I had a basically normal pregnancy up until my labor began. I took the AFP test at 16 weeks gestation and it came back abnormally low. At this time, I had no idea that this test is unreliable and has frequent cases of false positives. So, we went and spoke with a genetic counselor and agreed to have an amnio performed. When the test results came back we found that everything was fine and that we were expecting a girl. After that, nothing out of the ordinary occured and we began our Lamaze classes at 30 weeks. I planned for my maternity leave from work which would begin after the Thanksgiving holiday. The day of November 19th began with our fifth Lamaze class. After we finished that we decided to go out to the new outlet mall and shop for the afternoon. We walked all over the mall just window shopping. I was having bad back pain all day, but just attributed it to normal third trimester troubles. While at the mall, we purchased a back massage item to help in labor and with the frequent pain I'd been having. Then we drove back to town. We went to dinner at a local chinese restuarant. We were sitting in our booth waiting for our food to arrive and talking, when suddenly I felt as if I were wetting my pants, although it was just a few drops! This not being an uncommen dilemma for pregnant women, I was not alarmed. However, I told Stuart that I wasn't sure why it had happened as I hadn't just sneezed or laughed. So, I left to go to the bathroom. I made it halfway down the hallway when a gush of water came streaming down my legs and I had no doubt that my water had broke. At that point in time I knew nothing about preemies or 34 weekers and how they did. All I knew was that my baby was coming early, and I was terrified. I went out to the car while Stuart quickly paid for the food and had it boxed up. We arrived at the hospital and were quickly checked in. I remember little about what was told to me except that it was mentioned that the baby might have to be in the hospital until the time of her original due date of December 29th. We called the family, and my mother and Stuart's mom came down to the hosptial. My water had broke around 7:00 pm. The nurses expected me to be in labor at least 24 hours. I was put on an IV to keep me hydrated and to hopefully slow labor down. I was told that sometimes, if given 24 hours or more from the onset of preterm labor, the baby's lungs would mature on their own, as, at 34 weeks, they were not matured yet. With this in mind, I accepted Nubain for the pain around 11 that night. Around 2 am the pain became almost unbearable and yet I was told I was only 3 cms.. I asked for an epidural and hoped to now get a few hours sleep. The pain seemed to lesson with each contraction for about 3 contractions. I had been told that by the 4th or 5th contraction the pain should be all gone. Imagine my surprise when around the 4th one, I started feeling more pain, and more with the next and then lots of pressure that felt like I needed to have a bowel movement. I mentioned this to my Mother in law who quietly went out into the hallway and grabbed a nurse. She told her that I was sounded ready to push, the nurse thought this was not possible as I had only been a 3 a half hour earlier. But she came in and checked on me, sure enough, I was at a 10 and ready to deliver. After 40 minutes of pushing, and a little help from the vacuum extractor, Salina Drew was born at 3:38 am Sunday, November 20th. This was approximatly 8 and a half hours from the time my water broke. Salina weighed in at 5 lbs. 6 ozs. and was 18 inches long. She had apgars of 8 and 9. According to the Dr.'s summary that I have, she rapidly developed respiratory distress and was intubated shortly after birth. Salina was in the hospital for a total of 9 days and we were truly blessed that she was as healthy as she was. She was on the respirator for 5 days and taken off after being slowly weaned to room air. When she was 3 days old, tube feedings of expressed breastmilk were begun. The day after she was taken off the respirator, we were able to begin putting her to breast. She had some initial trouble with latching on, but got better over the next few days. As it turned out, her biggest problem was keeping her awake long enough to eat. She tended to latch on and then fall right to sleep. This continued to be a problem for the first few weeks. We ended up doing a variety of things to wake her up including feeding her in just a diaper and using wet cloths to wake her up. Eventually, she got better. She lost weight every day she was in the hospital, but began to gain weight as soon as she came home. She gained almost an ounce and a half a day for the first two months. Salina also developed jaundice by the time she was 2 days old. She was treated with phototherapy the entire hospital stay. She was still jaundiced when she came home. It continured to be a concern at each Dr. visit. When she was two months old, she was hospitalized with RSV and required oxygen for her stay of one week. At the onset of her stay it was determined that she had "breastmilk jaundice". The doctors asked me to feed her formlua for 24 hours and then resume breastfeeding. I did this for 12 hours at the hospital, pumping instead during this time. Salina, however, did not want the formula, so we resumed breastfeedings. This seemed to help enough though, and brought her bilirubin count down quickly. Salina was discharged from NICU at 9 days old weighing 4 lbs. 14.9 ozs.. The first year and a half were difficult for her and us. She quickly gained weight. . She reached all her milestones at the appropriate time with no need for adjustment. However, she had problems with episodes of asthma and frequent ear infections till she was 18 months old. Since that time, she has been doing great and is extremely healthy, barely ever even getting colds. I have done much reading since Salina's birth about preterm labor and birth. There are things that I wish I knew then and that I might have changed. I feel that we were truly blessed to have her as healthy as she was and is. Salina's story is not an uncommon or unusual one. It is just that, Salina's story. I hope that in sharing it I'm able to let go of it a little bit and hopefully help someone else out there in similar circumstances.
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