third baby, and my due date was supposed to be December 21st. Unfortunately, our little man came on November 10th (6 weeks early) weighing 4 lbs. 14 oz. He came out screaming so we knew his lungs were fine, and all seemed to be okay for the first 24 hours. Soon, though, he couldn't keep his temperature regulated and on the second day the nurses called the Neonatologist in the middle of the night because they noticed blood in his stool. We were flown by helicopter to Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and so began our nine week NICU stay and four week GI unit stay. After we arrived at Children's, they did every test they could think of to figure out why he was so sick. They took blood, did an upper GI, a spinal tap, and much more, but they still couldn't figure it out. On day four of his life, at 2:30 a.m. they performed emergency surgery and discovered he had a perforated colon and was very, very sick with Sepsis. The surgery left him with a colostomy. For the first 3 weeks of his life, we did not think he was going to make it. Then around the fourth week we thought he had started to come around – he came off the ventilator and seemed to be doing better. Unfortunately, though, the stoma developed a hole and saturated his surgery wound. It was an impossible battle trying to keep him from getting sepsis again and keeping his wound clean.
Finally, at 13 weeks old, he was able to come home. Today as I type this, he is 14 weeks old. We have weekly clinic visits at Children’s to check labs, he has a feeding tube to help his liver and also help his body absorb all the good stuff he needs. He is still not gaining weight like he should and is just over 9 lbs. now. I will be walking at the Assateague March for Babies this year, and I am so thankful for everything that the March of Dimes has done, including all the research that means so much more to me now.
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