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premature birth problems and future complications

Hi there back in the year of 2001 I gave birth to my son Kyle he was born 15 weeks early and it was very unexpected as far as i was concerned I had all the nessasary checks and was given the all clear by doctors at every antenatal I attended I felt quite confident and reassured through out my whole pregnancy, one day I was just sitting down watching TV when I began to get a tightening sensation in my stomach I started feeling alot of pressure on my pelvis and was growingly concerned, I did not know if this was natural as it was my first pregnancy the tightening was very intense like stomach cramps I began to look at my watch and noticed that the tightening was coming at intervals roughly 3 mins apart, I then knew it was contractions total and utter panick set it I WAS NOT DUE! I was only 25 weeks pregnant with a due date of November 6th and it was only the middle of summer, WHY WAS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?

I rushed into hospital and without explanation of anything that was going on I was being proded and pruned given injections hooked up to heart monitoring machines I was very afraid, I was then told that my baby was coming and that there was nothing that could be done about it I was given steriods to mature the babies lungs but they take 12 hours before they take affect my son was born just 7 hours later so the steriods never even got a chance to kick in, just 1lb 12oz the tiniest baby you'd ever seen with a servival rate of 10% my heart raced with every tiny breath this was my child so vulnerable and as I mother I felt helpless in the fact I could not protect him in what was to come, the struggle of survival is only ones will to live, everyday I prayed my son would stay strong and overcome the obsticles he was yet to have. Just 3 days after birth he suffered a brain bleed grade 4 which is fairly servere to the left chamber of the brain I was given a list of the worst possible outcome *won't be able to feed himself, *won't be able to toilet himself, *won't be able to see or hear, *won't be able to walk after the first 2 things I believe my mind just went blank the thought of my child never seeing me or hearing me or having any independance words cannot express what the mind was going through.

Time passed and Kyle got through hospitalisation after 3 months he was sent home, to me he seemed like a baby with no problems I was still not given any answers as to why my son came early this installed a fear into me with regards to future children, as time passed kyle started to feed himself his vision was rated 20/20 and then he spoke his first words I was delighted his body always had a stiffness about it not as slack as most, I was told he had hypotonia (increased muscle tone) and with time my son was finally diagnosed with cerebral palsy due to the bleed in his brain 3 days after birth, Kyle is now 5 years old and is unable to walk he is wheelchair bound but still has a degree of independence, he can feed himself, speak for himself and trust me his very opinionated, he likes to pick out his clothes, and brush his hair he knows his favourite singers he likes to watch football like most boys but his legs were taken from him in the fact he cannot walk I am not mad because life throws things at you sometimes and as a mother it is your duty to be strong for your child.

5 years later I became pregnant again and was under alot of observations I had to visit the hospital once a week and it made my pregnancy less enjoyable but I knew it was for the best I had to under go blood test more then most, I had atleast 30 scans throughout my whole pregnancy I was monitored in CTG the feotal heart monitoring team atleast 12 times in the last 9 weeks of my pregnancy and it was very stressful but I am so thankful as when I was just 23 weeks I was monitored by having an internal cervicle scan and the doctor discovered that my cervic was begenning to funnel (cave in) meaning that if it was not sticthed instantly the child I was carrying also would have been born early the doctor stitched my cervics under a spinal anisthetic and my problem was then diagnosed I have an incompetent cervics which means my cervics is unable to hold babies when they pass a certain weight. To my amazement when the stiches where removed at just 35 weeks I went on to hold my baby 10 days overdue and gave birth to a beautiful 7lb 12oz baby boy!! quite different to my first pregnancy! hence the reason I named my newborn son Angel as I feel that God was watching over me this time, and for all you mothers to be I hope God watches over you just the same!

Thank you for taking time to read my post.

Replies

  • hi welcome to the forum xx glad to hear that your 2nd pregnancy stayed put to full term... sounds like kyle's a little fighter!

    I'm wendy mum to daniel who has cerebral palsy. he has right sided spastic hemi. He is nearly 18 months old. I'm also 27 weeks pregnant to no.2! :\)

    His cp was caused because he had a stroke when I was around 24-30 weeks pregnant. I'm having 1 extra scan with this one, just more for my reasurance really. they said it's very highly unlikely that it will happen again but they can't stay it won't happen :roll:

    hope to see you around! take care xx :\)
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