November is Prematurity Awareness Month. In honor of this, some parents who have had babies prematurely have offered to tell their stories to create awareness about his important cause.

Our twelfth profile is of a little guy named Tyler Kenneth Brown.

Tyler was born on September 21st 2005 at 25 weeks and 3 days. Mom Nancy does not know why Tyler was born early. She said that neither Tyler or herself had any infections after delivery, but she did have a perinatlogist say it was an incompetent cervix.

At birth, Tyler weighed in at 1 pound 11 ounces. His NICU story was some what uneventful. Most of the events are the after math of preemiehood. Tyler was born in a hospital that was not equipped for a preemie with issues let alone a preemie as early as Tyler. They were life flighted as soon as he was born. Dad Dallas saw his little body off on a helicopter and followed in the car.

Tyler had a PDA (Patent ductus arteriosus) done at three days. The doctors had wanted to get it closed because his brain was bleeding. Mom says they didn’t have the luxury of waiting to see if it would happen on his own. His surgery went well. He did have a grade four bleed on one side and a three on the other. After about 30 days and an up and down of his head growing too much they transferred us to yet another hospital to have brain surgery. He had a reservoir placed after a month in the NICU. Mom said they ended up with the greatest care and found a great team of doctors at this very hospital.

Ty had one seizure after his NICU reservoir placement and hasn’t had one since. Mom is always on pins and needles with it. Tyler was not shunted after the reservoir placement but he did end up with a shunt later. He was on the vent for about 63 days. He had a hard time getting off. He really was kind of lazy. Tyler came home on oxygen but was weaned pretty fast.

Right before mom and dad were ready to bring Tyler home, he had a bad ROP (retinopathy of prematurity –a disease of the eyes) exam. He needed surgery FAST. Tyler had ROP surgery within 72 hours of finding how severe it was. It saved his eyesight but he does still has poor vision. He was pretty fast bouncing back. Tyler was off the vent quickly and on to growing.

Tyler spent 93 days total in the NICU before coming home on December 23rd. Some of the ups and downs happened fast after the NICU. Mom and dad brought him home a day before his due date. He was just under six pounds. In January he was diagnosed with craniosynostosis (a medical condition in which some or all of the sutures in the skull of an infant or child close too early, causing problems with normal brain and skull growth) and had to have surgery on February 14th. The doctors took out his reservoir at that point.

In April he got really sick and almost died. Doctors found out he was in need of a shunt. His bones had grown back and he didn’t have enough space for his brain to expand and he was sick. An emergency shunt was placed in April. Tyler screamed for an entire month and a nice doctor took pity on me and said he needed a shunt revision. Once he had the new shunt placed, he did awesome. One year after his first skull surgery Tyler had to have another one. This one was a total skull reconstruction. He did amazing well. He bounced back quickly and for that mom is very grateful.

In Tyler’s second year, he had very little downs. At the end of year two he was diagnosed with stage two cerebral palsy and he was and is walking on his own. Tyler is a good gimpy walker and has so much energy. Tyler is in preschool and is doing very well with that.

Currently he is being evaluated for Sensory processing disorder and he has his own issues. In September of 2008 Tyler had a shunt malfunction from a recalled shunt. They fixed it right before his 3rd birthday. Six months later, in February of 2009 Tyler had another malfunction and his tubing had broken. Mom is on edge because they are just six months out from the last surgery.

As for other children, mom Nancy and her husband Dallas have tried but were unable to get pregnant. They are really not sure however that they want more children or as she says, more correctly they aren’t sure to dare go through what they have with Tyler. They love him but it is very hard.

If Nancy had one piece of advice for a new preemie mom, it would be this: Keep going. You will always doubt your choices but do what you feel is right and keep your chin up. You will never feel you did enough or loved enough or whatever. BUT you are doing what is best. You are the mom.

I asked Nancy to describe Tyler in one word and she said “FUNNY”.

If you would like to read more about Tyler, go here to Miracles Happen

Other Amazing Preemies:

• Preemie Profile: 25 Weeker Maggie Grace
  
• Preemie Profile: 24 Week Twins Bryce and Chloe
  
• Preemie Profile: 29 Weeker Charlotte
  
• Preemie Profile: 26 Weeker Emery

November is Prematurity Awareness Month. In honor of this, some parents who have had babies prematurely have offered to tell their stories to create awareness about his important cause.

Our seventh profile is of a beautiful little girl named Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was born on December 17th 2004 at 25 weeks and 3 days. Mom Angela does not know why Elizabeth entered this world to soon, as most of us never find out. Angela said she was working night shift as a Registered Nurse and after assisting with lifting a patient she started bleeding. She did have early Braxton Hicks and back pain and these symptoms were brought to my OB’s attention but he was not concerned.

When Elizabeth was born she weighed 730 grams. Her NICU stay was rocky in the beginning. Elizabeth’s PDA (patent ductus arteriosus) did not close with the standard medication and the wait for surgical closure was long. It was awful because she was having great difficulty being ventilated and was becoming septic and running out of reserve.

For a 25 weeker Elizabeth had a fairly standard NICU course. She suffered life threatening reflux and her heart rate would drop with each feed. She had extensive BPD (bronchopulmonary dysplasia) and was difficult to get off ventilator support. Once Elizabeth became more stable things became more routine as she grew. Angela would go up to the NICU everyday for the day. She would sing to her, read to her and when she was stable they would have kangaroo time where she was tucked in my shirt skin to skin.

“I savoured every second cuddling with her”

In the evening her Dad would come and bath her and get her ready for bed.

“We were very blessed to be in an amazing NICU and I feel very strongly that without the dedicated knowledgeable staff Elizabeth would not have done as well as she has”.

After three and a half months, Elizabeth was able to go home. The most difficult time was 1-2 weeks before she came home because mom and dad so desperately wanted her to be home with them.

Elizabeth is definitely not unscathed by her prematurity. She was diagnosed with a hearing impairment at 4 months old and her reflux continued at home limiting her intake. She vomited constantly and this caused her to become aversive to eating. Elizabeth was on oxygen for a while at home due to her BPD and now continues to be prone to pneumonia and respiratory illnesses.

Elizabeth has Cerebral Palsy (an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious conditions, caused by brain damage before birth or during infancy, characterized by impairment of muscular coordination.) She can walk independently but despite aggressive physiotherapy her gross motor skills are in the 17 month range. Her CP also affects her speech and fine motor skills. Elizabeth is an extremely smart little girl but issues with attention and learning are becoming more apparent as she is being challenged academically.

Elizabeth is an only child. Angela says they have put off having another child until Elizabeth is more independent. Currently Elizabeth sees many medical specialists and therapists to help her succeed and develop. Having another child at the present would take away from the time that Elizabeth needs from her parents. They are also trying to prepare that if they did have another preemie they would be able to devote as much attention to him/her as they have done for Elizabeth.

If Angela had some advice for a new preemie mom it would be this: PLAY with your child. Things can be very overwhelming with so many professionals telling how you should teach, hold and talk to your baby, you spend so much time stimulating your child and fretting that you haven’t done enough that you begin to doubt your ability to parent. Structured playtime is as just as important as teaching your child to sit and crawl and it is a great time to relax and have fun together.

I asked Angela to describe Elizabeth in one word and she said “DETERMINED.”

Angela is a personal friend of mine, and I can definitely agree that Elizabeth is a determined young girl. She is bright, beautiful and an inspiration!

If you would like to read more about Elizabeth you can go here to ELIZABETH ANN

Other Amazing Preemies:

• Preemie Profile: 26 Week Twins Brian & Rylan
• Preemie Profile: 25 Weeker Brianna Rose
• Preemie Profile: 26 Weeker Gavin

November is Prematurity Awareness Month. In honor of this, some parents who have had babies prematurely have offered to tell their stories to create awareness about his important cause.

Our sixth profile is of Brian and Rylan.

Brian and Rylan were born on March 30th 2007 at 26 weeks 3 days. Mom Jamie is one mom who knows why her sweet boys were born early. Not only did she have Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome*, but doctors had also done an amnioreduction (the removal of large volumes of amniotic fluid by amniocentesis) a couple weeks before they were born. This caused the membrane to come loose off the uterine wall which got wrapped around Brian’s umbilical cord slowly cutting off his circulation. When they finally realized Brian had passed away they saw that blood was being shunted in all different directions and Rylan was loosing his life rather quickly so they did an emergency c-section to try and save him.

At birth Brian weighed 1lb 15 oz (he was always bigger than Rylan but mom think he weighed less after being born because he lost body fluids after he passed) and Rylan weighed 2lbs 4 oz.

The NICU stay for Rylan for the most part was fairly easy for them. Everyone had warned Jamie that it would be a rollercoaster ride and some days would be better than others. There was only one time when mom and dad didn’t know whether Rylan was going to make it. This was because they had done a PDA (patent ductus arteriosus) litigation and later that day one of his lungs collapsed. Doctors didn’t know this had happened so he was fighting extremely hard to live until they figured it out. They had Rylan moved from a regular ventilator to an oscillator (the oscillator ventilator provides constant pressure to the baby’s lungs that keeps them inflated with air. It then vibrates very rapidly which can often be seen by watching the infant’s chest wiggle) had his lung deflated at which time he was moved back to the conventional ventilator. After that incident his NICU stay was pretty much just slow and steady. He didn’t really have any more set backs. It was all just about gaining weight and breathing better.

After three months Rylan was able to leave the NICU. As for lasting effects from his prematurity, he has BPD (bronchopulmonary dysplasia) which when he gets sick makes it harder to recover from because his lungs are still pretty weak. He also had several big cysts he had to get removed under his trachea which were caused from being on the ventilator. Other than that, he is great. Mom and dad feel very lucky with him because he is a normal growing toddler now and you can’t even tell he was born so early.

Rylan has a big brother named Aiden who is five years old, born at 38 weeks. He also has a little sister Morgan who is ten months old, born at 37 weeks.

If Jamie had some advice for a new preemie mom is would be this: To think slow and steady wins the race. Don’t get your hopes up too much because in an instant they can come crashing down. When it was getting closer for Rylan to be released I would be thinking ok, today is the day and for almost two weeks I was thinking that same thing every day. It just takes time for them to get stronger and healthier. Prayer is also a great piece of advice: you can’t go wrong saying a prayer for your preemie every day or rather 100 times a day.

I asked Jamie to describe Rylan in one word and she said “MIRACLE”.

This boy truly is a little miracle!

*Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome is a condition of the placenta that develops only with identical twins that share a placenta. Blood vessels connect within the placenta and divert blood from one fetus to the other. It occurs in about 15 percent of twins with a shared placenta. In TTTS, blood is shunted from one fetus to the other through blood vessel connections in a shared placenta. Over time, the recipient fetus receives too much blood, which can overload the cardiovascular system and cause too much amniotic fluid to develop. The smaller donor fetus does not get enough blood and has low amounts of amniotic fluid.*

Related Articles:

• Preemie Profile: 25 Weeker Brianna Rose
• Preemie Profile: 26 Weeker Gavin
• Preemie Profile: 32 Week ‘Twincredible Twosome’ Ross & Riley
• Preemie Profile: 24 Weeker Johann

November is Prematurity Awareness Month. In honor of this, some parents who have had babies prematurely have offered to tell their stories to create awareness about his important cause.

Our fourth profile is of Gavin Paquette.

Gavin was born on December 22nd 2007 at 26 weeks 4 days, however the doctor said he was more the size of a baby born at 25 weeks and 3 days. They thought that possibly mom Jennifer was confused about the conception date however she wasn’t because she had IUI (Intrauterine insemination) to conceive.

Jennifer had HELLP syndrome (a life-threatening obstetric complication usually considered to be a variant of pre-eclampsia.) Gavin weighed a mere 640 grams when he was born.

During Gavin’s NICU stay he was intubated shortly after birth because the doctors said he was able to cry OR breathe, but not both at the same time. He was on the ventilator for 5 weeks when they were able (after a course of steroids) to wean him to CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure.) Gavin was on CPAP for 3-4 weeks, then they were able to wean him to high-flow nasal cannula oxygen. (He came home on oxygen and was on it until he was over a year old.)

Gavin was OG (oral-gastric) tube fed for several weeks after starting on TPN for a few days after he was born. They wouldn’t feed him for the first few days because he hadn’t passed his meconium plug. They had to keep giving him enemas daily to pass it. Gavin started being fed by NG (nasogastric) tube after a while.

About a week after he was born he ended up with pneumonia, and shortly thereafter he developed MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is a bacterium responsible for difficult-to-treat infections) in one of his eyes. Parents were unable to touch his skin with bare hands until he reached 1000 grams, but he had MRSA at that time, so they couldn’t touch him until after that was cleared up. Because of his fragile state and being on the ventilator, they were unable to hold him until he was 5 weeks old, and that was only with gloves and gowns on due to the fact that he still had the MRSA.

They started trying to bottle feed Gavin at 34 weeks. Breastfeeding was given a try in the hospital after working on bottle feeding, but Gavin never took to it. Most of his NICU stay was spent watching him desat (several hundred times a day at first!), and then trying to get him to gain weight so his lungs would get better. He retained fluid, so they started him on diuretics which he continued for about 6 months.

Gavin spent a total of 103 days in the NICU before coming home. As far as effects from his prematurity, he has BPD (Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia-a chronic lung disorder that is most common among children who were born prematurely, with low birthweights, and who received prolonged mechanical ventilation.) A neurologist told Jennifer that all preemies have some degree of brain damage. She does not know yet if that’s true. Gavin seems to be mostly caught up at least to his adjusted age, and his physical health (except for his lungs, which are getting better all the time.)

Gavin did have reflux while in the NICU and when he came home, but there was no luck with treating it with Prevacid or Zantac. They decided to just not treat it since it wasn’t that bad. He has been diagnosed with failure to thrive (a condition in which a child loses or fails to gain weight and grows at a slower rate than expected) since he wouldn’t drink more than a few ounces at a time until just recently. Gavin is finally starting to catch up on weight though.

If Jennifer had one piece of advice for a new preemie mom it would be this: Join a support group and get as much information and help as you can!

I asked Jennifer to describe Gavin in one word and she said “FIGHTER”.

I agree! It is not easy for any baby born this early to pull through the NICU without a fight!

Nicolas Cage, his wife Alice Kim and son Kal-el paid a visit to a hospital in Bath trying to raise money to open up a new neo-natal intensive care unit.

There was quite a crowd at Royal United Hospital waiting for pictures and photographs with the actor. He urged everyone to “buy a brick” in order to raise the funds needed for the NICU.

Cage, Alice and his son met some of the nurses, parents and some of the babies.

“I love all children, I love babies,” he told BBC News.”

Heartbeat actor Jason Durr joined Cage. His twins were born at Royal United Hospital.

“If you ever wanted to find a place where there are little angels on earth then it’s here and they come and care for your children,” he said.

SOURCE

Another exciting giveaway! My good friend Shannon who I met while in the NICU with my son has started making jewelry that is absolutely gorgeous. Shannon had twin girls Olivia and Avery at 26.6 weeks on June 15th 2005.

Shannon’s personalized hand stamped sterling silver jewelry is a wonderful gift for a friend, family member or even yourself! And what about that new mom you know? This would be perfect.

Her website, Little Bits of Me has pictures of all of her designs. As well, she is open to ideas and will work with you to figure out exactly what you would like.

I have a necklace that she made for me and I wear it almost every single day. I get comments on it all of the time. I also had her make one for my sister in law when she was moving away. Very impressed! And of course I did get daddy a keychain with his boys names engraved on it. There is something for everyone!!!

Winners Choice! Shannon offered one of our readers the opportunity win one of here jewelry pieces.

Congratulations to our winner Lorene who said,

I also left a comment about her teardrop necklace, really pretty. If I won I would get something for my mother-in-law because she never buys anything for herself.

Thank you to the sites who blogged about our giveaway:

• Northtoagnr

Exciting news in India. A 24-year old mother has welcomed the first all-male set of quintuplets, incidentally, also the lone surviving set in India. Sabira Khan delivered the five babies yesterday at 28 weeks gestation by C-section in just 3 minutes.

“The set was conceived naturally. This, apart from being the first survivor set in India, is the eleventh all-male set and the seventeenth set of natural conception in the world,” said Dr Suchitra Pandit, the gynaecologist who operated upon Sabira. The average weight of the babies is 800 grams.

Their proud mom was happy that the operation was successful but wished that at least one of the five was a baby girl. Her husband Ubed, who runs a garment shop, was also happy with his bundles of joy.

“Today is Jumma (Friday). And it was on a Jumma when I got to know my wife was pregnant with five babies. I am very happy. We will be able to afford their upbringing,” he told reporters.

Two of the babies are on ventilators, the rest are in the NICU to gain strength and weight. Doctors expect them to stay in the hospital for 6-8 weeks.

Citing statistics, the spokesperson said that only 16 sets of quintuplets have been born without ovulation-inducing drugs in the world so far.

‘Ours is the 17th one in the world. In India, there have been five sets of quintuplets out of which two were stillborn, the third and fourth set were born but died within two hours. The fourth set of quintuplets were delivered at Lucknow but they were undiagnosed and two died,’ he said.

Related Articles:

• Set Of Quads and Quints Enrolled in Same Kindergarten Class
• Tucson Couple Welcomes Quintuplets
  
• Wisconsin Couple Welcomes Quintuplets

SOURCE SOURCE

Leigh Dumighan and David Newcombe have a lot to be thankful for just one year after their son Warwick was born.

The smiling birthday boy was born under extreme complications that meant if he survived he would have a difficult life ahead of him.

Born at 29 weeks gestation, Warwick arrived weighing just two pounds.

On arrival, he was diagnosed with a bleed on the brain, heart problems and spent an agonising three weeks in intensive care.

After a fungal infection gripped hold of his heart, doctors told the couple that if he pulled through he would still be severely disabled, not be able to see, hear, move around, or even know who they were.

Three weeks after his premature birth, Leigh and David made the heartbreaking decision to take him out of his incubator, withdraw his treatment and allow him to die with dignity in their arms.

They stayed with him in a private hospital room for eight days, giving him the cuddles they had been unable to and waiting for him to pass away.

But astonishingly, and despite him stopping breathing 18 times, he battled to survive and has celebrated the first birthday his parents thought they would never see.

Leigh said: “When we took the decision to let him pass away, it was the hardest thing we have ever had to do.

“The prognosis was highly likely that he would be deaf, blind, bedridden and quadriplegic – the quality of life he would have had would have just been unbearable.

“That’s why we decided to take him off treatment, I knew he’d had enough.

“We wanted to give him all the cuddles and kisses every baby needs and deserves without all the wires and pain.

“The hospital gave us a private room to say goodbye in and told us to get him baptised as quickly as possible.

“We stayed in that room waiting for him to die for eight days, there were times when he stopped breathing and his face went a shade of blue and we thought it was it.

“He was on a do not resuscitate order but he seemed to start himself back up.

“He stopped breathing 18 times, the heart rate monitor went off and we prepared ourselves for the worst.

“Warwick brought himself back to life, they didn’t even expect him to last one night – he had no drugs or treatment, nothing.

“He slept with me in a bed in that room for those eight days, hearing my heart beating as he lay beside me, his skin on mine.

“What happened to Warwick is a pure miracle, it’s as simple as that.”

After nine days in the care by parent room, doctors allowed Leigh and David to take tiny Warwick home to their house in Coventry, weighing just three pounds.

Three months later he was given the all-clear by medics, who said he was not going to die.

Leigh, who was a finance worker but is now involved with baby charity Bliss, said:

“We went to hospital on October 6 and saw a heart specialist and brain specialist.

“That’s when we had the amazing news that the heart infection had completely cleared up and that he was going to survive.

“Now when people see him who don’t know he has the palsy they have no idea there is anything wrong with him at all.

“When he gets older I know he will be able to crawl and talk and the fact he is celebrating his birthday is amazing when you think about what has happened to him.

“A year ago we made the right decision – I know that because he survived.

“He is not meant to be here, but he is and I think it is a miracle.

“I hope his story just gives hope to other mums of premature babies.”

While this is not the outcome for all babies in this situation, this little man has shown us that he is a fighter. Nurses will tell you that they spend hours a day tweaking a baby’s oxygen, pressures and feeds, just to have them do better on their own terms.

Related Articles:

• 12-Ounce Baby Beats Odds at Pittsburgh Hospital
• Amazing Baby Doing Well After Her Heart Was Repaired In The Womb
• Parents ‘Last Good Bye’ Saved Their Baby’s Life

SOURCE

A woman was forced to deliver her premature baby in the back seat of a car after a private hospital in Dubai rejected admitting her because it didn’t have the facilities to look after a premature baby.

The 25-year-old woman arrived at the hospital 35 weeks pregnant and in labour, but was asked to leave because they were not equipped to deal with premature babies.

Hospital staff carried her on a stretcher to her friend’s car and left her there. “I thought they [were] taking me to an ambulance and another hospital as I was in severe pain,” she said.

Then the woman’s water broke.

“Within a few minutes I saw the baby crying on the back seat of the car,” she said.

After her water broke, a friend went back into the hospital looking for help. Seven doctors came out to assist in time for one cut the umbilical cord. The woman was taken into the emergency ward as she was bleeding heavily.

She suffered three episodes of cardiorespiratory arrest. The baby also is suffering from breathing trouble.

Both mom and baby were taken to a government hospital that had an incubator for the newborn.

According to the hospital report the baby girl is in critical condition suffering from bleeding in the brain. The report notes the baby stopped breathing three times.

In Dubai Health Department rules state that patients who are three terms, less than 35 weeks, are not allowed to be treated in private hospitals because they are not equipped with NICU’s.

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• Husband Helps Deliver Wife’s Surprise Baby
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• Baby Abandoned After Being Delivered On Airplane
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