A Guiding Hand for Families in NICU and Special Care Nurseries - Digital - Book - Page 24
Babies born too soon, too small, or sick
A Dad’s Story:
Michael
The months prior to my son’s birth, Karin began to get some pregnancy
symptoms that, while being uncomfortable for her, did not overly
cause concern, due to the fact that this was all first time experiences
for us. Lower limb swelling and continual heartburn were the two that
I remember, with there being times when Karin couldn’t sleep due to
the discomfort. It got worse and we had one trip to hospital, only to be
advised to take some Panadol and not worry. A trip to the obstetrician
resulted in some blood tests being run and we returned home.
It was Friday 5 January, 2007, eight weeks prior to the estimated due
date for our first born. I was at work in the CBD when the phone rang
and it was Karin, in tears, telling me that the obstetrician had called
and she needed to present at hospital right away. The blood work we
would later find out had revealed pre-eclampsia and the potentially
fatal HELLP Syndrome.
So off we went to the hospital we had booked for the expected
delivery and were moved straight into the birthing suite. We were then
told that this hospital was not equipped for this type of ‘emergency’.
It was at this point that the pit of my stomach dropped
what felt like a hundred feet.
We were advised that we would be transferred
to a large level one hospital with intensive care
facilities for both my wife and the baby and an
emergency caesarean had to be performed as
soon as possible. Karin had been administered
magnesium to help prevent her having seizures and
was transported by ambulance with steroid injections
being administered while she was being loaded into
the ambulance to try and build the baby’s lungs. I had to follow the
ambulance, trying to drive while crying and panicking - I think that it
was lucky that we were not both admitted to emergency.
Once we got to the hospital and Karin was admitted, she was taken
into surgery fairly quickly. I was not allowed to be present for the birth
of my son, Robert Josef, who was delivered at 12.20am on Saturday
Life’s Little Treasures Foundation | Supporting Families of Premature & Sick Babies
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