Joining you a little late (long)

lilredd888

 Hi! I delivered Avery Elizabeth on 3/15 at 29 weeks 6 days. She came out 1 lb 10 oz 13 inches, was breathing on her own and has been in the NICU ever since. I have figured out that I have more time to Bump now that I am back to work lol. No pictures yet. I am trying to be less technologically challenged.

I found out that I had fibroids in my uterus on one of my earlier ultrasounds. There was a big ol honkin one that was sitting at the bottom that would probably block part of the birth canal. I asked the OB for an extra ultrasound to check on how big it was and to make sure that it was leaving Avery alone. At 28 weeks they told me she was 1 lb 2 oz when I knew she should be over 2 lbs by then. They did a doppler reading on the cord. I had cord flow issues where her cord wasn't gearing up to pump enough. The OB said that the thing that usually happens next is that the cord starts to take away from the baby. I spent 10 days on bedrest and she ended up gaining 10 ozs! before they finally told me it was D day.

Avery is now 2 lbs and 3 ozs. She's had a couple of setbacks. One of them was this weekend when they changed her feedings to continous flow for 3 hrs to condensed flow (alot of milk at once) every 2 hrs. She refluxed, asparated into her lungs and coded, needing oxygen and chest compressions to get back. She was put intubated, ended up with pnuemonia, had a blood transfusion and her feedings were stopped for a few days. She is now almost back where she was, at over 2 lbs,back to maximum continuious feeds (not trying the condensed feedings for a while), got some cute lil premie clothes on and back on her nasal oxygen tube. So now we wait for her to grow and try to progress in things again .

Her brain scan was normal, renal scan normal, eye exam is good so far. She does have a hole in her heart that they will look at again in a week.This will be fixed with surgery if it doens't close up on it's own. She has something called tethered spinal cord where a ligament is fusing her spinal cord to the base of her spine, making it lower than it should be. This can also be fixed with surgery later. She will also need physical therapy for a while because range of motion in her hips, legs and one foot is not as good as it should be. All these are fixable so Momma is less upset than she was each time something came up. It's been a rough month in the NICU. A serious roller coaster ride. But she's great right now, so I'm great. I guess that's how it's going to be. Hope everyone's doing well here.

vsalt31

Hi, I'm sorry that you're going through this.  I couldn't agree more that the NICU is a mean rollercoaster.  It sounds, however, that you're doing really well & staying positive.  Avery also sounds like such a little fighter.  And, I agree that putting clothes on our babies somehow makes things a little bit better.  Keep up the good work.  You're doing great!! 

BabyG_

Hi.  I'm sorry that you are facing this, but so glad that your LO sounds like such a trooper!  The NICU is a long, bumpy ride, but you will all get through it and LO will be home soon.

Hugs and stay positive!

lilredd888

Thank you, ladies . She is definitely one tough chic. I plan to hold it against her when she gets older and tries to whine lol.