Our Story

My husband and I are 22, and Tucker is our first baby. We found out we were expecting on December 28, 2005, and our due date was September 6th, 2006. We later found out that we were actually pregnant a month earlier than we thought, so then our due date was around the middle to end of August. I had bad morning sickness, but it went away around the fourth month. I bought out the maternity stores, but I only gained 16 pounds before I delivered, so there was little need for those. When I was 26 weeks and three days pregnant, I felt very lightheaded. We checked my blood pressure-it was 145 over 115. I called my OB, then went to the hospital. My mom and husband drove me-I didn't feel up to driving, although I did not suspect any huge problems. My aunt had preeclampsia at about 30 weeks (6 years ago), but she went home for bedrest, so I thought if I had that, I could just go home, too. It turned out that I had lots of protein in my urine, so I got put on Mag and admitted to the hospital. They told us that I probably wouldn't leave without delivering first, so I thought I'd be in the hospital for months. This was on a Tuesday. They gave me the first steroid shot for Tucker's lungs that night. I just got worse, and being on the mag made me feel like I just wanted it all to be over, even though I knew delivering so early would be bad for Tucker. By Friday morning, i had the two steroid shots and 24 hours to let them take effect, so the doctor said we were delivering at 230 pm. we could not believe it. My cousin was born at about 30 weeks, and she was over 3 pounds-we knew Tucker would be less than 2 pounds at birth, and we had never heard of a baby being born so early and so small. Tucker was born at exactly 27 weeks, and he weighed 1 pound, 11 ounces. He had few problems-no brain bleeds-PDA closed in one day. So far, he has Grade I ROP (he is 11 weeks old now-at 38 weeks gestation), so we are very lucky-no infections yet, either!! so, his problem is his lungs. He has severe BPD. The neos say that only 1 or 2 kids go home on a trach each year out of their hospital, and Tucker is probably going to be one of those this year. He has had three rounds of steroids. The first did nothing. The second got him off of the ossilator and onto the conventional vent, but once the steroids ended, he went back to the ossilator. Then his third round got him down to a low-flow nasal cannula-he started taking bottle feeds-it was so great, but then he went back on the vent at very high support. So he's been back on the vent for a week, so now he is starting his fourth round of steroids, though they don't expect him to come off of the vent. They just want to stabilize him so that they can put in his trach. our real complaint is that now he won't be home any where near his due date. He has already been in there for 11 weeks and 2 days, and we have seen so many babies come and go. At the beginning, we felt left out around other parents with babies. Now, we also feel left out in the NICU, b/c at least those other babies are getting better and leaving. We know the nurses by name-that just should not happen. We are so grateful that our baby is doing well and that he survived after being born so early and so small. But he was "due" in two weeks, and the doctors say he may not come home until November-we felt like we were getting close to home, and now we realize we've just begun! It is something. Even if he comes off of the vent with this round of steroids, he may end up back on the vent after them, b/c of his BPD. Of course, we do have good days with him-really, any day we see him is good. He is so cute, and we love him with all our hearts. Tucker has 5 aunts and 3 uncles who love him, too-he is already spoiled. He now weighs 5 lbs, 1 ounce, so he has come a long way-it's just his lungs-but the older he gets, the cuter and more interactive he gets, so it is harder to leave him everytime! I'm sure you all understand this.