Re: preemie-l Introduction Letter - New Member
murphy@TeleCheck.com
Mon, 10 Jun 96 13:14:30 -0500
> Dear all,
>
> Hello, my name is Gabrielle from England and I would like to introduce you to
> my family. My husbands name is Jason, and our daughter is Harriet Florence
> May (named after both of my Grandmothers). Harriet was born on 4/4/96, 27
> weeks, 2lb 4ozs. I had a dream of a pregnancy up until 21 weeks. Then
> everything changed. Over the next six weeks I was rushed into hospital four
> times by ambulance due to severe haemorraging. Each time staying in for a
> week for tests, scans, etc., and rest. Each time not getting any answers to
> why this was happening. On the fourth admission, things were really not
> looking good. The bleeding this time would not stop and her heartbeat dipped
> to 40 beats per minute. The next thing I knew I was rushed into theatre for
> an emergency C section under GA. I was told it was her only chance of
> survival at 50/50 (extremely good odds under the circumstances I later found
> out). Because of threatnened delivery over the previous weeks, I was lucky
> enough to have three sets of steriod injections for her lungs. Because of
> this Harriet was only ventilated for 8 hours! Over her stay in SCBU, Harriet
> suffered from infection, stomach distention, feeding problems, jaundice,
> collapsing veins, valve ductus, umbilcus hernia and retinopathy of
> prematurity. Despite all of this, Harriet was dischared at 8 weeks weighing
> 4lb 6ozs - a real fighter. Apart from developing asthma at 7 months old and
> the ventilator which caused damage to her larynx (scrottle) making her
> breathing noisy and husky, she is a perfectly healthy little girl. I know
> were are lucky and never a day goes by where we dont't count our blessings and
> thank God above. But, even after all this time, I still find it so hard to
> accept what happened. It still upsets me (many times to tears) even to this
> day. I still find it hard to to cope with the knowledge that we could of lost
> her. I think not knowing 'why' this happened is alot to do with it. No one
> ever explained it to me which left me feeling guilty, thinking maybe it was my
> fault - something I done wrong. I was never offered councelling at any stage
> and was not put in touch with any support groups. Also, as my husband is in
> the Armed Forces, he got sent away for 5 months on duty when Harriet was just
> 3 weeks old in intensive care, This also contributed - coping alone.
>
> I would dearly love to hear from other parents who feel the way I do.
> Sometimes I feel so alone and maybe that I should'nt be feeling like this one
> year on with a healthy little girl. I would also like to talk about
> development as I have a few concerns in this area too.
>
> Many thanks for taking the time to read my letter and I look forward to
> 'meeting' with you very soon.
>
> Kind regards,
> Gabby Dicker
> (33 years old, extremely proud Mummy to Harriet, 14 months old, 18lb)
>
>
> _______________________________________________________________________________
>
Hi Gabby,
My wife and I can relate to your feelings. We have been trying ever since our
twins were born in January, to find out why she delivered so early. The
pathology reports show nothing and the doctors can only speculate. On top of
that, we lost the first twin after 9 days. We had an autopsy done to find out
what happend in hopes that knowing would possibly help her sister Hope. We
are still trying to get the information from the hospital, almost 5 months
later.
Personally I would like to ask you to try your hardest not to feel guilty. As
long as you did as your doctors told you, there's no way you could have
forseen a premature birth. How could you have forseen it if your doctors
did'nt suspect enough to warn you about it? I'm very adamant about this
because my wife went through a very long phase of blaming herself for the
whole ordeal when she had no control over any of it. You have our sympathy
and support.
Congratulations on Harriets accomplishments. It sounds like she is coming
right a long. We wish you and your family the best.
The Murphy's,
Chris, Michelle, Michael, and little Hope