A Work in Progress

I've spent some time this evening updating Liam's Montage. I'm pretty sure it's already longer than Avery and Xander's 1st years combined!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Liam's Birth Story - In Honor of Prematurity Awareness Day

Birth Stats:

Liam Rhyse
Date of Birth: 3/14/2010 at 4:12 PM
Original Due Date: 6/4/2010
Weeks pregnant: 28w2d

Weight: 2 pounds, 10 ounces
Height: 14 inches long
Head Circumference: 10 inches

Birth story:

I woke up on 3/13/10 with a dull, throbbing headache. We had lunch with my in-laws then went home where I slept most of the afternoon except to get up to take Tylenol. When I woke up, my headache was still there and my vision was blurry. Since I have a history of pre-eclamsia and have already had high bp with this pregnancy, I finally decided around 7:30 PM to have hubby take me to L&D, fully thinking they'd tell me everything was okay and send me home. When I got to L&D, my bp was 142/92 and then went up to 142/104 and I had 2+ protein in my urine. My OB out of town, so they contacted the hospital's on-call OB who admitted me for observation for 24 hours and to do a 24-hour urine collection. They also did bloodwork for pre-eclamsia. Overnight, my blood pressure appeared to have stabilized and the labs didn't look terrible so the plan was for me to be discharged after the 24-hour urine collection was finished at 8:40 PM on 3/14/10. Still, though, my headache and blurry vision persisted all night and all day - they gave me caffeine, Tylenol, Stadol, and Percocet to no avail. Anyway, sometime around 2:30 PM, my headache and vision got 10x worse so I pushed the call-light and asked for my nurse...and that's all I remember until I came to with a room full of nurses and a doctor standing over me. Apparently, my BP spiked and I had a seizure.

Everything moved very quickly from there. They drew some more labs (coagulation labs?) and had me sign consents to deliver. I was wheeled into the OR before hubby could even make it to the hospital from our home 30 miles away (hospital has strict no children under 14 rule with the H1N1 stuff so he was at home with our other 2 boys).

Anyway, once in the OR, I was given a spinal block so I could be awake for the surgery, but it went too far up and I couldn't breathe, so they had to put me out under general anesthesia so I could be given a breathing tube so I didn't get to see him. Liam was born at 4:12 PM and they said his Apgars were 5 & 9. Because I had to be on magnesium sulfate, I was confined to bed and unable to even see Liam until he was over 24 hours old.

Shane and a nurse had brought me pictures of Liam to my recovery room so I thought I was prepared for when I finally got to meet him around 9:00 PM on 3/15/10. They took me to the NICU as they transferred me to the Post-Partum Unit. I was wheeled in and scrubbed up then taken to my tiny baby's bedside. The pictures, however, failed to completely prepare me for the sight I saw. In the pictures he looked small, but not THAT small. He was so, SO tiny. I immediately started crying at the sight of him laying there in that giraffe bed, so tiny, so helpless, so...frail. His skin was nearly transparent - to the point I could see the little valves opening and closing on his heart as his body pumped blood through his system. As hard as that little body was working, it still couldn't keep blood throughout his body so his right foot was a grey-ish color - which I learned was called "blanching." They had to put a heat pack on the opposite foot to try to improve the circulation. I was not allowed to touch him, hold him, cuddle him - all the things new moms look forward to with their babies. In fact, holding him would have to wait almost a month as the nurses and neonatologists struggled to stabilize him enough that he could tolerate holdings. I was only allowed to touch him every 3-4 hours during "touch times" which were when they took his vitals.

Today, my little miracle is 8 months and 3 days old. Like most preemies, appropriately-dubbed "roller coaster" ride did not end the day he was discharged from the NICU (which was May 27, 2010). Instead, he has been subsequently re-hospitalized a total of 7 times so far and we've been told to expect many more. The day we were discharged from the NICU, we were told he would only need supplemental oxygen for a maximum of 14 days. Initially, it appeared that would hold true, but as the end of June approached, things started taking a turn for the worse. Now, we've been told not to expect him off the oxygen even by his 1st birthday since he is now on 0.5 to 1.5 liters at a time and has been as high as 2 liters recently. But, we will continue to pray that he kicks the o2 habit before then because we know God is still in the miracle business.

Come what may, our precious Liam will continue to amaze us - of this I have no doubt!


Most recent growth stats:

Actual Age: 8 months
Adjusted Age: 5 months
Weight: 13 pounds, 11 oz.
Height: 26-inches

Decided to take Liam back to the eye specialist b/c his left eye does its own thing...so even though we weren't due to go back until June 2011 (for our 1 year follow-up), I took him in today and his right eye is a lot stronger than his left eye. We now have to patch 2 hours per day for the next 3 months and he'll probably have to have surgery (but they're gonna try to prolong that as long as possible because they don't want to put him under anesthesia with his lung issues).... :'(

On another note, his neurology appointment went well and as long as his EEG comes back normal next week, we'll get to start weaning off the phenobarbital - which will take 50 days to accomplish...

LIAM'S LUNGS SOUND CLEAR!!!!!!! I wanna scream it from the mountain tops! He has a nasty stomach virus and is running a 103-degree fever, so we had to take him in and the doctor listened then said "I have NEVER heard his lungs sound 100% clear." YAY!!!

Why is it that little voice in the back of my head is saying "the bottom will fall out soon." Shut up, voice, I'm enjoying a proud mommy moment, here...lol...