 weeks to the beginning of May.
On Saturday May 7th 2010, I was 25 weeks and 6 days pregnant. I felt very light headed all day and began to get the chills toward the end of the day. Adam and Kirra took me to the ER so I could get checked out and have a non stress test. They decided to keep me over night and give me an IV and antibiotics in case I had an infection. We checked in at around 9pm and around 11pm I started to feel pain and what turned out to be contractions. The nurse had be push a button each time I had a contraction which ended up being about 4-5 minutes apart--I was in labor. When my doctor arrived she told me she was going to take me to Stanford to have the baby because he was not safe in utero anymore because I most likely did have an infection since there was a tear in the membrane and bacteria had reached the fluid so my body was trying to get the baby out of that toxic environment. They ended up giving me only one shot of Betamethasone, Magnesium, and one dose of Fentenol to ease the contractions until we reached Stanford.
The ambulance took me to Stanford around 4am Sunday morning and they gave me an epidural right away as well as Pitocin to keep the labor going. Kai was born at 26 weeks gestation at 9:10am Sunday morning May 8th--it was also Mother’s Day. He weighed 2 pounds 4 ounces (exactly a KILO) was 12 inches long and I did not see him until later that night.
The first time I saw him I was not expecting him to be so small. Seeing him was not what I had pictured in my mind. I could hardly breath I was crying like I had never cried before when I was looking at him through the issolette in the NICU. It was quite obvious he was not able to survive without the help of all the machines surrounding him.
When I met with the doctor I described everything to her and she wanted an ultrasound to know what was going on. Well, I was still pregnant! I was balling and I sent Robin a picture of his sonogram from the exam room. I was ecstatic, I called Adam and told him the good news. It was crazy going from one emotion of accepting a miscarriage to an emotion of complete happiness. The doctor did however tell me to go on bedrest for just a week in which the blood should subside by then and it did.
About 2 months later I was 18 weeks pregnant and while at work again I felt a lot of wetness and I was under the impression that I had peed myself! I heard of pregnant women peeing himself all the time because of new pressure on the bladder as well as weak muscles. I went to my OB/GYN once again so she could make certain that I was peeing myself. She did a pH test to see if maybe it was amniotic fluid and not pee, but the test came back negative so I just went on trying to be careful every time I would sneeze or laugh.
At about 21 weeks we went in for the ultrasound to find out the gender. Along with Adam and I was Robin and Adam’s mom Debby. We all sat in the room watching the ultrasound take place and she asked me what I thought we were having and I told her I had a dream it was a boy, she said I was right! We were having a boy-SO exciting! She also immediately noticed that lack of amniotic fluid and asked if I had felt dehydrated or if I knew if anything was wrong. I told her about the peeing and right then I knew it WAS amniotic fluid that had been leaking out for the past few weeks! It was PPROM. She measured extremely low pockets of fluid around him and said something needed to be done so I wouldn’t lose anymore.
When my doctor came in to review this she basically said I have to be on bedrest for the rest of my pregnancy (19 more weeks to go!) She also explained to me that he might not survive because there was no way of know how healthy he was inside the womb without a sufficient amount of fluid. She told me the membranes had ruptured and there was no way of fixing it. All I could do was stay on bedrest with my feet up and drink a lot of fluids. There was also no way of knowing how far bedrest would get me in the pregnancy, but I had to give it a shot and follow her orders. I went in for ultrasounds every two weeks at which the fluids increased slightly and his kidneys seemed to be working and he was able to move around still and he was growing! All positives! I started bedrest the first week of April and lasted nearly 4 weeks to the beginning of May.
On Saturday May 7th 2010, I was 25 weeks and 6 days pregnant. I felt very light headed all day and began to get the chills toward the end of the day. Adam and Kirra took me to the ER so I could get checked out and have a non stress test. They decided to keep me over night and give me an IV and antibiotics in case I had an infection. We checked in at around 9pm and around 11pm I started to feel pain and what turned out to be contractions. The nurse had be push a button each time I had a contraction which ended up being about 4-5 minutes apart--I was in labor. When my doctor arrived she told me she was going to take me to Stanford to have the baby because he was not safe in utero anymore because I most likely did have an infection since there was a tear in the membrane and bacteria had reached the fluid so my body was trying to get the baby out of that toxic environment. They ended up giving me only one shot of Betamethasone, Magnesium, and one dose of Fentenol to ease the contractions until we reached Stanford.
The ambulance took me to Stanford around 4am Sunday morning and they gave me an epidural right away as well as Pitocin to keep the labor going. Kai was born at 26 weeks gestation at 9:10am Sunday morning May 8th--it was also Mother’s Day. He weighed 2 pounds 4 ounces (exactly a KILO) was 12 inches long and I did not see him until later that night.
The first time I saw him I was not expecting him to be so small. Seeing him was not what I had pictured in my mind. I could hardly breath I was crying like I had never cried before when I was looking at him through the issolette in the NICU. It was quite obvious he was not able to survive without the help of all the machines surrounding him.
HOMECOMING
Kai came home on Monday August 22, 2011 after staying in the NICU for 105 days. He came home free and clear of dsats and was completely off of his oxygen. He did have to come home with a feeding tube down his nose (NG tube) because he wasn't drinking enough milk on his own at that point so I would have to put the remainders of his bottles through the tube.
He was only using the NG tube for about 3-4 weeks at home because he had pulled it out one night and the doctor allowed me to keep it out and push him to drink a sufficient amount from the bottle. A "sufficient" amount was enough to allow him to gain weight. As long as he was gaining weight those forst couple of weeks home, he was doing a great job!
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