Matteo Montalvan

Survivor

On January 29,2014, I delivered a twins via emergency c section. The doctors had tried to stop my labor with magnesium sulfate. Unfortunately my son’s heart rate started dropping after hours of contractions and the doctor needed to perform a c-section to save his life. This was the first time Matteo beat the odds.

Matteo and his twin sister Savannah spent the next month of their life in the NICU, dealing with the complications of their prematurity. After many ups and downs, Savannah came home first, and Matteo followed a few days later.

The joy of having my family all under one roof was quickly destroyed on the night of February 27, 2014. Matteo had only been home for a few days, and that night when I tried to feed him at 9pm, he wasn’t eating. A feeling of worry began building in the pit of my stomach. When I woke him to feed for his 12:00 am feeding, he was lethargic and gray. His breathing was labored and he felt so cold to me. I immediately put him in his car seat and drove to the ER. By the time I got to the ER I was nervous wreck. He was bradycardic and cold as ice. I was screaming for someone to save my baby. The nurses and doctors in the ER seemed inadequately trained and prepared to deal with a baby his size. At this point he was only 4 weeks old, but technically 36 weeks gestation, and barely 5 lbs.

Matteo_3They lead us to a room, and took his body temperature which was 90 degrees. I was sick to my stomach, and I don’t think the doctor understood what was happening. She thought the thermometer was broken and said they were looking for a new one. She kept asking me questions about his medical history, but I could see my son was struggling and needed some medical intervention. I thrust my child into her arms and told her to stop asking questions and save my baby. Finally the severity of the situation was realized, and the doctor began performing what looked like CPR on him. It was too much for me to emotionally bear and so I ran to the hallway to call my husband to tell him to get to the hospital.

When I returned, it appeared every doctor in the ER was working on my son. The NICU nurses finally came to the ER, and it is them who I credit for saving my son’s life. For 3 hours I sat on the floor of an ER and cried and prayed while doctors and nurses worked relentlessly to stabilize my son.

A little after 3 am, he was finally admitted back into the NICU to fight the fight of his life. He was intubated and in a warming bed. I didn’t know if he would make it through the night. The doctors began treating him with antibiotics. A few days later we found out it was sepsis when his aspiration fluid tested positive for klebsiella. I had never heard of sepsis before, and thank god I did not google it until my sons prognosis was much better, or I do not think I would’ve been able to stay strong emotionally. klebsiella Matteo did make it through the night, and then eventually after 7 different antibiotics, he began to improve. He shocked everyone with his recovery, he came into this world fighting for his life and persevered. klebsiella He was able to finally come home for good a few weeks later and despite many developmental delays, he is a happy and healthy boy who just turned 2 a few weeks ago.

Source: by Kristie Montalvan (Matteo's mother)

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