Account was locked for the longest time

Hi All,

JennRenee introduced me to this place a while ago but then my acocunt would not work. I finally figured out how to reactivate it and am back.

My name is Rita and last time i posted I was pregnant on bedrest with my daughter, Maddie. I ended up delivering her a few days after Jenn had Nicolas, on November 16, 2003. She was born at 32.5 weeks and was in the NICU for 18 days. She's home now and other than bad reflux, she's great.

Jenn, congrats on Nicolas. Wonder if we were in Winthrop together. I think I also saw you in the doc's waiting room a while back but didn't get a chance to say hello.

That's all for now.

Rita

Congratulations and welcome back!

Congratulations and welcome back!!

Hi Rita!

I'm so happy to hear that Maddie is doing well!

32.5 weeks, huh?? She just couldn't wait to meet her family!

You delivered on 11/16, and that's the day I was released from the hospital. Depending on what time you got there, we may very well have been there together. I wish we would have gotten the chance to meet at the dr.'s office... it would have been nice!

Now... you have to share your birth story when you get a chance... I'd love to hear it and I'm sure everyone else would too.

The picture in your avatar is beautiful.

I had just gotten in bed Saturday night, 11/15, and was laying there watching TV for a
bit. I was laying on my side and I felt something like a bubble building up to burst and the fluid start to leak out. Thank God I was wearing an incontinence pad (gotta love pregnancy) which caught most of the fluid while I ran 5 paces to the toilet. I sat there, hyperventilating that this was really happening.

Scott had been sleeping on the couch as his snoring was keeping me up all night for weeks. I called out to him, as he had also just laid down, that my water broke. He was in shock. When the fluid was done leaking, I got up and saw that it looked like urine. I didn't realize that the yellow tinge was merconium, indicating the baby was in some form of distress.

I called my doctor's service and they told me he was signed over to his associate, the guy who admitted me for pre-term labor this past summer. The doc called me back quickly, was at the hospital just having finished a delivery. He told me to come right over. I ran around with a towel fashioned as a diaper (deja vu) while packing my bag. I called our sitter, who lives next door, and she ran right over. I was so glad she was home and not out for the night as she's a young single girl in her 20s.

We left for the hospital. Upon arrival I went through the whole triage thing. Then the covering doc came in. He examined me and told me one of my cerclage stitches had actually popped and I was holding on by the remaining one, and starting to dilate. He said they needed to remove the stitches since they would breed infection and they had hoped to keep me in bed on drugs to stop the contractions (magnesium sulfate) and steroids to build her lungs. If they could get 24-48 hours, she would have a great chance of having no neonatal problems.

So, they removed the stitches, which left me at 2cm dilated, gave me a urine catheter and put me to bed. I sent Scott home to relieve the sitter. It was a bit after 2am.

Well, Madelyn is a real night owl so this was her playtime. And, her new toy was my foley catheter, which she did a tap dance on. She was still in the breech position with her feet under her and I could feel her pushing on my lower pelvis. I reported this to the nurse and a resident that I felt alot of pressure, but no contrax. She could not see anything on speculum exam and was going to consult another doc. While waiting for this, I started to feel lots of contrax, one on top of the next. I rang for the nurse, who sent in an attending. It was a bit after 5am at this time. He gave me a vaginal exam and said that I had progressed to 4cm and he could feel her feet. Not a good thing. It went into emergency mode from there.

I called Scott, told him to call the sitter and get her back, that they were going to section me ASAP. They started prepping me for the procedure, bringing me to the OR down the hall. They kept a lookout for Scott and he got there just in time. I had already had my spinal and they were prepping my belly for the
surgery. He chose to stand and watch the dog and pony show over the drape that blocked my view!!!!! lol

A short while later I heard a squeak and a baby girl was born!!!!!! She was taken immediately over to the NICU team waiting in a far corner, and I heard her cry more and more. She had a good set of lungs from what I could tell. Everyone kept saying she was so cute but I hadn't seen her yet.

When they stabilized her, they brought her over to my side, where I could only get a profile view of her. I got to kiss her cheek, and see such dark hair peeking out from under her hat. She was sooooooooo tiny. They did not weigh or measure her in the OR and would do so in the NICU. I would learn from a doc from the NICU who talked to me in recovery that she was 4.5 lbs and 17.5 inches.

I was in recovery for a few hours, and then on my way up to my post partum room, I was able to be wheeled into the NICU to see her. She was all cleaned up, in her isolet, having a nice nap. I took pictures and they let me touch her. But, she had to stay inside.

They gave her a chest xray and saw streaks on it. This was from her aspirating merconium in the fluid, that didn't completely empty out. The only treatment is antibiotics and time. They kept her on a 7 day course of antibiotics to avoid secondary infection. She had fast breathing and they dont orally feed babies with resp issues so she was on an IV for that.

Then, the second night I got a roommate from hell. She was wheeled in after midnight last night and the commotion woke up me. Then, I could not get back to sleep for a few hours because her and her dh were pretty loud, then they brought her baby in. I'm not on the regular maternity ward because my baby is in the NICU. But, the regular maternity ward was full so the overflow comes to this antipartum/nicu mom ward.

The next morning, while in our room, her baby went into distress and turned blue. They
rushed her to the NICU, where she went on to have many episodes of turning blue. The mom is a nervous woman/new mother to begin with, so she was just beside herself. They never found out what caused it but the mother was a wreck. She also has a large family, who didn't realize that there are certain visiting hours for certain relatives. So, they crowded the room, so many of them they overflowed into my side.... And, in this hospital, other than the father and grandparents, visitors should only come between 630 and 8pm. Well, the grandparents who came during their allotted time brought the whole family with them, cousins and aunts and what not. Oy!!!!! My room was a circus all day long. Then, even the fathers are supposed to leave at 10pm, and this gal's dh was here until almost 1130. Ugh. I was just so disturbed by all this, and felt like I was recouping, and pumping breastmilk, in a fishbowl.

Back to Maddie. When they first fed her orally, it didn't go well so she got a nasogastric tube. She tolerated that ok and then they progressed her back to oral feeds and she did well. She needed a few days under bili lights for jaundice but that went away, too. Then, she had to stay in an isolet most of her stay due to her temperature. They would try to move her to an open crib and her body temp would drop. So, she had to go back in. But, in the end, when she turned 35 weeks, on 12/4, she was able to hold her temp for a few days and was able to come home.

BF did not work out. She never got big enough to nurse, and I had no time to pump (my son is hyperactive and speech delayed so keeps me busy) so I just went to formula. She has bad reflux and is currently on zantac, which is not working well. We are going to pursue diff meds soon.

So, that's the story so far. On her due date she weighed 7 lbs 4 oz and 19.5 inches long. She has pics at http://photos.yahoo.com/ritajkim in the Maddie!!!!! folder.

So happy your back!! Congrats on the birth of your beautiful baby girl I'm sorry to hear your stay in the hospital was a little bit of an episode, but glad to hear all is well now. She is beautiful!

Congrats and welcome back

Wow! That's some story!

I'm glad that Maddie is home and healthy now.

I saw your name on the expecting list and I wondered what happened to you....

Congratulations on your baby girl! She sure was anxious to get out into the world! God bless.

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures! Please

See the pics at

http://photos.yahoo.com/ritajkim

rita I was so worried about you! When your due date on our list came and went, I couldnt' help but think something must be wrong......

I am so glad to hear all is fantastic! Welcome to your little bundle and welcome back! If you give me the baby's full name and date of birth, I'll add her to the Birthday List!

Congrats to you and your new daughter

What beautiful pictures! You have a perfect family.

Welcome back Rita.
Congrats to you !! Gorgeous pictures!

Congrats and welcome back