WELCOME CARTER

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

I’ve been MIA for a while (and boy I missed a lot!). Welcome to all you newcomers. There are 17 pages of active topics out there, and I just won’t be able to catch up, so I will just go forward from here. Those of you who e-mailed me, I was able to get back directly, but if you posted a question to me, you may want to bump the topic or post again. Sorry! I just won’t be able to find anything!

Anyway, Our news:

Carter Joseph Montgomery was born on March 25th at 10:28 pm by repeat c-section. My husband missed it, he was looking for a sitter for Dylan and we are over almost an hour away from the hospital. We knew this might happen if it was an emergent situation, and there was no time to wait.

Carter weighed in at a whopping 2lbs 15.5 oz and was 15 inches long. He is on C-PAP, but always close to room air or 30% oxygen, so he is doing very well. They have diagnosed him with PDA (a very common heart problem in preemies and some full term newborns) but are hoping to clear with meds. If not, it is a simple procedure surgically to fix, so we are not too concerned yet. We are hoping he will be home in about 6 weeks, barring no real big complications. He is on expressed breastmilk exclusively and on IV nourishment. He is tolerating them well, but is only receiving 2cc (less than half a teaspoon) every 4 hours, so he has a ways to go!

We are haning in here. Missed my Dylan for 2 weeks at the hospital! I can not believe I was away that long. DH totally stepped up to the plate with laundry, picking up the house, making Dylan’s lunch, coordinating care for Dylan, visiting me, etc…….. He handled it all! I am an extremely lucky wife and mother!

Hope all of you are well, and hope to not need you for reflux support, but I think there is no avoiding it now!!!!!

Ann Marie

[Anonymous]

Ann Marie! I’ve been wondering how you were doing! First of all, CONGRATULATIONS!!! What a wonderful blessing to have had two preemies! I’m so happy to hear that Carter is doing so well. I hope things continue to go well.

I’m curious though about what happened, was is PPROM or just premature labor? If you don’t mind sharing that is.

Take care and again Congratulations!!!!

[Anonymous]

WOW – welcome Carter!!! I’m happy to hear he’s doing well and hope he
continues. Do you want/plan to continue with breastmilk if you can? Are
you planning to do any special diet for that? Don’t mean to be nosy – I
actually have a friend in a similar situation and it would be helpful
to pass along any information.

Hugs to you and Dylan as well and I bet you can’t wait to get that little boy home and have the two of them become fast friends!

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Stacey! Premature Labor this time. I was on the 17-P Progesterone injections weekly since week 16 to try to avoid the premature PROM and labor. When I went for a cervical lenght check (anything over 2.5 cms is good) two weeks prior to the 15th I was at a 4. On the 15th, I was at a half, so I had to get admitted for the steroids. Then I started dialating. eventually I was at 5 and nothing was stopping the contractions. WE didn’t do magnesium because of how Dylan reacted last time, so we had to deliver.

We are hoping for a much more boring course with Carter!

Thanks again!!

Ann Marie

[Anonymous]

Congratulations Ann Marie!

I’d been wondering where you were. I’m so glad to hear that everything is going as well as it can be. Maybe Carter will surprise you and will be reflux-free. At least we can hope!

I look forward to hearing your updates as things progress with your family.

Laura

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Karen. Breastfeeding is the plan as long as it lasts. I dried up with Dylan after about 8 weeks.

I have not started elimination, but any sign of discomfort, I will. Dylan didn’t show signs of discomfort until after coming home. He did spit up in the NICU and did thicken his feeds, but no real feeding discomfort until after the due date. THey say the preemies finally “wake up” after their due date, and that was very true with Dylan.

I can’t wait for them to meet. Until May (RSV season is over) noone under the age of 16 can enter the NICU so they don’t get to meet for a while…. I am excited for that, though……..

[Anonymous]

THanks, Laura! I am hoping for that surprise!

[Anonymous]

I’ve heard that before with preemies and the due date – was also true
for my friend with reflux preemie twins. I have a friend who has a 3
year old girl who had pretty bad reflux (30 week preemie) and she never
breastfed and then regretted it – and she was on Alimentum for a long
time and they suspect might have needed Neocate. Now she’s pregnant and
expecting another girl and she’s at 25 weeks so far and considering
breastfeeding – she just can’t decide whether to eliminate dairy from
her diet already even.

The countdown will be on for the end of RSV season. Is Dylan excited?

BTW – I LOVE both of their names.

[Anonymous]

Ann Marie

CONGRATULATIONS!! So glad to hear that he is doing well… it will be wonderful to have Dylan and Carter meet, i am sure.

[Anonymous]

Ann Marie,

Well, at least you held out for a couple weeks longer than Dylan. I’m sure Carter will really benefit from that. Ugh, the mag…can you believe that I was on Mag for about 3 weeks straight. It was horrible. Luckily, after they took me off I held out for a few more weeks. I just recently spoke with my OBGYN about another pregnancy and the plan for me is to also do regular cervical length checks and they will also do a cerclage in the cervix which poses risks as well. I’m very scared about the whole thing!!!

Anyway, congratulations again! Please keep us posted!

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Thais! We are very proud parents here. Our family is complete, for sure! Dylan still thinks Carter is inside HIS tummy! He pokes at his belly button to tickle him. It is really cute!

Karen, I would tell her to wait to eliminate. Just an opinion, I’m sure she should consult a Dr. but the first few days you only get colostrom anyway, and then your milk comes in, so I would imagine it is what she eats in those first few days after birth that will be in her breastmilk, not what she eats during pregnancy? Not sure, I went through the same thing, but I guess the decision was made for me! I wonder if she spoke with a real great GI or Allergy doc what they would say?

3 weeks, Stacey!!!???!!! That is eternity with that nasty drug! My cervex never dialated last time so the cerclage was not even discussed. The visiting nurse that gave me the shots told me that she has had only one other patient on the shots that had a repeat preemie in the 20’s. Most of them made it to late 30’s, so that may be an option. Let me know if you want info on it……. I think it is the reason we got as far as we did and I can already tell the difference the two weeks has made.

Even when I called the doc from the hospital room and told him I was having contractions and thought things were changing, he asked me, “are you sure it’s not just the baby moving?”. If men only felt contractions! Needless to say, I gave him a very sarcastic answer, and we were in the op room within minutes of him checking me……..

[Anonymous]

Hi there!! Congrats to you!!! I am so glad that you are both doing well! Lance had a PDA also and it did correct with the medicine. He “woke up” to be more like a normal newborn at around 3 months old (which was right around his due date) That is great that he is only on c-pap, that was one of our biggest struggles (getting Lance off the vent) I am told that you can tell a world of difference in those two weeks gestation (the differance between 27 and 29 weeks.) We will keep you in our prayers!

[Anonymous]

Congratulations again Ann Marie! We’ll be praying that Carter continues to do so well and will look forward to hearing all about his progress!

[Anonymous]

Congratulations Ann Marie! Glad everything is going well and hope that Carter is reflux-free and home soon! That is so awesome how you husband took over while you were in the hospital! Best wishes to you and your family!

[Anonymous]

Thanks!!!

Janice, I have heard the same about the weeks 27 to 29 but I am afraid to get my hopes up too quickly. We had the honeymoon phase at the beginning with Dylan and then we were sent for a ride! No vent except for the surfactant, and then he is only on 5 or 6 pressure for the cpap so very little assistance. They are hoping when the PDA clears up, they can move him to nasal canula. I remember Dylan setting off the monitor every few seconds, it felt like, so this is a comforting change as far as respiratory goes.

Thanks, Tiffany! I am going to see him in about an hour, so I will post an update tonight. So much can happen in a day. I got your e-mail and will talk to DH and definitely get back to you. Honestly I don’t want much for it. It is just sitting here useless, so if someone gets great use out of it, so be it. I will get back to you tonight……

Thanks, Robin! I agree, reflux-free is what we are hoping for! My DH is great! He really handled it all, and the first week I was at the hospital, the daycare called him and said Dylan was sick. Thank God our Peds like us so much, and DH was not aware you need an appt to go to the doctor! Go figure! He had a double ear infection monster on his hands as well while I was gone and did not complain once. I am truely very lucky! When Dylan was smaller, he didn’t help hardly at all, but he is falling into this Daddy role exceptionally well these days!

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