Baby Kirsten
On March 30, 1999, my daughter Kirsten Nicole Cox was born 10 weeks early and weighing 1lb 6oz. I hope this site helps other families going through this experience and to know they are not alone.
In The Beginning
This was my second pregnancy. My first pregnancy was basically normal so when I got pregnant again I believed things would go normal.
I started getting sick and I think down deep I knew something was wrong. They did a test called Tri Screening which came back abnormal and I went the University for genetic councelling and an amniocentesis. The amnio came back normal and so I continued on with the pregnancy thinking all was fine.
I then went in for my 6 month checkup. The Dr. was concerned since I hadn't grown or gained weight and sent me directly in for an Ultra Sound. During this time I was totally out of it and looking back now I was very sick. The Ultra Sound show IUGR (Intrauterine Growth Retardation) and no amnio fluid. They rushed me to the hospital where they discovered I had high blood pressure of 147/121. Of course every one was running around giving me this and doing that. They also put on Magnesium which made me feel very weird. It was very frightening but I still didn't think I would be having a baby this soon. They rushed me to a different hospital that had a level 3 NICU Unit where they monitored me there for the day.
The next day they did some other tests and ended up delivering Kirsten that morning on March 30, 1999 at 11:00 am by C-section weighing 1lb 6oz.
Kirsten just hours old
Kirsten at 4 days old and Mom holding her for the 1st time on Easter Morning
Although Kirsten was quit small at birth, she was fully breathing on her own and required no special care. That night when I visited her for the first time, she was totally stable and only had one IV for nutrition. She was quite a shock to see. Not because she looked bad but she was so small. Her legs and arms reminded me of chicken legs and she had not butt what so ever. Her head was so soft you could feel it squeeze in when you picked her up.
I spent the next 2 weeks driving 2 hours each way from our home to the hospital to visit her. Sometimes at night I would feel so guilty for not being there to say goodnight and to take care of her. During her hospital stay at the University, she required a platet and blood transfusion and only gained 4oz. She was then transferred to a hospital that was closer to my home and had a level 2 nursery.
Kirsten's foot was barely 1 inch long
The new hospital was only 5 minutes away from my work so I went back to work and visited Kirsted after work everyday and every weekend. The put her on a high calorie diet, 30cal/oz, and right away she started putting on weight. They nurses fell in love with her right away since she was the smallest baby in the nursery. For the next 2 months everything went well. She was considered just a gainer and a grower and althouth it was exhausting visiting and leaving her everyday I felt pretty good about the whole situation.
It wasn't until she started feeding from the bottle that the problems started. She would choke and stop breathing almost everytime you fed her and she then became allergic to her feeding tube so they had to take that out. It became so fustrating know she couldn't come home until this situation was tackled and she could eat fully on her own. They did quite abit of testing and as a result we found out she had a level 4 reflux. So she was put on Zantac, oatmeal in her cereal and a wegde to sleep on. Two weeks after her due date Kirsten finally came home.
Kaylie (big sister) and Kirsten at the hospital