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Thirteen years ago I gave birth to twins that were 29 weeks gestational age. I had gone into preterm labor when I was only 20 weeks into the pregnancy. At 25 weeks I was hospitalized and given IV Tributaline and Magnesium Sulphate as well as Endocen to prevent contractions. By 29 weeks the contractions were finally under control enough for me to take a shower. I was so excited to be able to get out of bed. The nurse who was helping me into the shower accidently ran my tributaline line through both titraters, and opened the line to the magnesium sulphate and within minutes I had recieved a full bullous of Magnesium sulphate. I was able to hit the emergency button on the shower just before I went unconscious. When I regained consciousness I was once again in labor and this time the contractions could not be stopped. Within hours I was giving birth to my 29 week gestational age twins. Mark was born first, and was not breathing. The doctors could not entubate him because of something that seemed like a mass that blocked the tube from being inserted. They rushed him to X-ray to evaluate the problem and found out that the mass was fluid that he had engested when he had a heart attack in utero during the overdose of Magnesium sulphate. My O. B. tells me that he baptized Mark's limp body and fluid started flowing from every orifice, allowing the doctor to finally entubate him. Mark had been without oxygen for quite some time and his prognosis was very grave. Christopher, Mark,s twin brother, entered the world a little less dramatically and tried hard to breath on his own but within minutes it was evident he would need to be entubated as well. Both boys were on ventalators . The weeks to come were quite the rollercoaster. Multiple Pnuemothoraxis,heart defects, brain hemorages,inguinal hernias, the list just seemed to go on, and on. During this time I went to the UT health science center library and began to research prematurity. I found some great research at the time about touching and stimulating the preterm babies. At this time the hospital the twins were in would not allow touching of the babies. I showed the research to the neonatologist and he allowed me to gently stroke and then later pick up my children. This was not very popular among some of the nursing staff who saw the boys oxegen levels go down when they were first touched. Of course now touching and rocking is standard practice, but thirteen years ago this was a little bit on the edge. I also brought in black and white photos and as soon as the boys were placed in incubators I started trying to get them to track objects and turn thier heads in response to noise. I had also read some information on physical therapy for preemies, but could not find any of the actual exercises so I found some books on physical therapy for Downs Syndrome children and decided to try some of the message techniques that were sugested for the newborns. The twins, despite there earlier problems began to improve quickly. Some of the nurses noticed that the twins cries were different from the other preemies and were more like full term children. I don't know much about baby cries but I did notice that they were much more alert than the other children that had been similar gestational ages and they also got out of NICU much faster.( 6 weeks instead of 12). I have to say that my whole church was praying very hard for the boys, and I attribute much Of their speedy recovery to this. We left the hospital with both hopes and fears. Our doctors had been very honest about the possible problems that we might face due to the multiple serious complications the boys had. The CAT Scan they had gotten at the end of their stay was very abnormal. They could not know for sure if this was from underdeveopement wich would clear up in time or if this was a result of the lack of oxygen. Only time would tell. As for our future, we would wait and see if the retenopathy they had developed would lead to blindess, if the shakiness was a sign of cerebralpalsy, and if they would have any other problems that were less noticeable, like learning disabilities and emotional problems. The next few years flew by. I continued to do my makeshift therapy with them and we continued to pray. Thirteen years later I am happy to say that they are doing well in school, and life. Oh yes, there were delays... Mark didn't walk until he was 2 and even then he would revert back to crawling. He now plays golf and basketball. He is not the fastest one on the team, but when you think he could not walk across the full length of schoolyard unaided when he was 3, I'd say we've come a long way. He is in several honors courses and has even placed in some competitions in UIL.It is hard to believe that only 10 years ago he was so delayed. Chris, is on the football team and was the starting cornerback (well up until the last few games), Hard to believe that he could't even pick up his head when he first started crawling because he simply didn't have the strength in his neck muscles. He too is in Honors courses. During those early years, We did lots of physical therapy that my dad or I found in books. My dad built alot of equipment for them in the back yard. My husband spent hours reading to them, and my parents took the boys on special outings to the park, petting zoos, farms, ect.. Today, there are places you can go to with your child to get professional physical therapy designed for preemies. I truly think that therapy is what helped give my preemies the edge when they had so much against them. I was just a mom just think what a real physical therapist can do for these preemies of today.

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Daniel was born on September 18,1996 at 24 weeks gest. He was also 1lb 13 oz. His due date was January 20, 1997 He spent 107 days in the NICU at Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando FL. He had BPD-Binguinal hernias-ROP surgery-Surgery on esophogus-and GI tube. He's now a healthy (except for the occasional asthma attack)happy little boy. By age three he finally hit the growth chart, now at 5 he's in the 95th percentile! He also reads and writes on 2nd grade level. Ok so I had to brag a little. Reading all of these stories is so very important to me, I remember feeling so very alone while he was in the hospital, but there are so many of our miracle babies! God bless you all! If anyone wants to chat, email me, thanks, Shelby

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I've visited this site a few times in the past, but never written. Last night my husband and I took a few minutes and viewed some of our home videos that we had made of our first born. The video was made of our son when he was five months old. He looked so chubby! Matthew was born at 30 weeks gestation, weighed in at a whopping 3lb, 12 oz....doctors had to confirm his actual gestation, he was so big. He spent 10 weeks in the hospital, then entire time in NICU since the stepdown nursery was overflowing. He is now 9 years old and doing wonderfully. A little active, but that is all. Our second child, a girl, was born four years ago, another preemie at 32 weeks gestation. Second time around we felt like pros. We knew what to expect in delivery, NICU, the tests and monitor that would eventually go home with her. But our daughter did develop Retinopathy of Prematurity and for several weeks after discharge we feared would be blind. It regressed, thank God. She was larger at birth, 41b 7oz, but had a harder time with her breathing and spent longer time on the ventilator than her brother. She has asthma that is controlled, and has had many bouts with hospitalizations (all related to her asthma - croup, even RSV). This is the first year that she will have the flu vaccine. Stay strong all. God Bless.

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MY SON WAS BORN 3 MONTHS EARLY AT 1LBS 3 OZ.12 INCHES LONG . IN ORDER FOR BOTH OF US TO SURVIVE I HAD AN EMERGENCY C-SECTION. I FEEL THAT HE CAME EARLY FOR A REASON.I TRY TO FIND THE POSITIVE IN SOMETHING THAT WAS SO SCARY. I GOT TO SEE MY SON DEVELOP IN HIS LAST TRIMESTER. SOMETHING ONLY OTHERS GET TO FEEL. I AM BLESSED BECAUSE FOR 100 DAYS I JUST HAD TO WAIT FOR HIS LUNGS TO DEVELOP. NOW AT 7 MONTHS 13LBS AND 23.5 INCHES HE HAS HIS ONE SURGERY ON HIS HERNIA TODAY. I KNOW I AM TRULY BLESSED BECAUSE MY SON HAS NEVER HAD SERIOUS PROBLEMS.I HAD A PERSONAL CD PLAYER FOR MY SON IN HIS ISOLETTE FOR 100 DAYS MUSIC TO ME MADE A BIG DIFFERENCE IN WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN. TO THIS DAY MY SON CANT GO THROUGH THE DAY WITHOUT MUSIC. PEOPLE WHO SEE HIM NOW INCLUDING HIS PRIMARY NICU NURSE FALLS MORE AND MORE IN LOVE WITH HIM THE BIGGER HE GETS. I DID HAVE HEART FAILURE WITH MY SON BUT I SEE IT AS ME GIVING HIM THE STRENGHT TO FIGHT. GOD TRULY WATCHED OVER US AND STILL IS. I CANT HAVE ANYMORE CHILDREN AND IM OKAY WITH THAT. MUSIC,LOVE, PATIENCE AND PRAYER WORK. DOHNVAN AND I ARE LIVING PROOF. JESUS IS REAL ....