Austin's Next Four Months

We pick up with Austin surviving his first surgery, an big fight for a baby so small and so sick. After the illiostomy was created, he remained in critical condition for two weeks. The biggest scare was infection setting in while his internal wounds were healing. His little body was swollen so much it appeared as if he had gained weight, which actually made him look good. We were told by the nurses not to be deceived by his appearance. Once the swelling went down he would be back to his pound and a half in weight.

Slowly he began to take on a normal course of treatment similar to Ashli's. But at six weeks, Ashli had already weaned herself off of the ventilator. For Austin, the medication called Indocin did not work in closing his Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA). This is a valve in the heart that should close at birth, but in preemies this often does not happen. He had been given one round of Indocin prior to his bowl perforation, then two more rounds after the recovery from his first surgery. Because of the delay with the last two Indocin treatments, the proper results did not happen--the spontaneous closing of the PDA on its own. So in May little Austin went in for his second surgery. The surgeon performed a type of surgery that was routinely done before the invention of Indocin. He went in and physically clamped the heart valve shut. Austin came out of this surgery again in critical condition.

As the weeks passed, he, again, took on a normal course of treatment similar to Ashli's. In June Austin and Ashli both went into surgery for one round of laser eye surgery on both eyes. This was due to Retinopothy of Prematurity (ROP). This surgery is done to help to prevent the retinas from detaching. After this surgery was completed, Austin had a few good weeks!

In July, on the very day Ashli was coming home, there Austin was, across the isle from her. We had brought him a cute outfit, and dressed him up as if he were going home also. But sadly he wasn't. Our little boy's future was again on hold. . . . Since the illiostomy was created during his first surgery, feedings were not easy for him. Tolerating any type of feeding other than IV feedings was not possible. To look at him, he seemed as if he was fading away. He developed "rickets" (brittle bones) from a vitamin D deficiency. His little body was discolored from the continuous IV fluid, and he was not gaining weight. It was decided by Austin's head neonatologist and his former surgeon that it was time to reconnect Austin's intestines and close the illiostomy. On August 3, this would be Austin's fourth surgery while in the NICU. Each time he left us to go into surgery, it got harder and harder. This time we held onto the thought that this would be his last. The one that would allow him to come home to be with is mommy, daddy, and twin sister. Austin came out of this surgery again in critical condition. But once he had a few days to begin recovering, it was as if he, also knew, this surgery was needed in order to go home! The neo's had predicted we would not have him home until sometime in September. But Austin had other feelings on that subject. As soon as he had recovered enough to start feedings, we started him on breast milk . . . and he ate, and ate, and ate! He tolerated every set increase in feedings, and began to gain weight immediately. Amazingly we were able to take him home on August 11, 1994, weighing a whopping 4 pounds and 12 ounces! Our family of four was together at last!!!!

Last Updated on June 20, 1998 by B. Lynn Shahan