After more than a month of hospital bedrest and an early delivery at 33 weeks, my friend R's baby is being discharged from the hospital today! She's now two weeks and two days old and weighs 5 lbs 15 oz. Pretty amazing as R. was told to expect her daughter to be in the NICU for at least one month.
R's baby would be 35 weeks 2 days if she was still in her mom's belly. She's done great in the hospital, just struggling with a little bit of jaundice and apnea, but they say she's ready to go. No apnea monitor or anything.
R. is really excited to have her daughter home. Yay R's baby!
Unfortunately, in the category of "why-can't-things-ever-happen-without-a-scary-hitch", R. developed some frightening symptoms a few days after delivery: shortness of breath while lying down, a persistent cough, swelling in her arms and legs, and a wheezy noise in her chest while lying down. She's now been diagnosed with postpartum cardiomyopathy by both the pulmonologist and cardiologist (wheezy noise was pulmonary edema) and is on a slew of diuretics to reduce the strain on her heart while it recovers. If things go well, her cardiac function should return to normal in the next few months. Anybody have experience with something like this?
Mo
I am happy to hear her baby gets to go home! that is great news! I hope she feels better soon, that has to be scary.
ReplyDeleteMo,
ReplyDeleteA woman who blog(ged) as Thrice had this and hers was (as I recall) not caught or appropriately treated, leading to lifelong problems.
Awhile back, her blog went password protected and I don't know if she's still blogging, but if you'll email me, I'll provide you the email address that used to be on it to see if you can connect with her. She is a huge advocate for women with this condition as she feels it is often neglected/ignored.
Hopefully R will fare better than Thrice, as R's has been caught and is being treated!
Yeah for baby coming home. I've never heard of such problems.
ReplyDeleteI hope she can recover enough to care for her precious baby.
Why can't anything ever be easy?!
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to hear she gets to take her baby home!
I am so happy that R an dher baby are heading home! I hope R recovers quickly and takes the rest she needs (if rest is possible with a newborn!).
ReplyDelete