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Elijah -- Gift from God
WenD - 07:03pm Dec 21, 2004 EST
My son Elijah was born at 33 weeks due to a placental abruption. I had to have an emergency c-section because the placenta had almost completely detached...thankfully, I started bleeding, or I would have never known. At the time of birth, he weighed 4 lbs 1 oz and he was SO tiny. Like all the others, he was whisked away to the NICU without my being able to see him or hear him cry. He spent the next 20 days in the hospital, during which he had to be intubated, fed through an IV and then a gavage, and he had one lung collapse, which was explained to me as if it was no big deal. Once we were able to take him home, he weighed 5 lbs 9 oz and I was SO afraid I would hurt him. On top of that, I had a very active 14 month old who has always been above the 90th percentile for height and weight...so I was horribly afraid that SHE might hurt him.
Once home, it took him awhile to put on weight. He just refused to eat, which was new to me, since my daughter has always been a wonderful eater!
Elijah is now 2.5 and has completely caught up developmentally, although he is still very small for his age (50th percentile for height, 5th for weight). He has a big sister (Meghan) who is 3.5 and in the 98th percentile for height and weight. His baby sister, Kaley, who is now 8 months old, was born 4 weeks early and weighed 5 lbs 14 oz at birth. I began bleeding again with her at 22 weeks and was put on bedrest for the remainder of my pregnancy, before eventually going into labor at 36 weeks. Thankfully, she stayed in long enough to avoid a NICU stay! She has grown incredibly well and she now wears the same size diapers as her big brother!
I know how incredibly blessed I am that my girls have always been healthy and that my son has overcome his rough start. My heart goes out to all those parents who have had a preemie baby, especially those that now have angels in heaven.
Thanks for allowing me to share my story and to read the many others.
Wendy
My son Elijah was born at 33 weeks due to a placental abruption. I had to have an emergency c-section because the placenta had almost completely detached...thankfully, I started bleeding, or I would have never known. At the time of birth, he weighed 4 lbs 1 oz and he was SO tiny. Like all the others, he was whisked away to the NICU without my being able to see him or hear him cry. He spent the next 20 days in the hospital, during which he had to be intubated, fed through an IV and then a gavage, and he had one lung collapse, which was explained to me as if it was no big deal. Once we were able to take him home, he weighed 5 lbs 9 oz and I was SO afraid I would hurt him. On top of that, I had a very active 14 month old who has always been above the 90th percentile for height and weight...so I was horribly afraid that SHE might hurt him.
Once home, it took him awhile to put on weight. He just refused to eat, which was new to me, since my daughter has always been a wonderful eater!
Elijah is now 2.5 and has completely caught up developmentally, although he is still very small for his age (50th percentile for height, 5th for weight). He has a big sister (Meghan) who is 3.5 and in the 98th percentile for height and weight. His baby sister, Kaley, who is now 8 months old, was born 4 weeks early and weighed 5 lbs 14 oz at birth. I began bleeding again with her at 22 weeks and was put on bedrest for the remainder of my pregnancy, before eventually going into labor at 36 weeks. Thankfully, she stayed in long enough to avoid a NICU stay! She has grown incredibly well and she now wears the same size diapers as her big brother!
I know how incredibly blessed I am that my girls have always been healthy and that my son has overcome his rough start. My heart goes out to all those parents who have had a preemie baby, especially those that now have angels in heaven.
Thanks for allowing me to share my story and to read the many others.
Wendy
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