Back in October my doctor questioned why my belly was so small. I was scheduled in for an ultrasound where i found out my baby had IUGR and I was immediately rushed to the hospital for another ultrasound and heart rate monitoring. We noticed that the babys heart rate would sometimes drop for 30 seconds to a minute. The doctor decided I needed to get steroid injections to help her lungs develop and I have her heart rate monitored twice a week until the the due date and the goal was to keep her cooking until 37 weeks. In November I went to my weekly monitoring appointment where her heart rate dropped for what seemed like 5 minutes, they had me moving around in all positions, i was on my hands and knees, one leg and arm in the air until it went back up. I was rushed to the hospital again. I was in the triage all day from 11:30-12:00 until 8 at night. I was sent to the labor room, I had another steroid injection so at this point the goal was to keep her in there another 24 hours. Right after the doctor said this and left the room her heart rate dropped again, suddenly 3 nurses came in and I was sent to the OR for an emergency c-section. When I'm nervous I tend to make stupid jokes so the doctors and nurses were laughing and helping me relax. November 16th my daughter was born, she weighed 2 pounds 6 ounces and was a 33 week and one day preemie.She's almost 2 months old and she's still in the NICU. In the beginning her heart rate would still drop when she was eating, but its happening less and less now and she's slowly becoming more stable. The only thing keeping her there now is her anemia. She's had a blood transfusion which helped improve it, so then they decided to give her epogen shots for 3-4 weeks. When she had her blood work done on Friday, the doctors said there was no improvement and her hematocrit was at 19. I was so heartbroken. This was said during rounds so I was doing everything I could to not cry in front of 10 different people. She had another blood transfusion yesterday so I'm hoping they'll find out what's causing her anemia and shell be able to come home in the next few weeks. I'm so frustrated. I'm not getting these 2 months back, even though I've gone every day I feel like I've missed out on so much. I just need someone who has been through something similar to tell me their story and tell me that everything is gonna be okay.
Re: *Birth story* Looking for reassurance
My LO was born 33 weeks 5 days and is still in the NICU (almost 6 weeks now). I hope you have a lot of support, I don't know what I would do without family in town. Sorry I can't give you any more encouragement. Just know that anemia is a common condition for preemies.
If you have any doubt about the treatment get the neonatologist to sit with you and answer your questions. It's not wrong to ask about risks and benefits of treatments, even if you plan to follow the doctors recommendations. I always ask questions even though I know I want to follow the doctors recommendations. I want to know the risks of the treatments and want to know what kind of pain, discomfort or dangers will face my child.
*Edited word choice*
Also, how often is she getting epo? Chloe got shots monday, Wednesday, Friday for 7 weeks.
Edited for spelling