My Little Miracles

Today is National Prematurity Awareness Day.  In honor of this day, I'd like to do a tribute to a couple of little survivors I know, my sons Lucas and Max.

Lucas was born Oct. 3, 2002 at 24 weeks gestation.  If  Lucas had been born on time he would have arrived in LATE JANUARY.  At birth he weighed 900 grams (just under two pounds) and was 13 inches long.  Thirteen inches!  Just a little handful of a boy.  Lucas' struggle for life in the NICU (newborn intensive care unit)  was a long one.  Six months long.  He was on a ventilator for four months.  I have a medical file an inch thick with records of all the procedures he received in the hospital.  He had a nissen fundoplasty  for his reflux.  He had sepsis.  He had a grade one brain bleed.  He had blood pressure issues.  He needed breathing treatments and six medications twice a day.  But he was a fighter.  In late April of 2004  he came home to us, still on oxygen and a monitor, with a g-tube for direct feeding. 

We tried EVERYTHING to get Luke to eat orally.

Max was born ten months later on August 10, 2003.  Max's birth mom had gone into labor at 23 weeks gestation, but good medical care enabled her to carry him until 27 weeks.  Max weighed 970 grams, right around two pounds, and was also 13 inches long  (Lucas was actually relatively large for his gestational age, while Max was small).  Max was on a ventilator for two weeks, and hospitalized for two months.  He also came home to us on oxygen.  As a baby, Max's biggest issue was apnea. He would stop breathing with no notice.  Scary.  

Bringing Max home from the hospital once he reached 4 lbs.

There's a lot more to the story of Lucas, Max and later little brother Jacob, but this is enough for now.  Today, I just want to celebrate them.  My awesome boys.  

Thanks for being fighters, for overcoming odds, and for bringing so much love into our home.  

You've come so far.

Lucas, age 8

Max, age 7

Lucas, Max and Jacob (born at 34 wks)

Fore more information on prematurity and what you can do to prevent it visit these sites:

March of Dimes

prematurity.org

kidshealth.org