Up until the 26 week mark everything was
going as per normal. The little one had
been growing well and was as healthy as
could be hoped. The only mild concern we
had was a routine blood test result
indicating that he was at a elevated
risk for Down Syndrome. These fears were
quashed however after the results came
back form the Amnio that our doctor
recommended, giving the all-clear.
However on the first day of the 26th
week, I received a phone call around
10am from Helga who by this stage was
understandably hysterical telling me
that her water had gone. I got a taxi
home and I new straight away she was
right in her diagnosis. She was in bed
at the time when she had then felt a
"warm sensation" down her leg, similar
to so many other stories on this
website. She got up and the fluid had
initially gushed out then slowed, to the
point where it was a trickle by the time
I arrived home.
We went to the hospital immediately
where what we both already knew was
confirmed. The doctor gave a course of
steroids and Helga was admitted to
hospital. She remained there for one
week, with doctors and nurses monitoring
her closely. After this time there was
no change, so it was agreed by all
parties that it would be best if she
went home and wait for further
development.
After around two weeks of as much bed
rest as possible and waiting, on the
morning of the 7th day of the 29th week,
Helga told me that she had been getting
some cramps, very irregular in time, but
consistent. I took her to the hospital
where she was once again admitted to
hospital. Waiting around all day no one
thought he was going to come, and that
the contractions where just a false
alarm. They got progressively worse
however and around midnight we new it
was happening. The actual delivery is a
bit of a blur (for me, anyway) and it
was relatively quick at around 90
minutes. Lots of people in the room (8
or so) taking care of lots if different
things. Our baby boy Orri was born at
1.32 on the 27th of July weighing 1315
grams.
He was on CPAP for around 24 hours, and
did have a rather lengthy spell under
the UV lights for jaundice, but apart
from that everything was going well. His
weight gain was consistent (expressed
breast milk helped a lot) and the tests
on the hearing, eyesight, brain ect.
gave good results (he did have a Grade 1
brain bleed, but this cleared up on his
2nd scan). Also, he did initially have
bradys/desats for a long time, but they
became less and less frequent as he got
older.
The only major setback we had was when
Orri got a viral infection when he was
around 36 weeks CA. He struggled to
breath for himself and went back onto
CPAP for around 12 hours. After a course
of antibiotics this seemed to clear up
and he was back on track.
It has been around 8 weeks since he was
born, and we have been told we will be
able to take him home on Monday. He has
just started feeding completely for
himself and the bradys/desats are all
but gone. I really cant wait!
This website has been a great help to
us, so thank you all for posting. I am
unsure why Helga's membrane ruptured so
early, I guess life does not always go
according to script. We were lucky, and
my thoughts go out to all the people who
were not so.
Helga and Ben.
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