David's BirthStory!!!
Our Preemie- David Jeffrey
Born: January 15, 1999
at New Hanover Regional Medical Center
in Wilmington, NC
David was born on a Friday evening at 10:02pm. He was due at the end of March/beginning of April. However, he had other plans! He was born on JANUARY 15, 1999! *smile* I guess he was impatient (like his Daddy!)
Nonetheless, it was Thursday morning around 5am and I noticed that my PJ's were slowly getting drenched! This was our first child, so this wasn't expected.
I woke my hubby, called the Labor and Delivery at the hospital and asked them how quickly I needed to come in. At that point----we grabbed our stuff and ran out the door!
That frist day was pretty uneventful. I was observed and the hospital staff told us that my contractions had decreased and weren't even showing on the monitor.
Now, I must add something. The staff would not physically exam me, because if a person goes into premature labor--frequent examinations can induce infection. That is a bad thing. So they trust the monitor that is placed externally on your tummy.
On with the story.....
However, on Friday (Day 2) the big pain began. I kept telling the staff that I was having pains in my abdomen and they said that it was probably the baby moving around. Since my water broke--this would be painful. According to the monitor, I wasn't having any contractions. So I said, "ok."
Then it just kept getting worse and worse. By late afternoon, I was in agony. Hubby was in the room holding my hand during the pain and playing with the Nintendo Gameboy (that's a man for you!)
Seriously though, he was a great comfort. He was right by my side, telling me how good I was doing.
By late evening, I was still in pain. I was ready to kill someone. I told the staff all day that my pain hurt and was worse than the contractions from the day before and they just said, "Just try to relax"
Ok. Fine. I'll try.
Welp! That lasted for (maybe) an hour.
Then I turned into "Cranky-Pregnant-Woman"!!!!
I basically grabbed the next nurse I saw and told her that I HAD to be examined. I needed to know that physically I was ok. (not just according to a monitor)
Low and behold-----> I WAS 8.5-9 CM DIALATED!!!
So off to L&D I went!
This was at 9:30pm. At 10:02pm David was born. I only had about 4 or 5 actual hard "pushes" and despite David's premature size, it hurt like the devil!
(I later found out that I had a "dry birth" *OUCH!*)
After the last push, my angel appeared. I could barely see anything, but my hubby said that he was pinkish-purple and squirming around. It seemed like forever before we heard him cry, but he did and with great strength!
Then it happened! The doctor said, "Congratulations, it's a girl!" We went, "HUH? NO IT'S NOT!" (sonogram showed a boy) We were right! It was a boy.
I am very proud to say that we had a little fighter.
His apgar scores were 8/9. Anything over a 7 is good for a full term baby, so we were thrilled.
Of course, he did have to the NICU for observation. He was never on a ventilator or anything. Just a little Oxygen for a few hours after he was born as a precautionary thing.
Soon, I was back in my room calling up the world. Hubby and I were the proud parents and wanted everyone to know.
David soon 'graduated' from the NICU within days and went to the Transition Nursery until he came home.
All of the staff had been impressed with his growth and development.
And for all of you Mommies (& Daddies) that have preemies.....keep your faith and positive attitude. We don't look and treat our baby any different than 'a baby'. Not our 'poor little preemie'. My opinion is that he is David. I only expect him to develop as he does. I do my part in stimulating him and singing, talking, reading and everything else to him and he responds at his own pace.
All of his Development Counselors, Doctors, Nurses and other staff has all commented on how well he is growing. From his size to his development. All I know is that we have our little family now and we can't imagine it any other way!
