Bless My Life

Recently I have been reflecting over the past three years of my life.
First I was expecting. Then against all odds and complications along the way Bambam was born ALIVE.
At 7 weeks, I had two small subchorionic hemorrhages. This is bleeding that takes place in the uterine wall as the placenta is trying to attach. We were advised that the pregnancy would either be or not, there was nothing medically that could be done.
At 18 weeks after some routine testing, doctors advised us to abort as they were sure Bambam had a severe neural tube defect and hydrocephalus.
Then at 26 weeks real trouble began brewing. My blood pressure began to soar. I was having some visual changes and major headaches. I was immediately placed on bedrest with Betamethasone (steroid, to push baby’s lung maturity) shots. While our OB thought we would deliver by the weekend, by the grace of God Almightly I made it to 31 weeks 5 days.
It was Thursday, May 10, 2007 about 5 p.m. and the test results were not reassuring. Our non-stress test showed no reactivity on Bambam’s part so another ultrasound followed which showed Bambam was in big trouble. His estimated weight was only 2 pounds. This indicated there was severe intrauterine growth restriction. At the time, no guesses were offered as to why all of a sudden Bambam was so small for his age.
We were sent straight to Chattanooga that evening for direct admission to the high risk pregnancy unit. An intern got us settled in, doing all the necessary blood work and screening and onto a monitor we went. Time was taken to be sure that there was no other option but delivery in our little Bambam’s case. We rocked along pretty smoothly until about 4 a.m. At that time, Bambam’s heart rate dropped to the 40’s and it took him several minutes to rebound. It was then that everyone knew delivery was inevitable. Nurses began scrambling and another ultrasound was requested.
As the ultrasound started, I could see on the TV screen in the corner that all his amniotic fluid was gone. I could also tell through Doppler that there was no distinguishable blood flow to or from his placenta. My heart sank.
More orders for stat this and stat that were written. At first I was given a trial of labor but Bambam proved he could not handle any contractions at all, so off to the OR we went.
Doctors had already advised my husband and mother that if Bambam survived the procedure that his condition would probably deteriorate quickly.
At 12:34 p.m. on 05-11-2007, Bambam was born weighing in at 1 pound 14.9 ounces and 13.75 inches long. He was kicking and screaming, fists in the air with NO neural tube defect or hydrocephalus.
Over the course of his 43 day hospitalization, he was NEVER placed on a ventilator. He never required anything more than nutritional support and a few days under the bili-lights for jaundice.
Today he is 2 years old and perfectly healthy with no defects or abnormalities.
For the BLESSING of BAMBAM to the Father above I’m grateful! Posted by: Holly
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 3:04 pm and is filed under Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.