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Preemies
jbranden12
member
Intro/XP from PgAL: Anna Kirsten surprised us at 26w3d
jbranden12
member
in Preemies
Hi ladies. I just wanted to introduce myself and share our story as I hope to gain guidance and support from you amazing mothers. A little background: our first daughter, Patricia Kirsten, was stillborn at 31 weeks last March with no cause found. Our rainbow, Anna Kirsten, joined us yesterday at 26w3d. Short story: I went into pre term labor and ended up with an emergency c-section. Anna Kirsten was born at 3:06 pm weighing 2 lbs and 6 oz. She was transferred to a nearby children's hospital and is stable as far as I know now.Long story: After a very normal morning, I went to the bathroom at work at around 10am and had a gush of blood and mucous. I was scared because I never had bleeding with either pregnancy, but thought maybe I was just losing some of my mucous plug. I decided to go straight to my doctor's office where they checked me and found I was 2 cm dilated with visible membranes. We went immediately upstairs to L&D where they hooked me up to magnesium surface and I got a steroid shot. They have a level III nice here but don't take babies until 30 weeks. They wanted to transfer me to a larger hospital nearby and keep her in as long as possible to give the steroids a chance to work. Unfortunately I started having contractions and funneling and she was breech so they decided to do an immediate c-section. She did not cry out, but my DH said she whimpered a little bit.They stabilized Anna and transported her to a children's hospital nearby. I got to see her in her transport before she left. She is so tiny but looks just like her big sister! I will stay here and recover but obviously hope to join her as quickly as I can. My DH is also here because he is developing a cold and couldn't go with her. He is frustrated but we are thankful my mom could go with her. At first, Anna was breathing on her own with a cpap but last night she started struggling and had to go on the ventilator. She is feisty and pulled out the ventilator tube once already. Her organs are not fully developed but they have started her on small amounts of donor milk and I am hoping mine will come in soon. I have been able to pump some colostrum and every drop is precious. Overall, I am steady, just trying to stay sane and focus on my jobs: pumping and getting better. We are shocked to find ourselves on this journey because pre term labor was not an issue with our Patricia who was twice as heavy. We are hoping to get some answers as to why this happened, but preparing for none such as we received with our angel. Right now, I am just trying to focus on the fact that Anna will have a birth certificate. We have a long road ahead of us, but hopefully we will bring our rainbow home.I hope to get to know you all better!
Our Angel Patricia born sleeping 3/30/12 at 31 weeks
Our Fighter Anna born early 1/8/13 at 26 weeks
Hoping to bring home #3 due 9/9/15
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Re: Intro/XP from PgAL: Anna Kirsten surprised us at 26w3d
Peanut Butter and Jelly!
<a href="http://s568.photobucket.com/albums/ss122/AliceNP/?action=view
Welcome!! That's a great size for your LO -- our girls were only a few ounces bigger, and 3 full weeks older! Just take it a day at a time -- you will have great days, and really, really, REALLY rough days...we're just seeing the light at the end of the tunnel ourselves, as they're considering discharging the girls next week. Just this past Sunday night I had a total breakdown...there's really no rhyme or reason -- it's just so emotionally draining.
Like PP said, keep it up with pumping. I was a VERY slow starter volume-wise, and had more than one conversation with the LC where I was fighting tears I was so stressed about it. You have been pumped with all sorts of medication, are under tons of stress -- all of these will delay when your milk will come in. I kept at it -- pumping every 2-3 hours around the clock (I've only recently stretched my middle of the night sessions to every 3.5 hours), and I'm now producing nearly 50oz/day (which, based on where I started, no one would have ever thought was possible!), and have an awesome freezer stash, since the girls aren't up to that level of intake/day just yet. My attitude was that I would do what I could -- if we had to supplement eventually, it wasn't the end of the world (and still isn't if anything should change).
Congratulations on the birth of your little one! I'm sorry to hear that she had to go on the vent. My little girl was born at 26w2d, but she was only 1 pound 12 ounces. She spent 3 weeks on the vent before transitioning to the CPAP. I hope that your LO doesn't have to spend long on the vent.
Also, not to freak you out or anything, but babies that are this young will usually require a blood transfusion at some point. Ask your neos if it is possible to see if your DH is a match. Our daughter ended up needing 5 blood transfusions, and DH was able to be the direct donor for 3 of them.
Welcome to the board. The ladies here are wonderful!
Me: PCOS DH: Low everything (MFI)
Clomid with TI x 3 2010 BFN
Clomid+IUI+Ovidrel 2010 BFN
IVF w/ICSI #1 2011
9/8/11 Beta #1: 2082!! 9/19/11 Beta#2 34,689!! U/S 9/22/11 HR 127! 11/8/11 HR 150! 12/6/11 HR 136! 12/14/11 HR 139! Born at 26w2d on 2/4/2012! After 83 days in the NICU, Adalyn came home on 4/26/12!
FET 1 3/2013 BFN
FET 2 5/2013 BFN
www.virginiakkent.blogspot.com
Congrats on your baby girl and happy to see the great update. What a great weight for 26 and 3! I'm so sorry that you have to deal with NICU after your heartbreaking journey to get here.
I echo the advice to make sure to pump every 2-3 hours. The first days are really important for establishing your supply (even though very little, if any, milk will be coming at this point).