Liam James Thomas
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Liam James was born on April 19th, 2004, 3 months early. My pregnancy was complicated by a Factor V Leiden blood clotting disorder that was not diagnosed until a week before Liam was born. The disorder caused my placenta to clot and prevented Liam from getting the blood flow he needed to grow. When it appeared he had completely stopped growing at about 23 weeks,
I was put on hospital bedrest, knowing he would be born as soon as the blood flow got so low that his heart rate started failing. He was born by emergency cesarean for fetal distress. He weighed 1 pound 4 ounces (586 grams), which is about half as big as most 27 week preemies. His apgar scores were 1, 1, and 4. He was intubated at birth. He continued on the ventilator for more than 2 months due to his severely premature lungs and his tracheomalacia.
Liam finally came home on oxygen when he was 6 months old. He was only home for 2 weeks before we had to take him back to the hospital. Then they did a nissen fundoplication and placed a g-tube to help him eat and grow. Then he was home for 6 days before we began having more issues and brought him back to the hospital. Then they decided that Liam would be a good candidate for a trach and vent while his lungs grow and he gains some catch-up weight.
Liam had his tracheotomy in November 2004, when he was 7 months old and weighed 9 pounds. Now in February 2005, he is almost 10 months old and weighs 14 pounds. He is starting to catch up a little bit in size but is still not "on the chart". The doctors are estimating that he will need the trach for 2 to 3 years, but we will just have to wait and see what happens. He has been much happier since having the trach. He has more energy and sleeps better. He has some minor developmental delays from being hospitalized for so long, and he sees several different therapies to help him catch up. Other than that he is a normal little boy. He loves The Wiggles,
applesauce, and riding in his Kid Kart.
We are hoping that Liam will be home with us again by the end of this month (February 2005). Wish us luck!
Liam uses a Shiley 4.0 trach and is on an LP10 vent.
Feel free to write with questions, comments, or just greetings! Thanks for reading!
Rena
