A Guiding Hand for Families in NICU and Special Care Nurseries - Digital - Book - Page 106
Parent Story:
Chris, Melinda and Baby Tex
“
Tex was born extremely premature at 26 weeks and 5 days weighing
only 949 grams. The pregnancy was fairly normal to start off with morning sickness all day for months, gestational diabetes and then at
one of our ultrasounds (at around 22 weeks), we discovered my cervix
was open. I was taken to Monash Medical Centre by ambulance which
was a very scary experience as we didn’t know what our options were
and what would happen to our baby. Ultimately, we decided to go
with the cerclage stitch to keep me pregnant for as
long as possible.
Three weeks after having the stitch put in, I woke up
and my waters had broken. This resulted in another
ambulance trip to the hospital where I had the stitch
removed and would then stay on bed rest for about 3
weeks which is when I went into labour. While I was on
bedrest, I was given steroids and other medications
to help Tex’s lungs grow.
Tex was born within a couple of hours. It was a natural
birth, but the placenta was stuck so I had to go into theatre. The team
from the NICU were in the room waiting for him to be born and took
him to the NICU quickly after. His dad went with him but it was hours
before I was able to go and see him as I couldn’t walk following the
procedure.
Tex’s journey started off quite well in the NICU until Day 16 where
he had to have emergency surgery for Necrotizing enterocolitis
(NEC) and had 15cm of his small intestine removed and a stoma
was formed. This was complicated by a breakdown of the skin on his
abdomen which was something medical staff had not seen before.
This wound took months to heal and early on, medical staff were
unsure if it would heal at all. This meant we were unable to upgrade
feeds so Tex has been reliant on Parenteral Nutrition since then.
Initially, her was given this neutron through a PICC line in his leg. This
line actually broke when doctors tried to remove it and so plastic
surgeons came in to remove it - fortunately they saved his vein. This
was another thing medical staff had not seen before. Tex then had a
central line put in by the anaesthetist and he still has that to this day.
Amongst all of this, Tex had a Sagittal Sinus Thrombosis, which is a
Life’s Little Treasures Foundation | Supporting
of Premature
& Sick Babies
Life’s LittleFamilies
Treasures
Foundation
Supporting Families of Premature & Sick Babies
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