I spent 4 weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The first 2 days I was on a ventilator. My mom had been given a shot of steroids to help my lungs mature, but I wanted out so badly, it didn't have time to work completely. I got 3 doses of a medicine called surfactant to help my lungs mature and I was then able to be taken off of the ventilator. After that I was placed on CPAP. CPAP is a way of forcing air into my lungs without a tube in my throat. I was able to breathe on my own with CPAP but I still need help. After 3 days I was only on supplemental oxygen. And that's just the start of what they had to do for me!
I experienced bradycardias (slow heart rate) and apneas (I stopped breathing). I was put on a medicine to help the apneas. It is called aminophylline. The nurses had to watch me very carefully to make sure I was okay. There were alarms attached to me to let them know if I had a problem. Some of those alarms were a cardiac monitor or or EKG and a pulse oximeter. The EKG watches my heart rate and makes sure the electrical rhythm is okay and the pulse oximeter checks the oxygen level in my blood to make sure I'm getting enough. There was also a thermometer probe attached to my stomach to tell the nurses if I was warm enough. They took very good care of me and my mom and dad.
Babies that are born at 34 or 35 weeks are able to grasp the concept of breathing and swallowing at the same time. I was only 31 weeks, so I had to be fed by a oralgastrict tube. They only fed me 5cc's at a time which is equal to about a teaspoon. I was fed that way every 3 hours and supplemented with nutrition by intravenous (IV). The IV's can be put in lots of places. The belly button is a good place because it's very sturdy. New borns and especially preemies have fragile veins that won't tolerate a catheter (the small piece of plastic that's left in the vein) for long. Anther place that babies have IV's is in their scalp veins. I had one of these when I was transferred to another hospital. There weren't too many other places left to put an IV in. The fluid they gave me is called TPN or transparental nutrition. It's a bunch of different vitamins, electrolytes and sugar that I need to get healthy.
One of the things that they had to watch for was my bilirubin levels. After a few days, my skin turned yellow and I had to be placed underneath special ultraviolet lights. Mom and Dad were very upset when they saw me. I had to wear blindfolds to protect my eyes from the light. The lights were enough for me, so I didn't need a blood transfusion. My uncle had donated blood for me just in case. They need special blood for preemies that is CMV-. CMV is a harmless virus in most peoples blood that can hurt preemies or anybody with a weak immune system.
Another thing they have to watch for is intracranial hemmorhages. The way they check for this is with an ultrasound of the brain. This is done several times to make sure there is no bleeding. I was lucky and everything was okay for me.
I was kept in an isolette for my entire stay at Westchester. Westchester is a level 1 NICU. After 8 days, I was transferred to another hospital that was closer to my mom and dad as well as my grandparents. I rode over by ambulance to Good Samaritan Hospital in an isolette. Mommy came with me and Daddy followed us over. There was so much traffic I didn't think we were ever going to get there!
Good Sam continued to care for me, and after about a week, they were able to take me off the oxygen completely. My feedings had increased and my Daddy was always trying to sneak in more. I had a lot of problems tolerating the formula when they tried to increase the amount I ate. Eventually, they gave up tube feeding me because I gave them such a hard time. I was able to eat by bottle sooner than I was supposed to and then I really gained weight! Babies typically gain about 15 grams a day. On most days I gained about 30-40 grams and continued steadily after they bottle fed me. Usually bottle feeding is hard for babies because it requires a lot of energy. I hated that tube though, so I did really well with the bottle. While I was at Good Sam, my parents were able to care for me like a full term baby. They gave me a bath once a day and bottle fed me whenever they could.
I was almost ready to go home and they needed to check my eyes to see if they were okay. Preemies eyes aren't fully developed when they are born and they can have retinopathy of prematurity. This is when the blood vessels to your eyes are not fully developed. If they start to grow wrong, you can be blind. This is why they have to be checked. The problem can be fixed with cryosurgery (freezing them to kill them so they grow back properly). My eyes were okay and I only had one more hurdle to pass!
Preemies have a hard time maintaining thier weight. I was only 3 and a half pounds so I had no body fat! The doctors try to get me to gain weight and lower the temperature on the isolette so I can learn to keep myself warm. It takes a lot of energy and I can lose weight trying. I did well and was able to keep my weight and stay warm too. Now it was time to go home to my family and meet all of my aunts, uncles and cousins who had only seen pictures of me.
D-day! (or discharge day!) Mommy and Daddy couldn't put the special outfit on me that my Uncle Chuck and Aunt Karen bought because it was too big. Imagine how silly I felt going home in July with long sleeves, a hat and 2 blankets on me to keep me warm outside in the 80 degree heat. I weighed 4 pounds and 10 ounces when I went home.
Mommy had a hard time dealing with me being in the hospital. She was very emotional and cried a lot. Thankfully Daddy took good care of her. They are both paramedics so they understood a lot of what was happenning to me. Sometimes it just made it even scarier. I'm okay now and I've only had a few problems. Because my lungs weren't developed I sometimes get asthma when I'm sick. Everyone has to watch me carefully to see if I wheeze. It's getting better, I used to have to take steroids whenever I was sick. Now I just use a nebulizer with ventolin and it helps me out. I had no other long term effects from being born early, and I was checked by the Early Intervention Program to see if my behavior developed on time. Other than being a little short for my age, I'm 32 inches tall, I weigh the right amount and I do all the things a full term baby my age would do. I'm so proud that I'm now 2 years old and I've officially lost my preemie label.
The song that you hear in the background "Butterfly Kisses", was popular when I was born. It's very special to my Mommy and Daddy. It reminds them of how special I am and how lucky they are to have me.
