Jessica Lynn Mamie
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My name is Denise. This is our fourth and final child, Jessica. We have a 6 yr. old that was 5wks early and fine, a 5 yr. old that was 2 1/2wks early and fine, a 2 1/2 yr. old that was 8 wks early due to a complete
previa, he was born by emergency c-section and was in the NICU for 24 days, intubated for about 16hours, then he just had to grow and feed, and we thought that was bad.. Then there is Jessica, she is 9 months old in this picture. She was born 12 and a half weeks early because I had a complete
previa, abruptio placenta and placenta accreta. She was born on 7-23-02 by emergency c-section at 27wks and 3 days
gest. She weighed 2lbs. 7ozs. and was 14" long.
Jessica was in the hospital for 144 days, and as one doctor put it, If the NICU experience was like a cafeteria line, Jessica basically went through it and took one of everything. I think she had every infection possible, her nose was damaged from the
CPAP/Nasual canual, so they damaged her throat from intubating her and extubating her so many times, she had a grade 3 IVH and had to have a shunt put in, etc.
Jessica's main issues are 1. Acquired Hydrocephalus - from being born so early, she had a grade 3 IVH that resolved to a grade 1 and they put a shunt in for this, 2.
BPD - she is on the vent for this, but we are in the process of weaning her off of it. She is off all day, now we are working on taking her off of it at night. Last night was her first night without it... so far so good. 3.
Acquired Subglottic Stenosis, she had a grade 1 stenosis from being intubated and extubated so many times, this is what is she needs the trach for.
(Oh yea, just FYI, they tried to get us to consent to a g-tube, but we refused, after such a long hospital stay, we have come to realize that doctors don't always know what's best, they just take what people tell them and offer there opinions in what should be done. It was up to us to be apart of the decision making process, and we weren't in the beginning, we just let the doctors tell us what they were going to do, because we thought that they new everything. Had we known what we know now, we may have not consented to many things. We were very happy with our decision about the g-tube, Jessica takes everything by mouth and has been doing so since 12-24-02, she had an
n-gtube that she pulled out on Christmas Eve.)
These are Jessica's main issues and all of her doctors feel she is doing great, even developmentally. She starting holding her own bottle about a month ago, she rolls over and is basically on track as far as her milestones go for her adjusted age in every area except for "speaking", which once we are
decannulated, I have no doubt in my mind, that she will start talking with no problem.
Anyway, this is our beautiful daughter on 4-19-03. She really is doing wonderful and I don't think I could have made it this far without the help of Aaron's Tracheostomy
Page. I bought the book and every chance I get I am reading the message boards. I mean from everything to nursing problems, husband problems, to medical problems with Jessica, there is no advice I trust more then a mother that is going through what I am going through. I just want to say thank you, and as soon as I can I will be donating to your web page, it has been a life saver!
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- More Photos
- Subglottic Stenosis PowerPoint presentation by Denise Mamie
