Meet Devon

Devon

Meet Devon, he's my preemie child ( Serenity was also, not that you can even tell by her size)! Devon is a blue eyed blond haired beauty. He is going on 7 yrs old on April Fool's Day!

When I was pregnant it was a normal pregnancy like all the others until the end (same with Serenity-hers was at the end also) when I was going in for a normal OBGYN appointment like you do many times through out a pregnancy. I told them that it was going great and that I was just tired, which with two other children and being a single pregnant mother is to be expected. They said they were going to have to rum tests on me after checking my heart rate and pulse ox among other routine checks. I said what for because the tome in her voice alerted me to something being out of the ordinary. She changed her tone and said oh, just a stress test.

I almost didn't go to this appointment because I was outside working in my flower garden and lost track of time. I was thirty minutes away from the Dr's office from where I lived. I looked at my phone and realized that I only had 15 minutes to get there and that I would be late. I went upstairs and washed my hands because they were still covered in gardening soil. I looked at my phone again and now I had 12 minutes to get there. Thinking dang they are probably going to reschedule it I somehow decided to go anyways since my two children were at a relatives anyways and all I had to do was hop into my car and go without the extra preparations of taking along two children.

So I said OK about the stress test thinking that I felt quite relaxed due to gardening, but explained I was slightly stressed out because I knew I was running late and was indeed late to this appointment, She said OK we'll have you go upstairs for the testing at the hospital that was literally within walking distance from the OBGYN office. I said OK and headed over there with the hand written papers. Upon getting in my car to drive over there I saw in red ink sideways across the papers ordered with STAT results. I don't know very much about medical terms or conditions, but knew STAT meant they wanted immediate results within ONE HOUR of the testing. I thought that's strange for a stress test, thinking they were at worst just going to tell me to relax more or something.

After going upstairs to the hospital and having these material straps wrapped around my belly and sticky heart monitor patches put on my chest and belly I was told to relax and sit there while the machines needle thing went up and down on the device printing white paper with blue spikes all over it. I was like OK can I take a nap in the chair since she mentioned that it was an hour long test and I was tired. She screamed No you must stay awake. That freaked me out at the way she yelled it, but figured she was just having a bad day.

No more then 20 minutes had gone by and the nurses had been in and out one giving me orange juice and Graham crackers (kinda like they do after you give a lot of blood) and asking if I was OK at least 4 or 5 times. I was like yup, just sitting/laying here. Then the OBGYN from the office burst through the doorway (I said who is at the OB office if you are here), he said I closed the office. I said tell me what is going on. I was in straight panic now. He said don't worry we just need an ultrasound. I said enough, you don't close your office down to come and assist the hospital with an ultrasound of my baby what is up.

The Dr looked lost for words and blurted out we suspect your child is dead in you. I literally threw up on the bed, started balling my eyes out, and was hyperventilating. I said how, what, why? I went to all my appointments, I took my prenatals, I don't do drugs, I eat my fruits and vegetables, I watched lifting, how what? He hugged me and said sometimes it's not meant to be. I was LESS THEN 6 WEEKS away from my delivery date and my world just ended when he told me that.

He said we need to ultrasound you. I just looked at him unable to even speak now and nodded my head yes. They wheeled a machine in, I didn't even have to leave the room. They hooked it up to me and began the ultrasound. His mouth fell open. I somehow managed to say what? He said your son is alive, but won't be for much longer. I swear I blacked out or blocked out the next few moments, because next I knew I was standing outside on the hospitals loading dock not knowing what the heck was going on. I was in shock and scared, and had no clue how I got there. I guess the nurses chased me and I ran to my car where I left my phone grabbed it and then tried to get back to the floor I was on, but couldn't find it so I stood there calling the relative that had my older two and explaining I can't pick them up right away.

Next I know I was back in the bed I had been in and was being told to drink this nasty cup of liquid. They said it was so I would NOT choke and die during my emergency c-section for my son since I had eaten so close to the c-section. I asked what was wrong with my child because even though I was told I was having an emergency c-section I didn't know why. They asked if I had peed myself any time during pregnancy and realized it was NOT pee. I said what? NO? What do you mean? She said your child has NO amniotic fluid and is suffocating and gasping for air slowly dying inside you. I said oh my gosh and went into a panic attack. The doctor started screaming at her about how she talked to patients. I lost it and screamed back "at least someone actually told me what was happening, shut up".

Before I knew it I was breathing in gas to knock me out to do the emergency c-section. I awoke in lots of pain, but frantic to know what happened, if my child was alive, if he was going to make it, and to know what was going on. I have no clue where they had me, must have been in a post op observation room because there was a desk and no one else around. I crawled off the side of the bed holding onto the iv in so much pain that every step I took I thought I was going to die from the pain and amount of blood running down my feet from the operation. I made it to the door to leave that room and nurses came from out of no where instructing me to stay in the bed which I was no where near at this point. Things were spinning from the morphine and loss of blood. All I could mutter is wheres my baby.

I must have passed out or something because next I remember was being back in my bed in my room ( the one you get after having a baby ). I was so weak and couldn't talk well ( think they sedated me to keep me in my bed ). It took ALL my strength to press that red call button. The nurse answered and I couldn't speak. My mouth was so dry and I was so exhausted I couldn't talk one word. A nurse ended up coming in and said she was surprised to see me awake so quick ( THAT'S WHY I THINK THEY SEDATED ME AGAIN ), still unable to talk I just looked at her wanting to scream is my baby OK, but I couldn't talk. She went out and I started crying, but had no tears coming out.

The nurse came back a few minutes later with my son in a dome covered bed with a tube going into it for oxygen and said he is going to live. Still unable to talk I managed a half smile and passed back out. I woke up with a lady cotton swabbing my mouth to wet it because she saw it was dried out. She snuck me a can of coca cola and gave me a straw and held it for me to drink. I drank almost the whole can. She said you must have been thirsty. I could tell you needed a drink because the corners of your mouth were crusted from being dried out.

I thanked her and asked about my child. She said it's a little boy and he weighed in at 5 pounds 9 1/2 ounces and is doing just fine. I said oh my gosh he is little. She said for more then 5 1/2 weeks early she is shocked that he weighs that much. She said they thought maybe 3 pounds when they were delivering him. I said I was used to my other at 8-9 pounds. She said he's going to be fine.

I asked why the dome and the tube for him. She said that she's amazed that even after no amniotic fluid he is able to breathe on his own and that they were giving him extra oxygen to make it easier for him. I said OK thank you. She asked if I wanted to see him again I said yes please. And she wheeled my bed to the nursery window and wheeled him closer to the glass so I could look through and see him. He had a blue tint to his skin with pink/red splotches all over his face. I told her I didn't think he was breathing right. She said he was almost completely blue when they delivered him and that he is looking 100 times better and that was because he was having breathing troubles in me and that the blue would fade away. She said the red spots were from still having my hormones in him that usually disappear later on in the pregnancy and that they are like that because he was so early, but they too would go away. I said so he is OK. She said yes they are shocked because they thought he'd have to go to a nicu and weren't sure if he would make it. They said after the c-section they were shocked at how much of a fighter he was and how well he did. They said he's OK enough to be in the nursery with the other babies. I looked around and saw 5 other babies in there that I somehow didn't even see the first time. I started crying and thanked her. She smiled and said no you did everything right in pregnancy to have him be this healthy even with the complications he has the nutrients and energy in him to fight and not give up. I cried and she wheeled me back to my room.

The next day came and I got to hold him out of his bed dome against my chest. We locked eyes and he grasped my finger with his tiny hand so tight. I breastfed him and the bond we shared was unbreakable. Breastfeeding was a challenge due to him being early, but my body "HEARD" his cries and starting producing more and more milk like it should have done normally.

After three nights and 2 days in the hospital they said I was clear to be discharged. I said what about my baby. They said he'd have to pass a car seat test and if he did he could also go home with me. I was in shock thinking he'd be there weeks due to being so small. He ended up failing the carrier car seat test. I said what does that mean, is he having trouble breathing again? They said slightly while kept at an elevated sitting position for more then 15 minutes. I said oh my gosh thinking that he wasn't going to make it again. They said it's common in preemies and I felt relief sweep over me.

They tested him in the ONLY other option they had for him to be able to be discharged with me. It was a car seat bed. My son layed COMPLETELY FLAT in this car seat and it literally was a bed that he could lay, sleep, and ride in the car with. This seat strapped in just like a normal car seat would, but he layed completely flat instead of in a sitting position. I was terrified that he would choke, but they said it is indeed safe. I said OK and waited for the testing they did with it at the hospital with him in it. He passed the test in this one and discharged with me.

After arriving home I fed him prescription ( AFTER BUGGING THE DR'S FOR THE SCRIPT ) double calorie formula and alternated with breast milk pumping in between to keep up supply for him. He has had NO MEDICAL PROBLEMS other then a persistent ear infection as an infant that they fixed my putting tubes in his ears that corrected the problem. They believed his tubes in his ears were too small due to being born so early and that is what caused this. Other then that nothing wrong with him. He has always been small in frame but his head circumference grew accordingly, so the Dr's say there is still NO CONCERNS with him at almost the age of 7. Thank gosh!

Devon LOVES/ENJOYS:
minecraft, video games, Lego's, fishing, walking in the woods with me, being outside, swimming, and playing with other online and in person with toys!

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