James was born at 26 weeks and 6 days weighing only 2 lbs 4 oz. He couldn't breathe on his own so they put him on a ventilator. When he was two days old the doctors told us that he was bleeding in his lungs and in his brain and that his blood acidity levels were so high that they didn't think he would survive the day. They asked me if I wanted to remove life support and just hold him, but I told them to do everything they could for him. His brain bleed continued to progress to a bilateral grade 4 (the worst it can get) and had countless blood and platelet transfusions. The doctors continually asked me to remove life support and told me that he would never walk, talk, and could be blind and deaf and he'd be on a ventilator for years. I watched him continuing to fight, and I read stories of other families with similar babies who were doing okay. I did a lot of praying and I continued to fight for him.
When James was two weeks old he developed hydrocephalus and had to be moved to another hospital where they put in a reservoir. His' lungs continued to improve; he went from an oscillating ventilator, to a regular ventilator, to CPAP, to a nasal cannula. Every time they switched him they told me that he would probably have to go back, but he never did. He tolerated all of his feeds and the PDA in his heart closed up. Right after Christmas he had surgery to have a VP shunt put in, and a week after that we finally got to take him home! He spent a total of 99 days in the NICU.
He came home with no monitors, no oxygen, and no medications. He is 6 months old now (3 months adjusted) and he is a happy baby who loves to cuddle. He is growing and pretty healthy. We are still concerned about the future for him, but we are so happy and so blessed to have him here with us today.
