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Friday, August 19, 2011

Our NICU Journey and Other Struggles


This was the scariest experience of my life. I didn't know that anything was wrong with my baby. All of our ultrasounds were normal. She was even supposed to weigh normally! It seemed like our world was crashing down around us.

"Your baby should be back in your room by the end of the night." That is what everyone kept saying. Well that didn't happen. I dont understand why they even said it. It just raises your hopes to let them crash and burn. She ended up having to stay for TWO WEEKS! We even had all of our things packed and ready to put her in the carseat at one time. Then we got delayed another week. It was soul shattering.

Lets start from the begining shall we? I was diagnosed with PCOS in August of  2009. We started trying to get pregnant then. I always knew that something wasn't right with my system. I never had normal periods. Starting from age ten they were messed up.


At age thirteen my mother put me on birth control. Not that I was even sexually active. My sisters had gotten pregnant at ages 14 and 15 (on purpose) and I guess she was just scared. To this day I blame the birth control. I gained 20 lbs in the first three months. 20 POUNDS! That is insanity.


Well this kept on till I was 18 and found the love of my life. I moved from Texas to Ohio just to be with him. (See previous posts for this story). All the stress that came from the move away from all of my friends and family had gained me another 30-40 lbs. I know. I was huge. I was 231 pounds of sad young woman. But the one part of my life that I was happy with was my wonderful husband!



He was everything that I ever dreamed of. That is why we started trying as soon as I found out I had this disease. All I ever wanted to be was a mommy. It took us 12 cycles to get pregnant. Six cycles of Provera, Metformin, and Clomid. We had actually given up the month before. It seems like it always happens when you take a break. I found out on my birthday that we were pregnant. I was puking and puking and puking some more. I didn't even think that I was pregnant. I went to the hospital and found out there. I of course had to check again the next day.


So from day one I had trouble. Morning sickness galore and through the pregnancy I had high blood pressure, swelling, gestational diabetes, preterm labor, hospital visits and bed rest. She was of course a girl.


At 35 weeks she was estimated to weigh 7 lbs 3 oz. I was measuring 39 weeks. I ended up in the hospital when I was 37 weeks due to high blood pressure.



 I was there for a week and it stabablized its self so I was allowed to go home. At 38 weeks I had another ultrasound and she was measuring 7 lbs 13 oz. I had no idea how it was possible for her to only gain 10 oz in three weeks, but they werent concerned. So the induction went as planned at 39 weeks. (See Just My Luck, A Photo Journey)



We went in, ended up in an emergency c section and our NICU journey began. The first problem was her blood sugar. She was so used to my sugar being high that she couldnt keep up. That problem was resolved in three days. Not without 9 different I.V.'s of course. She was bruised, literally, from head to toe. Our next obstacle was jaundice.



She was put under the lights on the second day. While still on her I.V. and feeding tube. We were only allowed to hold her while trying to get her to eat. Which she couldn't do. She could barely take 10 cc's of breast milk. They wanted her to eat 75. So after three more days of lights, (day 5 of NICU), she was done. Now our only obstacle was to get her to eat. You would think that a 10 lb baby would know how to eat but thats where you are wrong. She was eating less than most of the premies.



Day after day after long, sad day we waited for her to figure it out. The doctors kept saying one more day, one more day. They said that a light bulb would come on one day and she would just start gulping it down. On day 9 of NICU we thought she had figured it out! We had all of our bags ready to go and she was all packed up and ready to go in her car seat. But it was time to eat. She only took 20 cc's. So they wanted us to wait for the next feeding to see how she would do. 10 cc's. The next feeding they put in the feeding tube again. She wasnt coming home.

We hit our lowest point. At one point we just sat in our bonding room begging God WHY? Why did this happen to us. There are so many bad people in the world that neglect their children and hurt them. Why was he punishing us? Why was our daughter struggling? All we could do was pray. Pray that she would be ok.

The next day they ordered a head ultrasound. Even they weren't sure why it was taking her so long to figure out how to eat. The results were negative for all the tests. Nothing was wrong with her brain. Thank the Lord. So we just kept waiting, and praying.

On day 13 she figured it out. Her bottles were being drained in a matter of minutes. If she took all of her bottles in a 24 hour period we were to go home!!!



On day 14 we came home. It was the happiest day of our lives. I really couldn't believe it. But little did we know that NICU wasn't the only struggle Lillie would have.

Baby acne. For three months so far. Its still not all the way gone.



Colic. For FOUR LONG WEEKS.



Constipation.

Milk allergy.

GERD.



Ear infection.


And here we are today.


She is getting so big. All of her problems are resolved and I have never been happier. I love my little chunk!!!!!!!!!

2 comments:

  1. It's amazing how much our littles can go through in such a short period of time. I'm so glad to hear/read that she is doing ok now.

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  2. What an amazing journey! I am glad to hear she is ok :) You have a beautiful family :)

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