Premature baby on the way

katya02

katya02

Solace
Yesterday girlfriend was referred to a specialist at the closest referral center for problems on an ultrasound. girlfriend didn't understand what the precise problem was. I offered to drive her and difficult child 1 to the appointment early this morning and help clarify information for them, and they accepted. girlfriend went into premature labor during the night and was sent by ambulance to the referral center. Her water has broken; she's only twenty-nine weeks along. Asking prayers for this little babe who is going to come into the world extremely early, and for girlfriend and difficult child 1.
 
D

DaisyFace

Love me...Love me not
O dear! Saying prayers...

I will keep you all in my thoughts today...please check in when you can and let us know how everyone is doing...
 
katya02

katya02

Solace
Thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers. The news is not good. girlfriend has a very large vascular tumor on her placenta that is causing strain to the baby's heart (too much blood flow for the heart to push around). The baby has developed fluid on her abdomen and under her scalp, and her GI system looks affected. However, her heart rate is still normal and she doesn't have fluid around the heart. Because the situation, while an emergency, isn't absolutely critical yet, the doctors are going to try to hold off on delivery for another 36 hours to give the necessary doses of steroid to help mature the baby's lungs. girlfriend's contractions have stopped for now but if she goes back into labor she may deliver before the 36 hours. Her water has broken so she is committed to deliver.

The medical team had a long talk with difficult child 1 and girlfriend, and the neonatologist gave them very extensive information. They won't know how badly the baby's heart is affected until after delivery; then they'll evaluate her heart, do head ultrasounds to look for bleeds, and monitor her GI system. She will be intubated and fed through her umbilical cord vessels. If all goes well she will hopefully go home in mid-November.

So - it will be a long road, if the little one survives. I don't think girlfriend understood most of the information, even though the attending doctor gave an excellent, layman's description of the problems; it will take time for her to assimilate it. She is more focused right now on not wanting to go through any more contractions. :/ One day at a time.

I had to come home for the night to take care of some things here (two hour drive so I did consider staying, but couldn't really); I will go back tomorrow morning and hope that she lasts through the night. difficult child 1 has done very well - I have to say I'm proud of him in this situation. He has been calm, has comforted girlfriend and stayed right with her and will sleep in her room overnight, and although he is clearly stressed and upset by the news from the medical team, he summed it up by saying, 'I guess we can only wait and see, for now. We just have to hope.' I couldn't have said it better myself.

It will be an eventful weekend. I'm doing a lot of praying.
 
klmno

klmno

Active Member
Oh my. I'm sure this is all quite overwhelming for the girlfriend and a lot to deal with for the entire family. I'm glad to hear your difficult child is handling it so well and being as supportive and hopeful as he can. I can't imagine the stress and emotions all of you must be going thru. I will keep the family and the baby in my thoughts.... please keep us updated as you can.

Pardon my ignorance if this question has an obvious answer, but will the tumor the mother has somehow be discharged or otherwise go away after birth or will that be an additional surgery after the birth?
 
katya02

katya02

Solace
Thank you all ... to answer klmno's question, the tumor is in the placenta and should be completely expelled with the placenta. However, it has some slightly unusual features on ultrasound and if it turns out to be part of another type of tumor, there's a small possibility that there could be involvement elsewhere in girlfriend's body. That's one of the details I don't think she fully understood, but it's not something to emphasize right now. It would be a very rare thing if it happened, so for now we're just hoping it's a limited vascular tumor.
 
S

susiestar

Roll With It
I am so very sorry. Many prayers coming your way. I am sure the info was overwhelming for both girlfriend and difficult child 1. As difficult child said, it is a matter of waiting to see what will happen.

Sending love and support to all of you.
 
Hound dog

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
(((hugs)))

Big time prayers going up for the little one as well as the rest of the family.

It can be so hard to absorb that sort of information when you're young.......even when it's put simply. It's so much at once when you're already scared to death and your emotions are in an uproar. been there done that I'm so glad you were able to go along with the kids and help today. I'm sure they truly appreciated it as well.

Please keep us updated.
 
M

Mamaof5

Guest
I can tell you that 29 weekers do well and looking for brain bleeds is a common procedure for all preemies. Checking out the GI track is also common for all preemies. The surfactant (steroids for the lungs) can also be given directly to the lungs of the baby through a tube into the lungs too (they did it with my 29 weeker) so if she did not make the 36 hours (and I hope she did, the longer baby stays the better off baby is, even if it's by minutes, every minute counts) they have options for the lungs outside of utero too.

I pray that the baby does very well and that mom has no lasting issues either. If they or you want two stories of experiences of premature babies I'm more than happy to PM you my number and I will talk with all of you. The out come now a days for premature babies is very great prognosis for them. Our technology has come a very, very long way. Her best best is to breastfeed or to pump and bottle feed the breast milk, even if it's just while baby is in NICU. Bring Kanga Care too (most NICUs already do this though, it's part of their policies). Call on me if you need something, I may even still have preemie clothes kicking around (my pack rat nature) and even a couple of baby slings and carriers that may come of use later on if they need it.

I've had a 29 weeker and a 33 weeker. Nearly had my second child at 24 weeks. Bless you all, you all will make it through this.
 

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