Post Partum

In honor of all the children people talked about at Sam's blog yesterday, we donated $175 to the March of Dimes to help their fight for preterm babies and to reduce preterm births.

Sam obviously hasn't had the same struggles as many preemies, given that he was a late-term boy and only had to spend a couple hours in NICU.  Back in July when the doctors and case managers were talking to us about the Ronald McDonald House and all the other arrangements we'd need to make for our son's almost assured early delivery, we were despondent.  And really through all the months of bedrest and multiple returns to the hospital, we kept wondering how long our luck would hold.

We made it to 36 weeks, which we only had a 50-50 chance of getting to we were told, and we celebrated.  But that's as far as Sam was willing to go.  Now, if we accept our original due date of 10/23 he was born at 36w4d but the high-risk folks had pegged him at 10/27, putting him at 36w exactly.  Whatever, he was early, small and for a while had trouble breathing.

The fact that the boy wasn't eventually admitted to NICU was a great shock and relief.  I only got to visit him once there.  After signing in and going through the required handwashing protocol, I saw teeny Sam resting peacefully in his incubator, then just a little while later they brought him back to us.

One last blip with dangerous bili levels sending us to the ER and spending another couple days in the pediatrics ward, and here we are 7 weeks later with our healthy, growing and increasingly interactive child.  All that other stuff seems a few lifetimes ago.

We're thankful for the great staff at Fletcher Allen and our state's healthcare system.  And thankful that Vermont is doing so well regarding preterm births.  We're also of course extremely thankful for all the support we've gotten online and off, including all the stories people have shared.

Please don't forget to donate to the cause so we can reduce the number of preemie stories and make sure those babies born too soon have a better chance to thrive.

ntodd