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I came into this world a lot earlier than most babies. They say I was 16 weeks too early. I was very small weighing 1 lb. 2 oz. I was 12 ¼ inches long. |
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I fooled them, didn't I! We had a long and scary battle the first few weeks, but my Mommy never left me. She and my Mam-maw stayed with me at the hospital every day, and then on the weekend my Daddy would come up and Mam-maw would go home. This is how things worked for the 15 weeks I stayed in the hospital. I had lots of company in between, especially when I was not doing too well. When I was three weeks old I had to move from UAMS to Arkansas Children's Hospital. I was having one of those times when I was not doing so well and they had things that could make me better over there. The hospitals where not but a few miles apart but it sure did take them a long time to get me from one place to another and then settled again. A few days after I got settled at ACH I had to go to surgery and have a central line put in. You see this is so they can feed me through a tube because I can't suck a bottle just yet. That skill isn't developed until later and I am now what they keep calling "27 weeks gestation." The sucking stuff is not developed until about 32 weeks gestation. That is what they call my age because I am not supposed to be in this world until I am 40 weeks gestation. Well when I was 30 weeks gestation they decided I needed this thing called a shunt. The doctors found out that when they transported me over to ACH I got what they call "head bleeds." Mine are pretty bad. They are a grade three to four. They rate from 1-4, four being the worse. My Mommy was really upset and confused about the shunt thing. She and Daddy did a lot of talking with the doctors to see if this was the only thing that would make me better. Mommy said she was having a hard time thinking about them cutting my head open for any reason. Well it was done. I got one of the first 20 temporary shunts. This is where I had what they call a "pouch" for the drainage and not a line. They were thinking that maybe in some time I would not need this shunt and this was the best thing to do. When I was 7 weeks old they finally took the crazy tube out of my throat and I got to breathe on my own. I cried and my Mommy and Mam-maw said it was the sweetest sound they ever heard. My Mommy got to hold me a lot after they took the tube out, you see she had only held me once before for a short time and Daddy just kind of held me up in my bed one time. Now I get the real thing. Well now that I have most of the problems taken care of they move me over to feeders row. This is where you get to go when you are not having any problems but are still to small to go home or get to move out of NICU. Well I am now getting fed through a tube that goes down my nose. It is not very great but I guess it is the best they can do. After they took the tube out of my throat I still need a little help breathing, so they also have this little thing going in my nose giving me oxygen. My nose is not very big and things are getting a little crowed in there. While I was on feeders row, I saw Dr. Bradford for the first time. Little did I know he was going to be someone I would see a lot of over the next couple of years. He is my eye doctor. Since I had to have so much oxygen when I was born, they feared that my eyes may have some problems. Oh boy, were they right! I had to have surgery on my eyes twice. My retinas were damaged and trying to detach which is not a good thing. Dr. Bradford did the first surgery and said we would have to wait and see how things went. While he was in there, some other doctors decided they would work on me, too. So they also did a Hernia operation. After the surgery and a few more days in NICU I got to move upstairs. This is really good news because now Mommy and Mam-maw can stay with me at |
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Someone forgot to tell them that I stay up ALL night long. You see I am doing ok but I still am not sure about all of this. I still had a couple of weeks before I was to be in this world and just look at all the things they have done to me. After some sleepless nights and a lot of crying they are finally talking about letting me go home. Everyone is so ex |
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Guess what! Dr. Bradford said I have to have my second eye surgery. One of my eyes needed a little more work. But since we were ready to go home we could go a head and go. So on Wednesday, July 13, 1994, 15 weeks and 3 days after I was born we were finally getting to go home! We had to come back for an over- night stay the next Friday for the surgery but for now, I get to go home. We had a lot of packing to do but my Mommy did it so fast and we were out of there. Everyone was excited for me to finally be home. They were nervous because I came home with a lot of equipment but at least I was home, a long way from the 25% chance the first doctors were gave me. The first night I did not go to sleep, Mommy thought I was just not used to my new surroundings but as the days went on I still did not sleep. It was time to go back to the hospital for the surgery but it was no big deal I went in one day and came home on the next. When we got home I still did not sleep. After a few days my Mommy took me to my Mam-maw's for the night. I guess she could not stay up as long as I could. You see I would just catch 15-20 minutes of Z's every now and then and I was ok. About a week and a half later I have to go back to Little Rock to ACH to see Dr. Bradford. Well I stay with Mam-maw the night before we go so Mommy can sleep, because she is driving. On the way to the doctor everyone says something about my sleeping so long (45 minutes). When you go to the eye clinic you have to wait a really long time. I slept some in there also. Finally when it was my turn for the exam I just lay on the table and did not cry. Eye exams are not pleasant experiences, so everyone got really concerned and Mommy took me over to the Neurology offices. While we were in the office I had a little spell and did not do to well, the doctor immediately ordered a CAT Scan and had us admitted-- an operating room ready for me. It turns out my temporary shunt was not working any more. Before they could get all of the tests in and everything ready, I was pretty much in a coma. The doctor decided to do the whole shunt this time in hopes that this would not happen any more. Well here we go again. They have to shave my head and cut again. This time Mommy feels better about it because she is sure this is something that has to be done. I had to stay in the hospital for 3 weeks this time, I did not do so well with surgery. I had to be put on the ventilator for the surgery and they could not take it out right after surgery. The next day they tried to take it out and I did not like it so I coded to get their attention. That means my heart slowed down and a million people heard the page and came running to help bring me back. Mommy and Daddy did not like that at all. I was ok but they let me keep the vent just as long as I wanted. I did not know I could go back home when it came out. But then I figured it out and we came home again. This time to stay for a while. |
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The first year was rough. I never slept and we had to go back and forth to the doctor a lot. The doctors had said I needed to stay home from crowds and activities. This was so that I did not catch any germs that might make me sick. For the first 13 months of my life I did not know there was any more of this world than our house, Mam-maw's house, and the doctors' offices. |
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permits. |
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