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My husband Aaron and I were very happy
to find out that we were expecting our
first child on November 19, 2008. I
was very nervous as this was my first
pregnancy but other than some horrible
all day sickness in the beginning my
pregnancy went well. July was a great
month, I felt fantastic and was
enjoying my summer vacation (I am a
Grade 7 teacher). On the evening on
July 22, after a relaxing day, I was
feeling pain in my lower back. The
pain was coming about every 10 or 15
minutes so I called the health centre
(we live in a small community with no
actual hospital) and they told me to
come in. After giving a urine sample
(they were hoping it was just a
bladder infection) I felt a gush of
warm fluid. After testing it they
were able to confirm that it was
amniotic fluid. I will always
remember that it was 10:15 pm, you
don’t forget the moment when your
world crashes down around you. The
staff was great and you could see
their heartbreak as they explained
that my baby didn’t have much of a
chance. They told me that in Canada,
a baby is not considered viable until
it reaches 24 weeks. I couldn’t
understand that, I felt like they were
just telling me they wouldn’t help my
baby. I was airlifted to Edmonton
(and thankfully my husband came too)
where we waited until morning. After
my ultrasound a Perinatologist and his
resident came to tell my husband and I
that our chances did not look good.
They told us that even though the baby
looked good and its heartbeat was good
there wasn’t any fluid left and the
baby needed it for its lungs to
develop (and I needed it to prevent
infection). Then they told us that we
had a decision to make, let them take
the baby and that would be it, or try
to keep the baby and pray that I
wouldn’t develop an infection (which
could be life threatening) or go into
labour. They said that since I was a
couple of days short of 23 weeks that
the baby wasn’t yet considered viable,
24 weeks is the magic number. They
thought the baby might have a chance
after that. They said that even if I
went into labour (big chance of it
happening within 7 days of water
breaking) there was nothing they could
do for my baby, that they would let us
hold it, then take it away before 24
weeks. I have never heard anything
more devastating in my life. Aaron
and I felt very firm that we are not
willing to let them take our baby,
unless I developed an infection or
went into labour we felt that baby
still wanted to fight. After 3 days
they sent me home for a week. Aaron,
my mother and I drove the 480km back
to my home town and I spent a
terrified week there on bed rest. On
August 1, I was admitted to the Royal
Alexandra hospital in Edmonton. They
told me that when labour happened it
would happen fast and my baby needed
to be taken to the Neonatal Intensive
Care Unit immediately. I had an
ultrasound every week and each one
showed that my baby was growing but
there were not even pockets of fluid.
Five weeks to the day after my water
broke I started having horrible pains
in my back. I knew my baby was coming
but since it was back labour it
wouldn’t register on the fetal heart
monitor as contractions. When a
resident checked me at 10:00 am she
said, “labour is not imminent, this
baby is not coming today.” Two and
half hours later, when Tylenol 3s and
Morphine didn’t help the pain they
checked again. I was 8cm dilated and
they could feel my baby’s bottom.
After an emergency C-Section Elazer
was born at 2:18pm. He weighed 1100
grams (2lbs, 7oz). The surfactant
(Bless) didn’t work as they hoped so
he was intubated and received nitric
oxide for the first few days. They
wouldn’t stop telling us how sick he
was and they didn’t think he was going
to make it. Then he turned around and
was thriving. After being re-
intubated for 5 days mid-September
Elazer had acquired subglottic
stenosis, essentially a scar in his
airway from the endotracheal tube. He
was still doing extremely well but on
November 3 his airway collapsed from
the stenosis, essentially the scar got
bigger, and he was re-intubated and
kept sedated for 22 days. In addition
a brain ultrasound showed a small
bleed that had already stopped. The
Neonatologist said that since it
wasn’t getting worse it should break
up into his system and shouldn’t cause
problems. His final ultrasound showed
that his brain was normal. His doctor
said that she couldn’t tell us if he
would prefer blonds or red heads but
his brain looked great. The day
before his due date he had cricoid
split surgery, they cut into his neck
and cut into one of the two rings in
his airway. They took cartilage from
his thyroid area and grafted it into
that ring. A week later they
extubated him and when they weaned him
off of his medication I had a
wonderful, term baby! On December 19
(1 day short of 5 months since my
water broke) we got to take our sweet
baby home. Elazer was 16 weeks, 5
days old (4 weeks, 2 days corrected
age) and he had spent every moment of
that in the hospital. His discharge
weight was 9lbs 12oz. I am writing
this on our 28th day home and Elazer
weighs 11lbs, 2 oz. Though he is
currently on oxygen he is otherwise
perfect! If you are in this situation
please, do not give up hope! Even the
most hopeless situation can turn
around. Soon all of this will be a
memory but I will always have my sweet
baby!
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