Fight for Preemies

Every year, 20 million babies are born too soon, too small and very sick-half a million of them in the U.S. November 17th is when we fight!

Do you know a baby who was born too soon, too small, unable to breathe or nurse on their own? With 1 in every 8 babies born prematurely, you probably do. While medical advances give some babies a chance of survival, for many babies premature birth is a life-or-death condition. Babies who survive can face serious health challenges and risk lifelong disabilities.

The rate of premature birth has risen more than 30 percent since 1981. In half the cases, we simply don’t understand what went wrong. The March of Dimes is leading the fight for answers. And, ultimately, preventions.

November 17 is dedicated to raising awareness of the crisis. Take 3 steps to help fight premature birth:

1. Visit marchofdimes.com/fight.
2. Put a badge on your blog to help spread the word.
3. On November 17, blog for a baby you love and to help others.

We need to fight ― because babies shouldn’t have to.

This month is very dear to my heart. Raegan, born on July 3rd, 2008 at 29 weeks gestation, weighing only 1 pound and 9 ounces. Her due date was 09/13/08. After being admitted to the hospital at 27 weeks and 18 days of tests, ultrasounds and round the clock monitoring, the high risk doctors decided Raegan would need to come early. I thank God everyday for giving us Raegan and I appreciate all the prayers. She spent four long months in the NICU. She had enlarged ventricles, and spent over 3 months on a ventilator, or CPAP. She is 2 now and has had over 10 surgerys in her shirt life. 5 of which have been on her brain. I love her more then life itself and I am very thankful she is here today! No matter what we endure, I proudly support the March of Dimes.

Raegans birth details:

Name: Raegan Renae
DOB: 07/03/08 @ 06:12p
NICU stay: 06/03/08 to 10/22/08
Weight: 710 grams Length: 13 inches
Overall Satus: Critical and stable
Gest Age: 29 weeks 5 days
Admission to NICU Indications: Respiratory distress, Hydrocephalus and Prematurity.

Binky

Is gone.... I hope. This morning Raegan and I got up and went into my roommates room so say good morning. She handed me her binky and I went over grabbed the scissors and cut the tip off. I gave her the binky and the tip and she tried to put it back together. When she couldn't put it back together she handed it to me to fix it. I told her it was broken and grabbed the trash and let Raegan throw the binky in the trash. She didn't cry!!! Hopefully this is the end of the binky :)

While at the hospital

Check out more pictures of Raegan while she was up at the hospital.
Click here!

Home away...

From home.... Yup we are back up at Doernbechers Childrens Hospital. It all start on October 7th when Raegan went in to surgery to have her tonsils and adenoids taken out and tubes put back in her ears. The surgery went well, and we only stayed one night in the hospital. The following Monday when I went to give Raegan a bath and noticed she had a rash on the right side of her chest. Tuesday morning got up and got Raegan dressed and the rash was gone. Wednesday night Raegan went to her dads after daycare and when he gave her a bath he noticed that the shunt tubing in her chest was red and felt hard. Wednesday night Raegan didn't sleep very well, so Thursday the 14th we were coming up to OHSU to do a video interview for March of Dimes and after we finish we went down to the ER.

In the ER they took blood, did the typical x-ray and MRI and they all showed nothing. They ended up admitting Raegan to the hospital just so they could watch her and make sure nothing was going on. My gut instinct was that some how Raegan got a bacterial infection that got into her blood stream. Friday morning the doctors came by and that was their gut feeling as well.

When there is an infection that attaches itself to the shunt tubing the only way to get rid of it is to take the shunt out, so Saturday afternoon the doctor made Raegan a reservation and she had her shunt taken out and an EVD put in. At the time of surgery we still didn't know what was wrong, so they cultured the shunt tubing, and Monday night we figured out what was wrong.

Raegan had Haemophilus Inflenzea which is a bacterial meningitis. Thankfully we caught it early enough that he had not caused meningitis. She has been on antibiotics since Saturday, and will have to be on them for 10 days. When the doctors came in the morning they told me that there had never been a case of a child with a shunt having their tonsils out getting the H Flu. Crazy to think that Raegan is the first case of this ever happening.

The goal is that tomorrow Raegan will get a PIC line, Monday she may have surgery to have the EVD taken out and the VP shunt put back in, and we want to be home by the 30th. Fingers crossed that things work according to plan!

Back in the hospital

Her chest is red from an infection

They outlined the red area to see if the infection would spred

After Surgery to have her shunt taken out and an EVD put back in

A few days after surgery she was up and playing again

Halloween party at the hospital