About Samuel!
It was cloudy and cold outside on the day I was born, It was the 2 of April in the year 2000. I really turned my parents world upside down, they were not ready for me to come in to there world 3 ½ months too early!
My parents had been in the hospital for 11 days when I decided that it
was time..... Well the Doctor told mum and dad that they had to make
an emergency Caesarean section..... due to the fact that my mum
was really sick, it was discovered that she had severe pre-eclampsia, or toxemia.
It took 20 minutes..... then I was born in gestation week 25 (+1 day)...at a weight of 730 grams. (Samuel was put in an incubator and when he arrived in the NICU, Dad was with him.)
The
doctors said that I was doing really good from the beginning and I was
breathing on my one.....(apgr: 7,10,10) The only thing I needed was a CPAP ( Continuous Positive Airway Pressure , Pressurized air delivered to the baby's lungs to keep them expanded as the baby inhales &
exhales. )
My Mummy does not remember anything about when I was borne, she was put
to sleep by the doctors...and Daddy was not allowed in the room....
They were so scared that I would not make it, but I'm strong......
I
was doing good and then we encountered some problems.....
I got really sick and they put me in a respirator,
I had an open
vessel near my heart (PDA) and they had to operate on me to close
it. (Patent
ductus artiosus-(PDA)
An abnormal condition, common in preemies, in which the ductus- the
fetal blood vessel connecting the aorta and the pulmonary artery fails
to close after birth). I was 2 weeks old, and still not at the weight of 1 kilo. The
surgery went great and I could leave the respirator after 3 ½ days..
But I still hade the CPAP to fight with...
I
had extra oxygen for my hole stay at the hospital, not to much at the
end + 0,1 - 0,2 % extra... Normal room air is approximately 21% oxygen....
Mummy really tried to breastfeed me, but did I want it? NO! After
nearly 3 months in hospital she had to give up, and I really
liked that, (no more fights about the eating) so they gave me the
bottle and I ate!
When
I could eat like that the doctors did not se any reason for us to stay
in the hospital, so with oxygen and me connected to a pulse oximeter,
and a scared mum and dad we went home on leave the 19:th of July, (and
I was suppose to have been born 14:th of July!)
The 1 of August 2000 we were released from the hospital after spending
109 days away from home.
The following quote is from Thomas Web page written by his Dad Clark T. King. It hit me and I felt like I've could have written that too, so I asked for permission to use it on Samuels page and got the answer that it was OK....
Thank You Mr. King for letting me use it..
"The horror of an early birth is not just a matter of outcomes. It's a matter of a tiny baby who has lost the benefit of the ideal growing environment and will face challenges that most babies don't. It's a matter of losing a portion of the pregnancy. The fantasy moment is lost regardless of whether the baby is 15 weeks early, 10 weeks early, or even 4 weeks early. It's difficult to understand the feeling of loss if you haven't been there. "