After a long and difficult pregnancy,
and 13 weeks spent in the NICU, I am
finally ready to share my PAP story
with
all of you!
After loosing our first baby, Michael,
we decided to try again right away. I
got pregnant only 4 months after
loosing
him. The pregnancy was very difficult.
I
went for weekly cervical measurements
to
watch for incompetant cervix. When I
was
17 weeks along, my doctor began to
notice some funneling. I had also
noticed that I would feel
wetness "down
there". my doctor said that it was
probably my cervix sweating because it
was becoming more active. At 18 weeks
the doctor placed a cerclage in my
cervix, and I was placed on moderate
bedrest for about 1 month. Things were
looking great afterwards, especially
after reaching viability! However,
things did eventually take a turn for
the worse. At 27 weeks, I began having
really bad pains under my ribs through
my back. The doctor kept saying it was
heartburn, but to me it was much to
painful to be heartburn. Soon
afterwards, my bloodpressure started
to
increase, often up to 160/100. My
doctor
told me I could be developing Toxemia,
so he put me back on bedrest. The pain
I
was having became intolerable at 28
weeks, so the doctor recommended I go
to
the hospital to be checked for gall
stones, which made more sense to me.
Well, The second the doctor examined
me
and did urine tests, they soon
realized
I was developing HELLP syndrome, a
severe and life threatening form of
pre-eclampsia. The doctors wanted to
keep me in the hosptal, give me
steroids, then deliver the baby in two
days. I COULD NOT BELIEVE WHAT WAS
HAPPENING TO ME!!!! It was like I was
dreaming. I just couldnt believe that
this could happen! The pain I had been
feeling was my liver expanding due to
the HELLP syndrome. The doctors moved
me
into a different room, and started
giving me Magnesium sulfate ( to
prevent
seizures). The doctors and nurses
attached me to a baby monitor, and
turned it away so I couldnt see
anything. They all kept watching the
monitor, and apparently the baby's
heartbeat kept dropping dangerously
low.
He was in distress, so they needed to
get him out ASAP. I was rushed into
the
operating room, and had an emergency
c-section. They has to knock me out
because my blood platelets were too
low
due to the HELLP syndrome.
When i woke up, I was completely out
of
it. I didn't even know if our baby
survived. Well....he did! He weighed
only 1 pound, 10 ounces, and was 13
inches long. He was now our miracle
baby! We named him Derrick Bonsu!
We spent the next 13 weeks up in the
NICU. We almost lost him a couple of
times due to infection, but he was
strong and pulled through. He spent a
total of 5 weeks on the ventiator, and
after 9 weeks he was breathing room
air.
He finally came home on October 30,
2002.
Derrick is now 18 weeks old (his
corrected age based on his due date is
6
weeks) and he weighs about 8 pounds, 3
ounces. He has no other medical
problems
right now except for a hernia that may
need to be repaired. He is our little
miracle, and I know his big brother,
Michael, is watching over him.
Thank you for listening!
PROM PG
Story
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