Neonatal Intensive Care Video: Karyn's Story

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Transcript

Karyn: I was looking at his little outfit I have in the bag that he was supposed to wear home and I’m just, you know, hoping that he gets to.

He was still breeched. And they ordered the C-section. I was really scared.

Dr. Sean Daneshmand, OBGYN: A C-section is hard on a body. A woman bleeds a liter of blood. And she’s being wheeled to the recovery room. The only thing on her mind is “How is my baby doing?” They’re not concerned about themselves. They really aren’t.

“How quickly can I get to see my baby? How quickly can I breastfeed?” That’s all that is on their mind.

[baby cries]

Nurse: [off camera] Hi.

Mia, Karyn's daughter: I found out she was going to have a C-section. The baby’s going to be born, yada, yada, yada.

Karyn: And the minute he came out he was, he was mine. I got to feel him and kiss him and you could already kind of see little bits of his personality.

Mia: Sadly, from what I hear his lungs were not as developed as my parents would want them to be.

Dr. Wight: Immaturity of the lungs, respiratory distress syndrome, when you and I breathe our chest goes out. With premature babies their chest caves in because their lungs are stiffer than their chest wall.

Karyn: And then they came and said that they were going to have to take him to NICU.

I didn’t sleep last night ‘cause I kept kind of waking up panicky like I felt I should know where he was, or feel him or something and he wasn’t there.

Can I touch him?

NICU Nurse: When mom is touching baby their heart rates will slow, their blood pressures will lower, all of their vital signs will improve.

Karyn: I just kind of talk to him like I would any of my other kids. I just tell him that he’s doing a great job and trying to encourage him and tell him to slow down his breathing and that I love him and that we’re here. I want to bring him home.

NICU Nurse: He’s got things attached to him everywhere, an umbilical arterial catheter, pulsoximeter, C-PAP, which stands for continuous positive airway pressure to help keep the lungs inflated.

Mia: The names they’re gonna pick out, Bailey, a dog name, Archer and Donovan. I like Donovan.

Karyn: We just now decided that it’s Archer Donovan. It’s texted out. It’s on Facebook. It’s official.

Mia: Why’d you name him Archer?

Karyn: Because that’s what we liked.

Dr. Wight: We truly are an intensive care unit for the very small, the very sick babies.

Nurse: Shall we wrap you up?

Dr. Wight: Archer had to have a breathing tube placed and get two doses of surfactin, the chemical which helps keep your lungs open. He did need the support of a ventilator.

He needed good nutrition through IV fluids. He needed someone to help Mom make sure that her milk supply came in. He needed medications to help prevent infection. If there wasn't a NICU he wouldn’t have survived.

Karyn: Say “Hi, Daddy.” Say “We’re going home.” And he’s healthy and his color’s great and his lungs are all clear. He’s just, he’s wonderful.

Coming home first time. I couldn’t be happier having him home and I just I feel blessed to have my family back together.

Oh, he’s smiling again. He loves being on daddy.