I became pregnant for the second time
in August of 2002 and was given a due
date of May 12,2003. My previous
pregancy ended in miscarriage at 5
weeks, 3 months earlier.
My pregnancy was completely normal
until my membranes ruptured at 22
weeks. I was sleeping and awoke to
find myself all wet - I knew what had
happened and called my OB's 24 hour
line. I was told to go straight to
the ER where they confirmed that I was
leaking amniotic fluid. I was
monitored in L&D for 2 days and I had
no contractions or signs of
infection. I was transferred to
another hospital with a level III
NICU.
I was in the High Risk Perinatal unit
at Fairfax Hospital in Fairfax,
Virginia for 6 weeks. I was given
antibiotics for 10 days and I was
monitored for infection and labor - my
AFI was checked weekly and my baby's
growth was checked every 3 weeks. I
received 2 doses of steriod shots for
my baby's lungs. My baby was very
healthy and growing well. Every time
his heartrate was monitored he
performed very well and the nurses
thought I was further along than I was
based on his accels/decels. After a
fairly uneventful 6 weeks I started to
contract more than normally and began
to bleed as well. They decided to
deliver because I was probably going
into labor because of an infection. I
had a c-section because my baby was
breech. Vincent Nicholas Briganti was
born at 5:25pm on February 21, 2003
weighing 2lbs,10oz and 14 inches
long. He came out screaming and I
only got to see him for a second
before he was rushed to the NICU.
Vincent did amazingly well in the NICU
and, remarkably, was never placed on a
ventilator. He was on room air from
the start with no breathing
assistance. He was in the NICU for 7
weeks before he came home on April 12,
2003. We really had no setbacks with
him in the NICU - we only got good
news. He did receive one blood
transfusion due to anemia and he was
eventually placed on oxygen via a
nasal cannula, which he is still on -
it is a very low flow and we expect
him to outgrow the need for it soon.
He is a miracle baby and we are so
blessed to have him healthy and home
with us. He's is sitting right here
next to me in his bouncy chair with
the hiccups! He is 10 weeks old and
6lbs,11oz. I feel so lucky to have
such a wonderful, healthy baby and I
treasure every moment I have with him.
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