After we stayed in West Palm Beach for a few days, we went home on Saturday February 17. I was actually excited to sleep in my own bed again. I still had some cramps that weekend, but didn't want to pay attention to them. However on Sunday morning, I was having cramps (contractions) every 10 minutes for about an hour and told Robert it would be better to go to the hospital again. At least this time we could go to our 'own' hospital with my 'own' OB, dr. Bitran. Robert called him and he said he would be in the hospital within 30 minutes. When we got to the Labor and Delivery department, I had a great nurse again (Terri). She couldn't find the contractions on the monitor, but I was certain I had them. When dr. Bitran came he did an ultrasound. After one look, he said: 'oh no, we have a problem'. He showed Robert the ultrasound. The baby had pushed his foot through the cervix. I was dialated 2 cms now. The biggest problem was that I had a rash last week, that became worse after I had left the hospital. It was turned into a yeast infection. Dr. Bitran was afraid the baby was already infected by this infection. I was admitted right away and given Magnesium IV again (woohoo!). This time I almost passed out as the magnesium lowered my blood pressure extremely.
The next few hours were surreal!! Do we want them to save the baby? Would I consent to a C-section? Numbers were thrown at us of babies that do survive at 24 weeks, babies that do not survive without long lasting problems etc. It was aweful!! Robert and I had to make a decision of something that was out of our hands. We asked them to save the baby if there was a fair chance of survival. After that decision I was sedated. I do remember that I heard everything that was going on, but couldn't really respond. I know Robert's brother, David came and commented on every big contraction he saw on the monitor. I felt it when he said things like 'oh my god' etc. I thought it was funny. Terri the nurse was by my side all the time and calming me down. She was awesome!!! She told me that if I felt something like my water break, I should tell them right away. A few hours later I heard the neonatologist and Robert talk. I felt something seeping and told him. He looked at it and within a few minutes I was being prepped for a c-section. I found out later on that I was bleeding and that the placenta had seperated from the uterus. If this had happened at home while I was sleeping, I probably would have bled to death. Luckily this wasn't the case.
I am glad I was sedated. I was scared to death of the epidural but the contractions were so much more painful (I had them every 5 minutes for the last few hours. The magnesium did not help this time). It went very quickly. I was glad Robert was there with me. I heard the doctor say that the baby was out. It felt like an eternity to hear him say that the baby had a heartbeat. I told Robert: 'The baby has a heartbeat!' but I don't think he understood my mumbling. They passed the baby by me for a second. I could only see his hand. The after care of the surgery wasn't so good. The nurse had dried out my IV and tried to flush it. That almost made me pass out. Luckily Dr. Bitran had also ordered her to give me a shot against pain.
The next day, Terri (another Terri, this is the head nurse of the NICU) came over to show me some pictures of the baby. A few hours later I got to go to the NICU to see him in person. It was so overwhelming. He was so extremely tiny. It is hard to explain. After I had seen the pictures first, I had expected him to be a little bigger. It was heart breaking. But he was there and he was alive and all we could do now is pray and hope that people would pray with us.
Robert sent out the following message:
To our friends and family,
Nathali gave birth to Michael Jeffrey Pincus, on 2/18/07 @ 6:29PM EST. He's born 112 days premature. So, we are starting a counter and today is T minus 109 days....Here (on top of the page) is a picture of Michael that was taken about 12 hours after he was born. It's tough to look at because he's so premature; however, it's very real and shows the long road he's got in front of him. The picture actually makes him look bigger than he is. He's about 11inches long and 1 lb 4 oz.
He has dark hair, but his features are so small, its hard to say who he resembles at this point. So far, we've not had any setbacks and we are hopeful that we can make it through the next 2 - 4 weeks, which is considered the most critical for an extreme preemie. Right now, we are just going one day at a time. We will provide email updates as necessary.
Love,
Robert and Nathali
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