Walking for Healthier Babies

Some of the most challenging times I've experienced  in my life have been a result of the premature birth of both of my children. The complicated pregnancies, early births, sick babies, surgeries, and endless doctor appointments were are challenging, but they've also made me who I am today; I am a better husband and father because of it.

Preemies and Hernias

Its been a little while since I've posted here, but not for lack of wanting to.  Having 2 kids is a little different than one and its been hard to find the time.

First, I want to give a quick update on my 35-weeker who is now about 5 weeks old.  Unfortunately,  he's been like most preemies and has had a very eventful little life so far.  Just in the past month we been through - NICU, Refulx, Trush, and now hernias!

All About APGAR Scores

If you've had a baby born prematurely or in the NICU, you still might not have heard of APGAR scores.  Medical personnel use theses scores, taken at 1 minute and 5 minutes after birth, to determine what next steps if any need to be taken to stabilize a newborn. My wife was a NICU nurse and so she is very familiar with the scoring system and, in fact, it was one of the first things she wanted me to find out from our son's nurse.  You see, knowing these scores my wife, and medical staff, would know his health at birth (and due to the fact that my son had problems breathing when he was born, my wife was very interesting in his scores).

What is an APGAR score?

My Baby Didn't Cry When He Was Born

Our first son, who was born at 29 weeks 6 days cried when he was born.  My new son (35 weeks, 2 days) did not cry when he was born. I might be making a bigger deal out of this than it actually is, and certainly others have had to experience much worse, but boy it was scary! Here's what happened...

This c-section was much slower, calmer, and more enjoyable than the first (the first was an emergency), that is, until he was born.  I followed the baby over to the place where he was going to be examined (as I had previously planned) and it wasn't until we got there when I noticed things weren't quite right - my baby wasn't breathing.  After some quick suctioning, he still wasn't breathing so they starting bagging him.  It was this same oxygen bag that we saw every day for 6 weeks with our first, hanging on the wall in the NICU, but I'd never seen it in action - You don't want to see it in action.

Reflections of a Preemie Dad

 
Note: This is a guest post written by Brian Wagnon (@isaacsdaddy on Tiwtter) - preemie dad and co-founder of Northeastern Oklahoma Parents of Preemies.  Thanks so much Brian for letting us post this great piece.  If you are a preemie dad, I'm sure many of the thoughts and feelings expressed will be familiar to you!

Why Did This Happen To Us?

When my wife got so sick with pre-eclampsia and ultimately ended up having a c-section at 30 weeks, this question kept coming up. Why did this happen to us? At the time I didn't know how close I had come to losing my wife, but in hindsight it is scary to think about. Not to mention looking at my son for the first time with all the equipment they had him hooked up to and him being only half as big as any other baby I had ever personally seen. When I came out of the NICU for the first time our relatives couldn't tell what had happened because I had this look on my face of complete and utter shock. It all happened so fast. One day we were wondering when we would get to go home from my wife's latest blood pressure scare and the next we had a preemie. Many times I just wondered why.

My New Preemie

If you follow me on Twitter (@PreemieDads), you already know that my 2nd preemie was born yesterday.  He was 5lbs 15oz, but almost 20 inches long!  He is in the NICU learning how to breathe air, but it otherwise healthy.  I will provide a more thorough update later, but, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words...

Live Tweeting the Premature Birth of my Son

In the name of Prematurity Awareness and Preemie Dads everywhere, I will be live tweeting the premature birth of our second son.  I call it live tweeting, but really i'll just provide random updates whenever possible (does that count as "Live tweeting?")  It's hard to know just how often I'll be able to keep you informed because obviously my first priority is to my wife and child, but I will tweet updates throughout the morning!

The C-Section is scheduled for 12:15pm (we have to be at the hospital at 10:45am), so I will be tweeting about 10:30am!! (Pacific Time).

All you need to do it follow @PreemieDads and follow in as my son is born at 35 weeks 2 days via scheduled Cesarean-Section.