Abby’s Fight for Life

  Abby’s mom had Toxemia early in the pregnancy.

At 25 weeks into the pregnancy, Abby was under weight and the nourishment though the umbilical was stopping and sometimes reversing. She had to be removed from her mother then or she would be still born.  It was her only chance.

  When she was delivered, she was 12 1/2 inches long and weighed 1 pound 10 1/2 ounces.  She came out kicking and screaming.

  When she was 3 days old the doctor told us that the Ductus Artereriosis (the artery that bypasses the lungs so the baby can get the oxygen from the mother) usually spasms closed at birth but due to Abby’s lung immaturity it did not close. When this happens the baby is given a drug to cause the artery to spasm closed. It’s a 50-50 chance. If the drug doesn't work, surgery is required. It worked.

Abby had lost her fluid weight and weighed 1 pound 4 ounces. She looked like a bird that had fallen from the nest. Her skin was all red and scaly and she was just skin and bones.

At birth Abby’s doctor only gave her a 25% chance for survival. He said if Abby could make it 10 days, he would increase it to 40%.  (The doctors change floors at Children’s hospital every 30 days.)

  On Abby’s 10^th day a new doctor had taken over and asked for a conference.   At that conference, the doctor said that every time Abby would exhale, her lungs would collapse making her feel as if she were taking her very first breath all over again, each time she inhaled. The alveoli in her lungs would also collapse and stick together. That area would then scar and cause fluid to gather, filling her lungs till she couldn't breath.  The doctor told her parents "I think we’re prolonging the inevitable and should think about unplugging her and letting her go".  There was never question about what to do. After wiping away the tears, they told the doctor to do everything humanly possible for her because we would fight to the bitter end to give her every possible chance.  That’s when the doctor told us of a new machine called the Oscillator. This machine had been tried and proven on emphysema patients but had not yet been tried on a preemie.

They tranquilized Abby and set up the Oscillator to give 400 breaths per minute.  This would exchange the air in Abby’s lungs without her lungs deflating, therefore giving her lungs time to heal. Steroids where given intravenously. She lay there quivering for about 10 days. After the Oscillator, she advanced to the ventilator. It took a long time to wean her off of the ventilator. She then went to the nasal CPAP. She didn’t like that at all.

  Abby’s Mom practically lived at the hospital. She was there every day and a lot of nights for 4 months.

  Abby had a lot of problems. She had to have her blood tested every 15 minutes. While she was having these tests she had to have 6 blood transfusions. She would quit breathing requiring her to have to go back on the ventilator, and had to have surgery on her eyes,(common with preemies). After the eye surgery Abby went downhill, her heart stopped 3 or 4 times, and she refused to breathe on her own. She had to be weaned off of the ventilator again. We did a lot of praying, and after almost 4 months, she came home.  The total hospital bill was over $1,100,000.⁰⁰.

  A baby acquires the natural sucking reflex at 28 weeks, while still inside the mother. Since Abby was already born and sedated by that time, she had missed that window of opportunity. And since she had a feeding tube and never got hungry, it was very hard for her to learn to eat. She actually just took her first feeding with a bottle the day before she came home.

Truly a Miracle Baby