After My Birth

I was born at 5:25pm on Friday, October 20th,1995. When I came out, Mommy said that everything was quiet. She said that all she saw was a full head of black hair on a little tiny body and a concerned look on all the faces in the room. I was then taken away from Mom & Dad. I was put on a really warm bed in the back of the room. The doctors and nurses were all talking quietly beside me while Mommy was on the other side of the room in tears. Daddy kept turning Mommy's head from looking over at me. I wanted to be with my Mommy where I came from, not with all these strange people. Instead I was getting tubes and wires put on all over my body. I didn't know what was happening, but I couldn't breathe on my own. The doctor put a long tube in my mouth and then turned a big machine on next to me. Mommy said that it was called a ventilator, and that I needed it or I would die. The doctor told my Mom & Dad that my lungs weren't fully developed yet, they were a third of their normal size. They put me on steroids to help my lungs develop.
Mom told me that the doctors were saying that I had some type of syndrome, but they didn't know what because there was several of things wrong with me. He said that I was born limp and floppy, I had no muscle tone, my hips were dislocated, I had no relexes and I didn't swallow. I also had contractures in my fingers, wrists and ankles and I had undescended testicles.
My APGAR score was @ 1 minute(1), @ 5 minutes(2)), @ 10 mins.(0) and @ 15 mins. (2).
A few minutes later, I was being wheeled down to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). This was my new home for awhile. Come back to my blog to hear all about me in the NICU.