Our little babes was born at 29 6/7 weeks on July 28th, 10 weeks early due to preeclampsia. She was born 2lbs 5.5oz. For the first few days, everything looked promising, vital signs were totally stable, no dips in oxygen or heart rate, it seemed like all she had to do was grow enough, check off all the boxes and we could take her home after several weeks. She is our first, and obviously first experience in the NICU so maybe that was naive of me to think 😅

They’ve since found a narrowing in her aorta which restricts good bloodflow from getting to the rest of her body. She also has a huge PDA (extra vessel) which is helping her heart to compensate, but it’s also pushing more fluid/blood in the wrong direction back to her lungs, ultimately creating more problems than we want. Dips in heart rate and oxygen have been a bit more frequent. Long story less long, they’ve set surgery for Monday to correct the narrowing and close that PDA.

It isn’t optimal conditions since she is still so young and tiny (33 3/7, 3lbs 6oz). Optimal would be closer to 5lbs. But, though she be but little, she is definitely fierce and a fighter!

The thought of surgery on such a tiny little one is a little nerve wrecking. Just wanted to share to ease my anxiety about Monday, and maybe there’s someone else out there with a similar experience!