Abbie was not born yet when the first sign of something being not quite right appeared. When I was 17 weeks pregnant we went in for our ultrasound to find out what we were having and do all of the measurements. I knew something was going on when the lady kept measuring the same thing over. She told us we would have to see a specialist because she could not get all of the info she needed. I knew something was wrong. Luckily, my Dr. found me before I left the office and told me that the baby had inlarged latteral ventricals in her brain and Choriod plexus cysts. She said it might be something but usauly it is not. I went to the specialist 6 days later and they said the same thing except they told me that 90% of the babies with these cysts were fine and 10% were linked to a chromosomal abnormality called Trisomy 18. They wanted us to have an amnio to make sure she would be OK. We did not because it would never have changed the outcome of this pregnancy. At 24 weeks they found the first hole in her heart. This was our second red flag for Trisomy 18. Again they wanted us to have the amnio and we declined. We started to see a pediatric cariologist at this time. At 28 weeks she hit IUGR which stands for Inter Uterine Growth Restriction. This means that she was less than 10% of the size she should have been at that gestational age. This was our third red flag for Trisomy 18. At this point they told us Abbie would probably not live ful term. If she did she would probably not make it through labor and delivery. And if she did she would be here on earth for about 5 days. Wow, how do you deal with that? Lots of prayer and talking, Family and Friend support. Still does not make it easy! At 38 weeks and 5 days Abbie Grace was born weighing in at 4 lbs. 2 oz. 16 3/4 inches long. She was blue and not breathing. The NICU team worked on her for a while, to me what seemed like forever. They had to bag her to get her breathing. Finaly, we heard the small but definate cry. She was so tiny and sick. We did get to hold her for about 30 min before they rushed her away to the NICU. More to come on the first part of Abbie's jouney......
2 comments:
Wow,she was/is tiny. Ava had enlarged ventricles too. That is what led to future testing for us. We didn't have all the cardiac stuff though. I can't even imagine how long those months must have been. These kids sure do have a way of showing us all how strong we really are. Abbie is beautiful. It is good to hear she is doing well now.
-mel mom of big brother Drake and miss pretty Ava 10 months 1p36.22
aww Kim...I think we have lived eachothers lives..well part of it anyway..it just brings a huge smile to my face when I am reminded of all the times I was told "he probably won't make it" and then I look at him snoozing on the couch without a care in the world! we have certainly been blessed!
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