Trace R.

Survivor

Trace was born with respiratory distress syndrome following group b strep and sepsis, two weeks in NICU and this boy is a survivor and bundle of joy!

The moment at 12:30 am I felt my first contraction, I was so excited and was ready to have full on labor. I know what you are thinking, you are crazy! Well my first pregnancy didn’t go as well as I planned which led to an emergency c-section and I was adamant that this time around things would be different and a more natural approach. 1:15 came around and my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart. It was finally time to head to the hospital. I called my mom and she took me there. I was checked in at 4 cm and they had me walk until I was 5 cm to be able to be admitted. Sure enough I walked around the hospital a few times, which felt like a thousand times! Finally getting into the room, getting set up, contractions coming and going, 4:30pm rolls around and I am exhausted and just want to rest. I go ahead and get the epidural so I could rest and have energy to push, so 5:25 pm I’m fully dilated at 10cm and start to push. 3 big pushes later, Trace Alton comes into the world, but only to see he was very blue. They laid Trace upon my chest as I asked to have the first skin to skin contact. Trace gasped for air, he let out a little tiny cry. Things were happening so fast now, they grabbed Trace, placed him on the bed to clean him up, and he got his footprints taken as well. I looked over at him and he was still blue as can be and still wasn’t crying. I saw the nurses talking to one another and one left the room. I knew something serious was wrong. Getting all my checks prior to birthing Trace, I was told he was healthy and a big boy. He ended up weighing at 9lbs and 7 oz. So I expected this to be a joyous time, not a scary moment for the birth of my second boy. The doctor comes in and brings an incubator on wheels in and tells me he needs to go to the NICU right away to get help breathing.

What felt like forever, the head doc of the NICU comes into the room as I patiently wait to see and even hold my baby. He tells me, “Trace is having trouble breathing and is on a ventilator, he has neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, which is basically when a baby transitions from the womb to the outside world and has a hard time using its lungs to breathe.” They gave him some surfactant and what seemed to be helping, instead he got worse. He was sent to the NICU in Norfolk, VA due to not having the medical equipment he needed at the hospital he was originally born in.

So I went to the Norfolk hospital the next morning to see how he was doing. I remember walking into the NICU and seeing him with all the wires attached to him and I couldn’t help it but just cry, I got so helpless at that point. I was so scared for my newborn baby’s life. The doctor came over to me and said, “Mom, Trace is a fighter I can tell. And he will fight through this and be home with you soon, I promise.” He then goes into detail of what happened and while transitioning Trace from hospital to another he became septic and that’s why he had more wires on him than before. You see, I never knew about sepsis, and didn’t know how serious it was. So I went back to my room that night and I researched so much about sepsis so I could better understand it. And the next day Trace had breathing tubes, oxygen, and all kinds of things going on at once and I was just so overwhelmed, but I knew I had to hold it together for my little warrior. There were days I would go in and he would need more oxygen, and then there were days where he would need very little. His veins were so small they had a hard time putting IVs in him, and his veins would collapse. I would go in and he would have a new IV spot in a different location. At one point he had an IV in his scalp! I had never been so scared in my life! Well fast forward to day 13 in the NICU, Trace made a remarkable turn around and was breathing on his own, and had his last dose of the gentamicin and ampicillin, passed the car seat test, and x-rays looked great!!! Finally at 8:30pm on March 14th, I was able to take my precious newest addition Trace Alton home. He now is 1 year old, climbs on everything, loves outdoors, is a dancing fool and loves all food! He truly is a blessing and I am so thankful for him! (Sepsis and Children)

Source: Kaitlyn, mother

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