The Journey of James Weston

1/1/21 - Friday James is a perfect 26 week old baby according the NICU Doctor who just came into our room. He likes to move his feet and stretch his arms. His oxygen levels are great and could be off the oscillator sooner than anticipated. His blood pressure and blood sugar levels are great. His his urine will get tested in a few days for protein, but urinating is a great sign that the kidneys are functioning properly.   Due to James being born on Dec 31, the Medicaid and insurance more than likely won’t cover his medical expenses for that day, but will retro and cover the remaining stay for 2021. It will be interesting to see what that bill will look like for his procedure and stay for just one day out of pocket. Since he is born under 1190 grams, we will qualify for Medicaid and need to make those arrangements next week.  Our social worker is very helpful. Along with the woman from birth records. We will register the birth certificate with the desk next week and call Ci...

12/31/20 - Thursday James Weston Abramowitz was born 4:37p on December 31, 2020.  22.5 cm head size 1 lb 4 ounces  28.5 cm Length No broken bones. Femur looks good. Humerus is slightly small. Breathed on own, but on lung assist until not needed. Putting in IV in belly button now for nutrition and for blood work. Blood sugar is 38.  40 is perfect so getting a D10 bag of 1.2 ML of dextrose to help.  Overall - baby is heathy and Lindsay is healthy. Both are in recovery right now. I’m a dad!  👶 I officially did my first ever breast pump and Lindsay produced 25+ ML of colostrum within her first 18 hours of delivery, which is fantastic! James is starting with 1 ML every 6 hours, but since he’s doing great, they might move that to every 3 hours.  We decided on a few songs last night that we liked that will create a bond with James, but are looking for a few others.  So far we like: Blackbird by The Beatles Forever Young by Bob Dylan We started a playlist on ...

What a way to wrap up 2020!     It’s been a quiet, private journey that we are finally ready to share publicly...here we go!   James Weston Abramowitz was born early at 26 weeks on December 31st, 2020! #WeHaveABaby  👶   Due to last year’s stillbirth, we wanted to be 100% sure everything was okay with baby before we announced so we can avoid the awful experience of explaining the bad news repeatedly. So, we chose not to announce our pregnancy until it felt like the right time.  Unfortunately, Lindsay developed severe preeclampsia early in the 2nd Trimester and the only way to prevent her kidneys from failing was to deliver our baby early. After holding out for as long as possible, her health was started to be at risk and the doctors decided that the best option for Mom and Baby would be to deliver our micro premie immediately!    So, at her 26 week mark, Lindsay had a classic c-section done.    She’s recovering like a champ!  💪 ...

Written by Lindsay- The last week of December 2020 was a blur. In an attempt to make sense of and cope with what happened this is my journal of notes and a handful of texts I had sent out. In summary, I went in for a regularly scheduled appointment on Monday, was transferred to a high-risk Hospital on Tuesday, my kidneys started to fail on Wednesday, and Thursday we asked our baby boy if it was okay if he could try and live on the outside of Mommy at 26 weeks in order to save her. Google Everything: My first symptoms of preeclampsia were swelling in my hands around 21 weeks. This is super early as Preeclampsia normally occurs at the end of the pregnancy. After a few Google searches and ordering a blood pressure cuff off Amazon... I let my doctor know at my December 10th appointment of my self diagnosis.  They ran some blood tests and confirmed it with finding extremely high amounts of protein in my urine. My OB and MFM team decided it would be best if I saw them every Monday at Mea...