Andee; Mom to 3 33 wkrs and more
DUNN Family (nightowl@centuryinter.net)
Thu, 7 Mar 1996 22:21:05 -0500
Hi! My name's Andee Dunn. I joined preemie-l because three of my babies
were born at 33 weeks, seven weeks early exactly. All three were born on
New Year's Eve, 1991. They were three born the same day, but they aren't
triplets, they are quadruplets. Sadly their brother died of severe heart
defects before birth. His death and the subsequent discovery of one baby's
bag rupturing helped to bring on the need for early delivery.
At home was Dad, and three big sisters! Bryana was 9, CJ was 6, and Allyssa
was 3; what a way to be bumped from being the baby of the family!!! ;-) We
began a very different family life than what we had before out tiny ones
came home...btw: Mack was 5#0 and 18" and Rebecca was 4#6 and 17-1/2" and
Jessica was 4#7 and 17" at birth. Coming home they were 4#8, 3#14, & 4#2
respectively. My others were 7#13 @ 36.5 wks, 8#13 @ 44/45 wks (or 41 wks
depending who you go by) & 8#5 @ 42 wks. So these guys were *tiny* for us.
All seemed to be going well. Still had major sucking problems with Becca
and minor ones w/Jessi but overall, they were doing well.
I guess of all the times in the hospital (11 in 14 months for the 3 combined
- not counting the ER visits and out-patient stays/visits) when they had
RSV, were the scariest. They all went home on monitors after having
RSV...they all continued to have breathing problems for the next 5/6 months.
There were sucking problems, formula problems, motor skills problems,
seizures somewhere in there too, hearing problems, surgeries for tubes,
MRI's for seizures, nebulizers going all the time (between the a/b monitors
and the nebulizers, and three cribs, and a changing table with all the
diapers & clothes too, our living room now looked like some infant hospital
ward!) oh, and did I mention that they all had VSD's that we had to watch
during the first year? (they did close spontaneously) :-)
And while all this is going on...I also work hard with CJ who has special
needs (and no diagnosis) and Allyssa (who is highly gifted, may even be a
musical prodigy) and then there is my rapidly growing teenager, Bryana (who
is a surviving twin w/medically complicated first years too).
I am on lots of other lists...the Triplets list, and the Twins list,
OUR-KIDS, & TAGFAM, and one more...I take care of the Lostangels list (for
families that have experienced loss in their set(s) of multiples - during
pregnancy, birth or later). I'm very interested in this list for several
reasons: 1) having preemies w/dev. delays that aren't 'caught up' by 2 yrs
2) keeping current w/new treatments related to preemies 3) so I can go on
helping the many families I help now (thru volunteering w/MOST & Sidelines)
4) to maybe help some of you as you go on in life w/preemies growing up.
Technology is helping to save younger and younger babies in increasingly
better health, but we are starting to think that the very young preemies
(more than 3-6 wks early) need more than two years to 'catch up' and often
benefit from intervention services more as well. Let me know if I can be of
any help to you too! :-)
Their Birth Story...
Due to much planning by our perinatologist, and two OBs, as well as the
hospital staff, we had a successful delivery with few complications. The
firstborn, Mack gave us concern when he wouldn't breathe on his own. The
neonatologist took him away quickly and spent nearly twenty minutes working
on him to maintain his own breathing. We were busy with more
deliveries...Rebecca came a minute later, crying lustily before she was even
all the way out. I got a peek of her as the docs worked on Jessica.
Jessica's bag had ruptured, she was in distress and the highest baby so they
had to get Mack and Becca out of the way first. Jessica wasn't
budging...her heartrate was dropping...from 168, to 130's, to 100's, to
60's...the pediatrician felt her cord was collapsing due to the rupture.
She told the OB's that she could fix any broken bones, or internal damage,
but if the heart stopped...SO whatever it takes! Just pull that baby out of
there, NOW! And with both docs up to their elbows in me and holding whatever
parts they could; they counted down; 3 - 2 - 1 - PULL! With a POP! much
like a champagne cork, Jessica was out. She was still, not moving, not
crying, but the ped. grabbed her away and start stimulating her, clearing
her airways and moving her around...there was a faint heartbeat...about 40
beats a minute. She suddenly took a deep breathe and began screaming as
loud as her sister had (who, btw, was silent during Jessica's birth until
she began crying). Then I got a peek at Jessica...and thought she looked
like the other girl they had showed me and they were now trying to fool me
into thinking she'd survived when she hadn't (odd things you think when a
crisis occurs) ;-) They had to show me both girls side by side and crying
before I could believe they both had made it. After the girls were born,
the doctor removed their brother, Griffin (saying nothing to us - that is
another story).
Mack needed oxygen for much of his first week, and tube feeds until he was
four days old. When they started bottle feeds, he did very well and
steadily improved from then on. Rebecca was also tube fed for two days,
then put on bottle feeds. She didn't suck well...but with patience she
could be fed, slowly from the bottle. She also had some trouble maintaining
body temp...and was often under the heat lamps when she was in the nursery.
Jessica was tube fed for two days also. She had better sucking than
Rebecca, but not as good as Mack's. :-) She too, had some minor temp
control problems. At 15 days, we all went home together...after I had
recovered from the c-section, a post-op infection and four broken ribs (the
POP! at del. - Jessi really *was* stuck!) and they had all proven they could
bottle feed well enough to survive at home.
Their RSV story...
Much of our hospital experiences came later when they all contracted RSV.
It started with Mack going in at ten weeks with pneumonia, then coming home
after five days. A week later we found him in his bed not
breathing...started CPR and went back to Children's Hospital with him.
After three days, still dx'd w/pnuemonia he came home and about 12 hours
later Rebecca was admitted to the very room he had been in. Dx = pneumonia.
It took nearly 24 hours and about 10 tests to find a positive RSV test.
Mack had been thru at least five or six RSV tests, but they were neg. On
Becca's 2nd day in the hosp. Jessi stopped breathing at home and I was
called to the ER to see her. She was admitted to the room next door to
Becca (which had just been vacated by two of another set of triplet that had
RSV). Jessi had pneumonia...RSV tests were pending. On Becca's 3rd day
there, with docs still checking very often and trying to decide if they
should vent her or not...she was retracting deeply, but other than that very
still, very weak (if they had told me they were trying to eval her for a
vent- I would've said YES) when suddenly she became very agitated AND
Jessi's alarms started going off. (We were on a regular infant ward...not
PICU...so it would not be an instant response by a nurse in charge of five
or six other very sick babies.) I ran out of Becca's room and into Jessi's
without the required change of gowns & masks...to find Jessi in full arrest,
no pulse, no breathing...all alarms were beeping! I pulled the nurse call
box/cord out of the wall (an old trick, means an emergency like a code is
happening) and started CPR as everyone started showing up. Someone got next
to me and counting my moves - took over w/out skipping a beat. One by one,
they gathered around Jessi's bed and a nurse took me aside saying, "Why
don't you go in with Becca and I'll come in with news about Jessi as soon as
I can?" BECCA! kicking and thrashing when I left! she was now oddly still!
no alarms...no retracting, or kicking & thrashing...she was for the 1st time
in four days breathing easy and turned to look at me as I got close to her.
That's when I *knew* they were all going to be fine.
After reading back thru this...and once again realizing that I have trouble
being brief; I did some rearranging...making separate sections for the birth
stories and their RSV stories...and putting the 'brief version' of why I
joined preemie-l above those so it would be easy to use the brief version
for the intros (on the web page) about each of preemie-l subscribers. I'm
glad someone finally decided to do this type of list! It's been needed for
a long time.
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Andee Dunn MOM to Bryana (13), CJ (10), Allyssa (7) and Mack (4),
Rebecca (4) & Jessica (4) and wife to SHAWN, the computer genius!
E-Mail <nightowl@centuryinter.net> You can reach all of us there!
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"...when you feel like hope is gone, look inside you and be strong,
and you'll finally see the truth...that a hero lies in you." M.Carey