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Hey there! My name is Heather. I'm married to a wonderful man named
Solomon. On October 24th, 2004 our son Michael came in to the world
at exactly 25 weeks. The labor was spontaneous and we were thrown
into the unexpected world of having a severely premature child. I
remember when they sat me up and told me to look at my child, he was
strangely beautiful. He was 1lbs 11oz. When he was intabated they
let me hold him and we discovered he had lots of gorgeous red hair.
They asked Solomon if he wanted to hold him. He held his tiny son
for a few moments and then they rushed him away. Later Solomon told
me he almost said no because he was so scared to hold him, but
overcame his fears in case that was the only time he ever got to
hold him. He was born at 4:02am and by 6:00am they were transporting
him to St. Lukes in Denver (which luckily was not far away.) By
2:00pm I was discharged and going straight to see Michael. Everyone
told me to go home and rest, but I was not going to let him be
alone. We stoped and bought him Mother Goose so I could read it to
him and incourage him to keep fighting. When we got to St. Lukes I
was horrified by how many tubes and wires were hooked to him. As I
got closer I realized his wrist was the size of my finger. I stayed
for 12 hours before my husband and the nurses talked me into going
home to rest. I was back bright and early the next morning. His
second day of life we were informed he needed surgery to close a
hole in is heart. It was performed at 5:00pm. He survived and I knew
at that point, I had a fighter. After that is when the rollercoaster
really began. To be honest the first 3 months were a blur. He would
be on the ventalator, on cpap, then on vaportherm, I would get my
hopes up and he would be right back on the ventalator. The most
devistating blow came when we were informed he had a grade 4 bleed
(the worst.) He had about seven surgerys to put in temporary shunts
to drain the fluid in his brain. The last temporary one that was
placed got infected and he got menigitis. At this point they removed
that one, put him on antibiotics, and decided he was finally big
enought to get a more permanent one. He currently still has that one
in. We were also told he was blind and had severe ROP. He moved to
the graduate nursery and even started to eat on his own (at about 34
weeks)Then another blow- He had reflux and was asperating his food.
He had surgery again. He has a nissin(they tie the top part of the
stomach around the esophagus so food can go down but not up, a
hiatel hernia repaired and a g-tube placed into his stomach. He was
back in the NICU. At this point I felt I was at my breaking point. I
would sit at the bottom of the shower and cry for hours. A few days
later we had a meeting with the doctor. Through out the entire
expirence the doctors always put in the back of our minds that it
might be better to take him off support because he wasn't gonna make
it. We decided from the beginning that if he was gonna fight we were
going to fight right along side him. In this particular metting we
reviewed a recent cat scan of Michaels brain. It had been long
enough since the bleed we could see how much damage was done to the
brain. It looked really bad and it didn't help that the doctor told
us our son would for sure die in his first year, and if he survived
he would never walk, never talk, never feed himself, not have any
quality of life. I was devistated- but i never gave up hope. Then
the rollercoaster started again! He got better and went back to the
graduate nursery. The feeding tube gave him a break from working so
hard and gave him time to recover. Then the day came I thought would
NEVER come. I called the hospital to check on him and let them know
I would be in later. The nurse said "Well I just wanted you to know,
but don't get your hopes up... they are thinking about discharging
Michael next week." I cried tears of joy for about 3 hours! The next
week we were fine tuning our feeding tube skills, learning how to
use oxygen, giving medicine and rooming in. On Thursday March 3,
2005 I got to take my bundle of miracle joy home. He weighed 8lbs
14oz. 1 week after he came home he started to eat on his own and we
had no need for the feeding tube. Also, he began to track. The eye
doctor said he ROP was completely resloved. He would actually look
me in the eyes when I fed him. He loved being home and cuddling with
me in bed. I believe he really knew he was home. We struggled with
his weight gain for about a month and a half when his father and I
figured out that he was not getting enough oxygen. Against the
doctors wishes we turned up his O2 and what do you know! He grew!
The feeding tube came out one day because little Michael is stubborn
ans I told the doctors we no longer want it in. I found an awsome
peditrican and she agreed that he was growing great, it was only the
first month or so he had no growth. The hole is now closed up and he
weighes 15 1bs . ALso, when we went to see the neurosurgen he
explaned to us that Micahel did have some brain damage, but it was
not so severe that he would be as the other doctors had described.
He Will need a brain surgury in two months to replace the shunt he
has now with a larger one to prevent clogging as he grows. We are
Nervous, But he has mad it this far and I know he will make it.
Since he came home we have really been pushing and encouraging him.
When he is on his tummy he can hold his head all the way up for very
long periods of time and he now grasps and reaches for toys. He rolls
everywhere he wants to go and has begun to hold his bottle up. He has
ot two times a week and had showed improvment in all areas, although
is a little behind. Micahel is very smart and impresses me more
everyday. He is my reason for living. He has really began
to interact with us. Just the other day he laughed the most
beautiful laugh i have ever heard. It was a real laugh! Not just a
cute baby noise but an actual laugh. Solomon and I cried together.
It realize that it's moments like that that make it all worth while.
Not all bad has came from this. We are now very close friends with
his primary Nurses, and one in particular really inspired me to be a
nurse and change peoples lived for the better the way she has ours.
I thank her and give her a big hug everytime I see her. We took
Michael back to the hospital recently and all the doctors could not
believe their eyes. Not one of them had faith that my son would
survive let alone be doing so well. Now don't get me wrong they are
EXCELLENT doctors and they are part of the reason my son is here
today, I think they just need a little work in the faith department.
All the stories I have read from other people really give me hope
for Michaels future so that is why I am sharing my story. I am only
20 years old so there are not many of my peers who can relate to
what I have gone through. I cried the whole way through it and I
feel as if i have some pressure relieved. I firmly believe that these
special babies do so well beacuse of the unconditonal love we provide
for them. The one lession I have learned from this is to cherish every
second as if it's your last because you never know what life will
bring your way.

MICHAEL JAYDEN
SAUNDERS