A 25 Week Preemie Baby Girl

As I’m working on props for the upcoming photo shoot of our Beanie Baby who is turning 4 next week I couldn’t help but want to share how her birthday came to be. How she ended with a June birthday instead of the September one we were expecting it would be.

I remember going in front of our house and having our oldest who was 14 at the time to take a picture of Daddy & me as we had gotten to 24 weeks.

We already had a few hiccups and already was told I needed to slow down and make sure to rest and drink my water.

I, of course, looked at my sweet midwife at the time and told her hmm OK..but in the back of my head I thought HOW am I suppose to do that with the boys about to go knee deep into baseball practices and games and Gabi having gymnastics and graduating from Kindergarten soon!

 Little Beanie needs to go with the flow. Or so I thought. In the next two weeks, everything would change. The thought of me having another home birth was “my” plan and I was so looking forward to experiencing it again but I should have known things sometimes do not go as planned and may shock you as for how different it turns out.

At 25 wks and a half, I started with what felt like cramps and since I’ve had other babies before I knew this wasn’t just regular cramps but contractions. I knew I better let my husband know what was going on.

Thank goodness my mother had been visiting because she was able to stay with our kids and off we went to the hospital. In my head, I just thought I might be dehydrated and I’d be given some fluids and sent home with directions to rest and drink my water yet again.

As we got to the hospital and after waiting what seemed like forever I got checked and told indeed I was having contractions and they would have to transfer me to another hospital that was better equipped to handle my situation.Before leaving I would need fluids. The dreaded I.V. in my arms. My arms wouldn’t look the same for another month.

This was going to be the start of trying to keep Beanie in the womb. THISwould be the test of patience, trust and most of all faith and listening to my inner voice.

I was transferred to a specialized hospital via ambulance. In my head all I could think was is all of this really necessary?  Little did I know that the next 11 days would be critical to ensuring our little one had a fighting chance.

As we got into the hospital my husband was waiting outside the ambulance as he followed in our car since we weren’t expecting all of this to even happen.

This hospital specialized in high-risk pregnancies. In my head, I thought it was a just precaution that they brought me there because other than me having a small scare early on in the pregnancy everything was going well. 

I was given more medicine. I was being introduced to Tocolytics because well contractions had started up again. This was to help stop them.
I was so nervous and my husband was so reassuring saying all would be ok. As I laid in the bed all I could think was about my other kids at home.  Racing thought my head thinking I need to get home but I need to make sure this little one in my womb would be safe too.

After more than 5 hrs of many doctors, nurses, IV’s and monitoring I heard the words that would ring in my ears like a loud boom. “Mrs.Augustin we are going to have to keep you”. My heart sank. I tried to hide the tears from falling but couldn’t help it.  I knew that I had to do what needed to be done to keep my youngest who was in my womb safe. Yet my heart ached knowing I wouldn’t be home for boys and my then 5-year-old little girl who had talked to me earlier and wanted to show me her dance she was going to do at her kindergarten graduation which was 2 weeks away. I heard talk of having to stay in the hospital until the baby was born. How was this going to happen I was supposed to give birth at home. Plus I’m only 25 1/2 weeks what do mean till I have the baby. It’s June she’s not due till September. (or so I thought) Wheeling up in the elevator looking at my husband and I’m pretty sure our emotions were both written on our faces. All I could think was what is going on here?

Scared and feeling defeated. How can this be? Maybe if I get enough meds and rest I can go home, right? Perhaps they told me and so started my 11 days stay in the hospital. Well, this hospital.

I’ll leave it right here for now because a little girl is tugging at mama’s shirt for a snack. What I want you to learn from our story is don’t be afraid to speak up, ask questions and make sure you write them down.

I always made sure to have was a notebook and pen. I would even use my menu paper and pencil to jot things down while I stayed in the hospital. My brain would be on overload for the next year and a half as our journey started. I’ll share more as to why till this day (4 yrs later) I am so thankful I did.

I’d love to hear your questions you have so far. How old was your little one when they were born?