World Prematurity Day - NATHAN'S STORY

18 weeks pregnant on the day Dennis and I got married 

In 2006 I was pregnant with Nathan. We were told - via amnio - that Nathan was genetically healthy - as far as they could tell. However, his pregnancy mimicked Noah's greatly and it gave me great pause. I felt as if something was wrong, but there was no proof. At our 20 week ultrasound we found out that Nathan had a two vessel cord (normally there are three vessels ... two going in, one going out ... Nathan's case there was one going in and one going out. So Nathan was getting half the nutrients any other baby would.) ... So in addition to that - they found out that I had Fibroid tumors in my uterus, pretty big ones from what I understood, which also restricted things, and Nathan had a "cyst in his brain" ....

Valentines Day 2007

But there was NO WAY to know what the future held.

To be safe, I was given steroid shots around 33 weeks. At that point, things were taken week by week, but they didn't want to let me go past 36 weeks.

We hit 35 weeks, Noah developed an ear infection. So he went on some antibiotics. However, over that weekend - he started to get really sick. He was complaining that his right side hurt, he was feverish, vomiting - we took him into the local ER and got brushed off "It's just a virus" ... but in my gut, I felt it was more. The next day, he actually seemed to get a little better, so I thought - well, maybe I'm wrong. But the following morning, the day I needed to go to the hospital - the same hospital Noah was born at, 2 hours away - where Nathan would also be born.... for an appointment to determine when Nathan was coming, Noah was so sick that I was torn about even going to the appointment. He had a 104 temp, he was lethargic, vomiting, and I couldn't leave him. So Dennis and I packed him up, took him the 2 hours away to the hospital - to have him seen in urgent care there.

What does that have to do with anything? Well ... Noah was so sick he was hospitalized. Noah almost died that week. I was told if we hadn't gotten him in - it wouldn't have been long. Regardless, I had to go from Noah's hospital room, down a floor, on April 19th 2007, to give birth to Nathan.

Thankfully - Noah got better... 

It was a planned c-section - wasn't life or death - like it was with Noah. But it was time. And I had a very very hard time because of the Noah's birth was traumatizing for me. I told Dennis, I made him promise, NOT to leave the baby.

During Nathan's birth - they did pause a moment so we could see him, Dennis was taken to the room off to the side of the OR where they took the babies prior to taking them into the NICU...

He was 3lbs 4oz and 15 3/4 inches long. He was born at 36 weeks. He was put in the EXACT same spot in the NICU that Noah had been in.... and the nurses kept saying "You are a pro, you take care of him, you know how to do it..." LOL... since it was Dennis' first experience in the NICU, I let him do a lot of the firsts when it came to Nathan. I walked him through a lot, and told him how to do stuff and what to expect. I hope that my experience with Noah helped me make his experience with Nathan less traumatizing as a parent.

Later we learned that Nathan's lack of growth is due to him having a rare type of Primordial Dwarfism (primordial meaning he's proportionate, and dwarfism meaning he is expected to grow under a certain height) ... called Russell Silver Syndrome. He was born with a cleft palate that was repaired May 2012, among a lot of other things. He also has Autism. I hate to say he's non-verbal because he tries so hard.

He is 6 years old, the size of a 2 or 3 year old, he is 27-28 lbs and about 33-34 inches. He is my hero!