{"id":920,"date":"2009-11-15T15:26:07","date_gmt":"2009-11-15T19:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cynthomas.com\/photocardblog\/?p=920"},"modified":"2009-11-15T15:26:07","modified_gmt":"2009-11-15T19:26:07","slug":"my-journey-nicu-beyond-part-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cynthomas.com\/journal\/my-journey-nicu-beyond-part-three\/","title":{"rendered":"My Journey to the NICU and Beyond – Part Three"},"content":{"rendered":"

November is Prematurity Awareness Month. RiverDog Prints supports one cause or charity a month and this one rests very close to home. I will be posting once a week in November, retelling my story of prematurity. I warn you before you read that some details are a bit graphic and personal, but anyone who has gone through this experience will know, that the details count for so much. You can support the March of Dimes by clicking the banner below, but first, read on for part three of my personal preemie story.
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\nThere are images that stay with you for a lifetime. When I was wheeled alone into the delivery room for the birth by Ceaserean of my second child, one arm lay perpendicular to me on a small pullout from the gurney. I was then asked to stretch out my other arm in the same way on the other side. I held that position for many minutes before they put me under and I was reminded of the pictures my family had as a kid of Jesus on the cross. I was open and vulnerable. I didn’t feel like I was going to be crucified, but that image was powerful and has stayed with me. At the time, I wasn’t fearful or I wouldn’t allow myself to be. I was resolute and would accept whatever was about to happen. This was my cross to bear. I thought about my husband in another room, sitting alone and awake and sick with worry. And then, I was out…
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\nIt was a good decision to put me out and have my husband wait in another room. As Eli was taken from me, his APGAR score was zero (ten is a healthy baby.) When they took it again five minutes later, it was one. I can only imagine what went on in that delivery room. We’ve all seen enough medical shows to imagine the scene in our heads. I awoke in recovery, my husband at my side, to find out that Eli was alive, but intubated in the NICU. I was immediately wheeled on the gurney to the NICU, which at first, I thought was odd. It dawned on me later that they wanted me and my husband to see him alive.
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\nEli was in an isolette (a tiny bed encased in see-through plastic with a flip-top.) He was tiny, wearing a little knit hat, sunglasses and sideburns. Yes, Eli had a stylin’ set of sideburns! And he seemed pissed, which calmed me. Eli would be our tiny fighter.
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\nThere was good news and bad news, as there always is in any NICU. Eli weighed roughly 1,000 grams, which is a benchmark in the preemie world. That equals 2.2 pounds and qualified him as a micro preemie, but on the safer end of that spectrum. He was on a ventilator for only a few hours and they were able to extubate and put him on something called a C-PAP. The doctors gave us all the information they wanted to share and it’s an understatement to say it was overwhelming.
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\nMoms and Dads seem to accept and process the NICU in such different ways. My husband asked so many questions and found out so many details, it made my head swim. I’m so glad he did. I would just listen to the doctor’s, trust in their experience and yearn to hold my baby.
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\nI couldn’t spend time in the NICU with Eli until I recovered from my surgery. My husband had to go home to be with our 3-year-old boy. I was alone again and feeling almost helpless. But I could start pumping! Yes! Something I could do for my little boy. And pump I did. I was a champion pumper. Eli wouldn’t be able to eat what I was producing for weeks, but I would shuffle to the nurses station every couple of hours and deliver bags and bags of liquid gold. The nurses would look at me like I was hiding another lactating woman in my room, but this was what I could put my energy into and I was going to give it my best. I was determined that Eli would survive long enough for me to feed him and then everything would be okay.
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Eli's First Picture<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nHere is my little one in his first photo. The NICU nurses take pictures of the preemies right away to preserve the memory. It’s a photo I treasure.
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\nTuesday is the Bloggers Unite Fight for Preemies<\/a> event and I’ll have a post describing Eli’s days and nights in the NICU to highlight the effort to raise awareness. Stop on back then and don’t forget that I’m donating birth announcements to the NICU of your choice if you share your preemie story here or post a link to your own blog. You can read the details and see the announcement design here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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