How things have changed since I last posted on here. Little Isaac Aaron Renkema was born on May 7, 2010 by c-section at St Joseph's hospital in London. My water had broken about 36 hours earlier and the only hospital that could take me was in London. He had to be delivered by c-section because he was transverse (sideways). The procedure went relatively quickly and they wheeled him out of the room. We got a quick look at him, and he was staring at us, wide-eyed.
His weight was 2lbs 5oz, which is fairly good for 13 weeks early. His length and head size are all in the higher percentiles, which is also good. They put him on a ventilator right away, and gave him surfactant for his lungs. They put an umbilical catheter in so they could draw blood and monitor blood pressure with less disturbance. He was put on antibiotics for 48 hours until they got the blood work back checking for infections. The test came back negative, fortunately.
Most doctors and nurses that we have seen are quite impressed with him. He is doing everything that is expected for a baby this premature, and his blood pressure is very stable. His bilirubin levels were borderline today, so they did not put him under the full set of UV lights - he's just lying on a UV mat, wearing sunglasses.
The doctor mentioned a murmur in his heart valve, which is quite common with babies born under 30 weeks. They did and echo to see the size, and it is fairly big, so they are treating it. The ideal situation is that it would clear up after 3 days of medication. If that didn't work, they would try a second round of treatment.
The staff here are very friendly and good at what they do. We are just taking things day-by-day. We likely won't be back in Oshawa until he gets to about 32 weeks. They will be doing a head ultrasound later this week to rule out any problems. The ventilator is gradually being turned down, allowing him to do more breathing on his own.
We are so thankful for all your prayers, and we would ask you to continue praying that things will keep improving. He still has a long way to go, and could face many challenges. I'll try to update this as often as I can.
2 comments:
Thanks for the update, Marya. We will pray that he is a little fighter, and will respond well. "He's got the itty bitty baby in His hands!" God bless him and you and the rest of your family.
I couldn't have said it better Rhea. Eric and Marya--may God keep you in His hands and give you strength for the upcoming months
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