Before and Now Pictures

[MissDipper]

Let's get to know one another by posting pictures of our preemies when they were born and now. Let us know a little bit about your preemies as well as you.

This is Derek John. He was born June 27, 2008 at 1 lb. 8.4 oz. 13 in. because I had severe Pre-eclampsia with HELLP syndrome. He was 28 weeks gestation. He's now 13 months old (10 months adjusted).

This was the day he was born.

And this is him a few weeks ago at 1 y.o.

Luckily the only issues Derek had while in the NICU was 1 blood transfusion, anemia, billirubin lamp 2 days, and just plain was slow to grow because he had IUGR. After leaving the NICU he had follow up apts. for Stage 3 Retinopathy that corrected itself and didn't need surgery. He got Synagis shots for 6 months last winter and got through the winter without contracting it! He receives physical therapy through early intervention but is quickly catching up and probably won't qualify when he's re-evaluated in September. His only area of delay right now is gross motor.

Derek is my only child and I'm a 35 y.o. teacher of 7th graders. I'm married to my DH for 9 years but we've been "together" for 17.

[goddessbump]

Hi there,

I have alot in common with Miss Dipper.

I am almost 39 yrs old and I just had my first baby boy--Brannon on 2/7/09. He was a 29 weeker. He was 2 lbs 7 ozs and 15 inches long. I had to have an emergency c-section, due to HELLP syndrome. My blood platelets were 39,000, supposed to be over 200,000, my BP was 174/125 and I was severely sick. I had no idea. I stopped breathing and had to be intubated. It was some scary times. My baby was in NICU for 7 weeks. He had jaundice a few times, medical NEC and just had some trouble eating. He was also born with a bilateral cleft lip. My husband has it and we knew at an ultrasound appt. he had it, too. Luckily, Brannon's palate was intact. Makes things alot easier. He just had his lip surgery and he looks awesome. He is 6 months today and adjusted age 15 weeks. He is our little fighter. He is a little over 12 pounds today. He is the sweetest baby, not very fussy. We are lucky.

Birth

Cleft lip pic

after surgery

Sandie

 

[Kallynsmom]

My DD was born at 33 wks, she weighed 3 lb 9 oz and was 17 inches long. I was diagnosed with severe Pre-E with HELLP syndrome and met my daughter all within 13 hours. My DR tell me we are both very luck to be here. When I arrived at the hospital I was on the verge of a seizure/stoke, I was shaking all over. My brain had started to swell and and I was having trouble seeing anything.  They said my liver and kidneys were very swollen and close to shutting down if not exploding. I was transported to a hospital almost 2 hrs. Once there things were going good, but then her heartbeat stopped, I was rush away and at 6:46 pm we all met Kallyn Paige! She is now 14mo. and is doing GRAET! I am so very proud of her everyday I am thankful she is here!

                                      

And this is Kallyn now at 13 months, still my little peanut at 19lbs but I love all 19 of those pounds so very much! B/c we never had early intervention after some OT she has stared to catch up in Gross Motor skill. I don't think she is any different than other kids her age!

     

[mandasmommy319]

My DD is Amanda Elyse. She was born at 31 weeks, to the day, due to severe preeclampsia that started to shut down my kidneys, didn't even know I had it until I went to the hospital for gallstones!!! After 26 hours of labor, she came into this world weighing 3lbs 7oz and was 17 1/2 inches long. She was on a ventilator for 3 hours after birth, followed by 3 days of phototherapy. About a week after she was born, we were informed that she has 2 stage 3 IVH's. She was in the hospital for 4 weeks after birth, and aside from the IVH's, which started to resolve on their own, there was nothing wrong with her.

Amanda is now 4 1/2 months old, 2 1/2 adjusted. She is smiling, gigling, "talking", and holding her head up great. So far, we have not seen any damage due to the IVH's. At her 4 month appt, she weighed 11lbs7oz and was 24 1/2 inches long....She's gained 8lbs since birth...THAT"S A WHOLE BABY! lol I am truly blessed that I have this angel in my life and it is so true when they say that God won't give you any more than you can handle....and that Good things come in small packages;)

[AidiansMommy]

This was taken right after Aidian was born. He was 24 weeks and 1 lb 10 oz. My Dr. before had told me I had incompetant cervix....but that has been thrown out as i'm now almost 30 weeks with #2 and no problems. So I don't know why he came so early!

And this is him now! 2 1/2 healthy and usually happy little boy!

[buchmanbabe]

I am Tina and my son Owen was born at 36 weeks on June 3rd 2009.  I was involved in a fairly minor car accident at 35 weeks but my labor contractions started after that.  He stayed in for a week exactly after the accident and then when I went to the hospital my contractions were 3 mins apart with no dialation so he was born by emergency c-section that evening.  He weighed 6 lbs 15 ozs and was 19 inches. (I have large babies which was a blessing in this case!!)  He had some difficulty breathing for the first 12 hours but after some skin time with me and some careful watching he fixed it himself.  He needed 24 hours of photo therapy but he got to go home with me when the discharged us at 5 days PP.  My older son Elliott was full term at 38+ weeks and is now 2.

Here he is at birth.

This picture was taken when he was 7 weeks but he is now 9 weeks and weighs 12 lbs 5 ozs and is 23 inches!  He is growing really well!

[SaraZoey]

My name is Sara and I'm 22 years old. Zoey is 28 months and is my only child and I work full time and go to school full time and I'm graduating in December! I'm engaged to Tim, we've been together for 4 years. Zoey was born April 5th, 2007, almost 5 weeks early weighing in at 5 lbs 5 oz and 18 1/2 inches long. I had Toxemia/Pre-Eclampsia so they induced. She had no medical problems (APGAR of 8 and 9) other than slight jaundice, which went away by itself after a couple days, currently she only has pre-asthma with an inhaler for as needed. She's now almost 30 lbs and 34 inches tall.

Then: 1 day old in a preemie onsie that was too big.

 

Now:

She's the one in the blue life jacket.

[mynameismuerte]

This is Bryan the day he was born.  He was 32 weeks due to incompetent cervix that was diagnosed 8 weeks prior. (His big brother was 35 weeks)  His biggest challenge was overcoming the bradycardia, which kept him in NICU for 29 days.  He really struggled with feeds too.  He has a PFO & external hydrocephalus which will not need a shunt. When we took him out of Early Intervention he was 4 months behind in communication but close to on target with everything else.  Now that he's walking we're starting to hear more sounds in his babbling.

 

Bryan, just shy of 13 months.  (He's now 15 months).

[twinkiemom3109]

My twins Nicholas and Nathan 27 weekers born 3/01/09. Nicholas was 2.2lbs and 13.5 in at birth and Nathan was 2lbs and 13 in at birth.

Now they are 5 months old and Nicholas weighs 15lbs and Nathan weighs 12.11 lbs as of Friday.....even now as I look back on these pics I can't believe how small they were and how far we've come....

[1JN2BC]

 Benjamin was just barely early. He was born at 36 weeks. He weighted 6lbs 6.5oz and was 19in long. He had slight jaundice and had some issues with keeping his temperature. He has had some weight gain issues and had some major issues with GERD that landed him in the ER & Ped Hospital a few times for weight loss. He has always done everything early. He was born early, he walked early and at 22 month he can count to 13 (we have 13 stairs in our house. hehe) and spell his name 'B-E-N' He is about 32in and 23lbs now.

I dont have hospital pics on this computer... He was about a week old here. Daddy dressed him to go to a going to Iraq dinner party for a friend and forgot his pants...

Benjamin at about 21 months (now 22 months)

Christopher was born at 35 weeks. He was 6lbs and 19in long. He had to have a shot for his lungs and had issues keeping his temperature. He lost a half a pound in the two days we were in the hospital and came home at 5lbs 8oz. He is now 7 months old and about 16 pounds! He is growing awesome.

Christopher the day he went home too tiny for a preemie onesie...

Christopher compared to our tv remote... Just had to add this one...

Christopher zonked out! He was 6.5/7 months in a 3-6month sleeper. Just look at those thighs! Hehe

Baby #3 is in the working and we are praying the trend doesnt follow suit and this baby comes 6 weeks early (1st baby was 4 weeks early 2nd baby was 5 weeks early)

[Kroor19]

Hi, I am now 29 years old but had my girl at 28 yrs after undergoing IVF. I had terrible bouts of bleading and they didnt knwo what was causing it for months. I was in and out of the hospital, on and off bedrest until I was put in the hospital for good. I was in the hosp for only 3 days and I had an emergency Csection at 27 weeks. They said it was from placenta abruption after they did the csection I guess they could finally tell. It was a horrible experience. She weighed 2.2 lbs and went to 2.0 at her lowest. She is now 9 months and doing great