Carson's Story

Carson's_Mommy - 06:04pm Apr 27, 2012 EST

My husband and I were having trouble conceiving so we were using Clomid to help us get pregnant. After 5 months of being on the Clomid I finally got a positive pregnancy test! At my 8 week sonogram we found out that we were expecting twins! My OB sent me to a fetal maternal doctor that specializes in high risk pregnancies. At my 13 week appointment with the specialist we found out that one of the babies stop developing and passed away. They call it vanishing twin syndrome. We were upset by the loss of one baby but thrilled that the other was doing wonderfully. At 28 weeks I found out that I had gestational diabetes and had to go back to the specialist. Luckily I was able to control it with my diet. At about 31 weeks my blood pressure started to rise and I was diagnosed with hypertension.

At 34 weeks and 5 days while just sitting on the couch my water broke. I got admitted to labor and delivery an hour later. After 18 hours of labor Carson Dean was born at 1:14pm on February 29, 2012, leap day! He was 4lb 12.9oz and 19.25 inches long! I only got to hold him for less than a minute then he and my husband went off to the NICU. By the time I got to go down to see him he was hooked up to the c-pap and had wires everywhere. It was heartbreaking to see him that way. He had to have a feeding tube while on the C-pap. At 2 days old he was taken off C-pap and breathing room air. He was then placed under the billi lights for jaundice. We were only able to hold him a couple of minutes each day while under the billi lights. He was having trouble digesting his food and was given an iv and just 5ml of breast milk per feeding. After 2 days of that feeding schedule he was slowly brought back up so he was eating 40-45ml of breast milk/formula every 3 hours. By day 7 he was off the billi lights and we could dress him and hold him more often. On day 8 he was circumcised and given Tylenol for the pain. The Tylenol made him sleepy and he again wasn’t eating as much so they wanted us to wait another day to take him home. On day 10 he was back to eating all his milk at every feeding so we got to take him home!

At his first Dr. appointment we learned that in addition to the un-descended testicle we already knew about he also had an ingrenal hernia. I worked with a lactation consultant and had him exclusively on breast milk by 3 weeks old. After getting his frenulum clipped at 6 weeks due to being tongue-tied he was exclusively breastfeeding. At 7 weeks old his hernia had gotten very swollen. I took him to see the pediatrician and he sent me directly to the pediatric urologist. The urologist was very concerned that his testicle was entangled in his hernia and may be dying and need to be removed. She sent me straight to the Children’s Hospital where was admitted and taken into surgery. Luckily his testicle was fine and he just had a massive hernia. He was able to come home the next day.

Carson is now 8 weeks old, weighing just over 9 lbs and is recovering from his surgery just fine!