Ryker’s NICU Journey
Many of you may not know that we were blessed with the news that our family was expanding back in August of 2018. However, little did we know what an eventful journey we were going to encounter for the next several months. We’ve have had SO much love and support from family and friends, we definitely wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for all of you!
I have decided to create a page to follow Ryker’s journey through the NICU. We are so grateful to have many reach out to us, checking in on how we’re doing both during the prenatal and postnatal phase. Please don’t ever hesitate to continue to reach out! We love hearing from you! Life is about to get busy again now that I’m discharged from the hospital and back home with the rest of the family. So I figured this would be a great way to keep everyone posted on recent updates, as well as a log for us to look back on in the future!
THE BEGINNING
In late August Nick and I found out our little family was growing by +1. We were thrilled by the news with hopes of a little boy to join our family! Fast forward to week 6, I experienced a heavy bleed… I had assumed we miscarried.. I called into the Alpha Center, a wonderful local source for family planning that we utilized when we were pregnant with Addi. I was informed by Leasa, one of their RN’s, that if bleeding continued for another week, to come in and they could do an ultrasound to see if the pregnancy was still viable. Fast forward a week later, things still had not changed, so Leasa was able to get me in for an immediate ultrasound appointment and get a look of what was going on. To our excitement, there was a strong little heart beat still there! However, there was an odd mass beside it which was concerning. With her help, I was able to get in to an OBGYN that same day to see if we could get a diagnosis.
We were informed that it could potentially be a partial molar pregnancy (cancerous), and that I would likely miscarry. We continued weekly monitoring and thankfully were able to rule it out. However, the mass was still there and growing, which now appeared to be a large subchorionic hemorrhage. Again, my risks for miscarriage were up pretty high, so we took it week by week in hopes that things progressed.
Around week 12, we did a blood test to check for any chromosomal abnormalities, as well as confirm gender. IT’S A BOY! We were so excited!! Addi was over the moon about finally having a baby brother!
By Week 16, I had been bleeding heavily for 10 weeks, the hemorrhage continued to grow to the size of a grapefruit, along side our determined little guy. I was feeling completely drained though. So much so, walking from the car to the front door required me to sit and catch my breath. So my doc ordered blood tests to see if we could find an answer. Results came back that my hemoglobin levels were half of what they were supposed to be… So I was called in immediately to the ER and spent evening before Thanksgiving receiving 2 units of blood.
After the blood transfusion, everything seemed to be stabilizing again. Active bleeding had stopped, my energy perked back up, hemorrhage stopped growing, and our little guys was still going strong! We were feeling hopeful things were on it’s way to clearing up.
At 17.5 weeks I had multiple instances of watery old blood. Another trip to the ER, they did a quick ultrasound to check to make sure baby was ok. He looked fine, but we didn’t have an answer to what was causing the watery brown blood. I set up another appointment with the OBGYN to get some answers. They did another ultrasound to check on baby. The ultrasound tech took a few photos and ran out of the room to see if the doc could meet with me right away.
More bad news… it looks as though I had lost my water around baby. It was only a matter of time that I would once again likely miscarry, or if things did progress, the chances of our little man being born alive or having a normal life were slim to none. We were consulted by the high risk doctor who laid out the doom and gloom and what our options were. It was hard to hear.. but he suggested Nick and I go home to discuss the newest info and decide how we wanted to proceed.
After some thought and discussion, we requested to see how the next couple of weeks go. We both couldn’t seem to accept the choice of termination that was highly suggested to us, due to the heath risks both myself and baby were up against. Something kept telling me it was going to be OK. However, we agreed if there were clear signs that things were going south (his head being crushed by the uterine muscle being a big one), then we would consider looking into our options. Life threatening hemorrhaging was one of the health risks I was now up against, and being around for my girls at home was more important. My doctors were respectful of our decision.
Weekly monitoring continued to see how things were progressing. Some fluid would re-accumulate, however it was still such a small amount, we were continually reminded that it likely wouldn’t be enough to help his lungs grow and sustain life. Despite it all, he kept growing on track, his arms and limbs continued to look straight, and his head looked nice and round.
Our next goal was to make it to 24 weeks, which they consider ‘viability’ for baby, and the earliest they would be willing to resuscitate if needed. At that point, I would be admitted to the hospital in Denver for close monitoring until delivery at 34 weeks. Well.. I made it 23 weeks & 5 days. I had fresh bleeding for the first time in nearly 2 months and was rushed to labor and delivery in Fort Collins to see what was going on. It appeared the placenta was peeling away from the uterine wall and causing some internal bleeding. Our baby boy still looked fine and dandy, and thankfully wasn’t showing signs of distress. They decided it was best to fly me to Denver via helicopter ambulance in case they had to deliver soon after arrival. What an experience.. and one I hope to never do again! I’m not a big person, and I took up half of the helicopter. My head was 4 inches from the roof and side door, my feet were up by the pilot, and beside me were two wonderful nurses who kept me calm as I started feeling a bit claustrophobic or holding my breath during turbulence. We made it to Denver in 25 minutes, and was immediately set up in a hospital room, spoke with my new care team, and they monitored both me and baby closely for the next 24 hours. Once again, we received the doom and gloom talk of his chances of survival. However, we did receive approval from the NICU team, that despite being slightly under 24 weeks, they’d be willing to do everything they could to save our little guy.
Thankfully everything stabilized again, bleeding tapered off in a matter of days, and they kept a good eye on us, monitoring us for signs of distress or infection which would lead to early delivery. The goal once again was to get to 34 weeks. I’ve met so many incredible nurses here at UC Health Anschutz in Aurora. The antenatal care was exceptional, and I bonded with so many lovely people, including house keeping & room service.
On February 9th, I began having some contractions sporadically. The next day, contractions continued, I was showing signs of a possible uterine infection. They confirmed my cervix was still closed and no signs of me going into labor. They took the precaution and gave me the rescue dose of lung steroid incase things didn’t clear up and they’d have to deliver soon. Our hopes were that I could stay pregnant for the 48 hour minimum before the steroid is in full effect. Contractions continued for the next few days, but intensity and frequency would taper off, and the signs of infection that I had in previous days were also disappearing. We were hoping maybe it was clearing up on it’s own and that we dodged another bullet.
February 15th, 28 weeks 0 days: I was woken up at 1:16am by the most intense contraction that would not release. They stuck baby on the monitor to make sure he was doing alright, and gave me IV fluids with hopes to get contractions under control. They gradually tapered off, and were less intense, however, they were still coming every 8-10 minutes. They checked my cervix around 4am, and I was already dilated to 4cm with no signs of slowing down. Since he was laying sideways, we needed to immediately rush to delivery via c-section. I called Nick and he drove down here as fast as he could. However, he still had over an hour drive to get down here. Delivery was so nerve wracking as we didn’t know what the end result was going to be. Are his lungs developed? Would he even survive? Not to mention just the thought of being awake while they do major abdominal surgery. They got everything together, and I was in surgery by 5am. At 5:19, our little Ryker was born weighing 2lbs 9 oz, and 14.75″ long. They dropped the curtain to show him to me. His precious little head was no bigger than a tennis ball, but he opened his eyes and looked right at me. At that moment I knew everything was going to be OK. The charge nurse was incredible, she ran to my room, grabbed my phone and snapped the first few photos of our little guy for me. She told me he was incredibly alert and looking around at all of the doctors while the NICU team got him all set up to be wheeled off to the NICU. I told Nick he was here and looked wonderful. He was so relieved. Nick arrived at the hospital shortly before I was out of surgery and was able to visit with his little man before meeting up with me in the recovery room.
IDay 1: February 15th,
Ryker was immediately put on the oscillator, a ventilating machine that pulsates air into his lungs to help gradually open them up and get them functioning. I was unable to visit him until the evening that day as I was in excruciating pain after surgery, however Nick was wonderful in running down and getting updates & photos for me so I could enjoy our little guy while I recovered. He was diagnosed with pulmonary hypoplasia (incomplete development of the lungs) and pulmonary hypertension (high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs), however his lungs were doing well enough to sustain life. Something doctors didn’t expect after living in the womb with minimal fluid for 11 weeks. Nick brought a short video clip of Ryker laying in his bed, and he opened his eyes to peak at his daddy. I was just in awe. I literally watched it over and over. Such a little rockstar! Overall, he had a reasonably calm first day. We are so in love!
