This is the story from the mother Tinay Tolentino Pachana: My husband and I tried for years to get pregnant. In our 8 years of marriage we finally consulted with a fertility specialist. We miraculously ended up getting pregnant on the first try. It was a difficult pregnancy from the start. I had cramps and bled like I was actually menustrating. My first episode of this was scary to say the least. But it became the norm and my OB was telling me they don’t know why it happens, but it does.
My little peanut’s heart is still beating and everything looks fine. I was working at the time and my OB gave me the go for work but I was strictly put on a desk job. Then on the 23rd week, my cramps worsened and I felt pressure. I went to an unscheduled visit to my OB and asked to have an ultrasound because I had a gut feeling something was definitely wrong, but my OB said the pressure had something to do with my ligaments stretching. She is the doctor and I believed her, so the next day I went to work. I started bleeding more than usual that I soaked up my sanitary pad and the pain was excruciating.
My co-worker ended up calling the ambulance. I was in the ER and I was being consulted by a Nurse Practitioner. She told me without even doing any test on me that it looked like a threatened abortion. It was the most devastating thing to hear but in my heart I knew, I just knew that everything would be ok. I was then admitted to L&D and they had an Ultrasound Tech come by and it was noted that I was 3 cm dilated and the amniotic sac is protruding out of my cervix. An on-call OB was in and explained to me that the shots I was receiving to stop my contractions weren’t working. I had a choice to receive adrenaline shots to help my son’s lungs to develope faster and then have a c-section.
I told her I am ok with the adrenaline shots but I want to deliver my son naturally. I don’t want any epidural nor pain meds. I didn’t want anything else to interfere with the life of my son. I was warned that there is a slim chance of survival and I would have to prepare for the worse. I wasn’t going to dwell on that. I focused on the positive. I was in labor for 8 1/2 hours. My cervix was fully dilated and the whole NICU team was in my room ready to receive my son. The last push and the most beautiful yet haunting cry of my son was heard. Sounded like a kitten’s meow. I wasn’t able to hold him. My first moments with my son was just by sight, a slight glimpse of his tiny fingers. He stopped breathing and they immediately intubated him.
They brought him to the NICU where they weighed him at 1 lb. 9 oz measuring 12 1/2 inches long. When I went to visit him, his eyelids was fused shut and and his ears were underdeveloped. His skin was red and transparent, very delicate to touch. If you put to much pressure or rub the wrong way you can easily tear off the skin. Gives me more respect to the NICU nurses because they handle these micro-preemies day in and day out. We almost lost my son twice while in the 4 months of being in the NICU due to sepsis. He had surgeries and numberous blood transfusions. There were tears for sure but mostly triumphs. I wanted to share this to give hope to parents who are in the same situation. Never lose hope and believe that preemies are resilient.
Tinay Tolentino Pachana
