This post was written on July 4 which was my due date but i didn't have time to post it until now!
July 4 is the day Ivanna was supposed to be born. And this is one of the most bitter sweet days that we've had so far.
We went on a stroller ride outside the hospital, she got a crib instead of an incubator finally and all the NICU nurses, doctors, high-risk nurses, my OB team and all the NICU moms got a cake (Russian Napoleon).
I found out that the main doctor made a decision to keep Ivanna alive... Mostly because Ivanna was crying when she was born which meant that her lungs were strong. Also the scale kept showing error and noone is really sure what her weight was, it was possibly too small for the scale... 390 g number was something the doctor had to settle on and it included a few things, not a naked baby weight (plastic wrap, a hat). Such a small baby is usually a dismissal as a non viable but because Ivanna was "scwacking" and seemed very lively when RTs and the nurses asked what to do, she told them to put the IV lines into her belly button and out her on CPAP (two standards procudures for preemies). So she could have easily done nothing and dismissed her as a non-viable baby. I'm so thankful for this doctor, she is my hero forever. Now she is so proud of Ivanna, same as all the other doctors are nurses, they all consider her an extremely exceptional baby.
Today I was surrounded with so much love and support from the doctors and nurses, they are our little family...
One of the doctors helped me fight for getting permission for her to get outside, I can't disclose the details since something very rare infectious was happened in our pod which was the reason why I wasn't allowed to take Ivanna outside the room. However, it was resolved and so the ruled didn't make sense to anyone... Ivanna's main Boost Team doctor went out of her way in trying to talk to infection control a few times (and it also took a nice email from me) and finally we got the permission! It made me feel so amazing to have her outside in the sun, I was almost balling my eyes out from happiness...
This was the morning. In the afternoon Ivanna had an eye procedure, it wasn't an easy thing to watch. But I'm so thankful for the recent medical advances. Ivanna had a stage 3 ROP in both of her eyes and even when she was born I was warned that most likely this will happen since almost all tiniest babies get an excess blood vessels growth on the retina which if not treated can lead to retinal detachment. There was only 20% that Ivanna's stage 3 retinopathy of premature won't go away on its and will cause issues. So there was 80% that she would be fine. But these 20% would be devastating and could mean an eye surgery or even loss of vision. Since the treatment that she received today was just a needle in the eye, no risks, it was totally worth it. Its a very common procedure, last not even five minutes and half an hour later Ivanna was totally comfy as though nothing happened. Four years ago this treatment was not available at Sunnybrook and all babies had to go to Sick Kids hospital for a laser eye surgery. As hard as it was, I am extremely grateful that this medication can take of ROP. Stevie Wonder wouldn't have been blind if this existed back in the day. He was left blind because of ROP since he was born early too.
We will be in NICU for another few weeks, I'm expecting about 2 weeks or so. Partially due to ROP but mostly due to Ivanna needing to gain more strength to be able to fully breastfeed on her own. She does it partially now and she sleeps a lot which is great since it helps her gain weight. She is already 2066g! Yesterday she was 2018g haha. Going outside in a stroller and seeing people's reaction about how tiny she is made me not "in a rush" to get home. The more time she spends here and grows, the better. Once she fully breastfeed she might not be growing as well since a lot of energy will be exerted for eating. Now she gets a lot of feeds of my milk through the feeding tube, so this helps her grow faster.
No comments:
Post a Comment