Ethan and Jeremiah's Birth Story
Submitted by JennyEriselda
I would've never thought that I would give birth that same day. It was tough being a teen mom. I was experiencing contractions, but I had those before and since this was my first pregnancy, I really didn't think that my baby boys were on their way. My husband called 911 to take me to the hospital to see what it was. The worst part was that it was snowing very hard. Horrible weather!!!
So I'm in the hospital waiting to see what it is, and the doctor tells me that I was going to give birth that instant. They needed to give me gas so I would go to sleep, because unfortunately it was going to be an emergency C-section. They took me, and my husband couldn't go with me—they said it was too risky since the boys were going to be born so premature.
I just remember seeing a bunch of nurses and three doctors. They strapped me and put me to sleep. Who knows what happened then? When I woke up, I saw my kids. I got so upset, they were only 1 pound, 11 ounces. They had them incubated and they needed help to breathe, so they had an oxygen tank. The doctor told me that my first boy, Jeremiah, was not breathing when he was born. They had to do CPR right away to revive him. My second son, Ethan, was fine but still needed help to breathe. They needed to be transferred right away to a different hospital and I had to stay in the same hospital to recover. I didn't get to stay with my babies. My husband followed the ambulance, along with my mother and mother-in-law, through that heavy snowstorm. My husband stayed with them for two days and then came back to see me.
Finally, I was out. As soon as I got out, I went to the other hospital, Jersey City Medical Center, to see them. When I entered the NICU, I broke down crying. It was so sad how they had them. They were in this incubator with a blue light over them. They both had blindfolds, with so many wires around them and the oxygen tank that made so much noise. They stayed there for a whole month, and then the twins needed to be transferred to another hospital because they had too many difficulties and needed to be treated with more advanced technologies and doctors that have dealt with micro-preemies. Throughout the time there, they had two surgeries and apparently things were improving. It was tough for me to go there almost every day because it was a long trip from my house to Newark Beth Israel.
One day the doctors called me early in the morning saying that Baby A (Jeremiah) wasn't doing well. He wasn't breathing even when they put the oxygen tank to 100 percent. I tried to get there as fast as I could. When I got there, my son had passed away. He couldn't make it. Three months already, and I guess he just couldn't take it. My husband didn't talk for a whole week. It was very tough on all of us. But I still had to think of my other son, Ethan. For that same week, Ethan wasn't doing too well either, but I stayed at the hospital to be with him. They say that babies sense when their mothers are around. So I wanted him to feel safe and know that I was there for him to get better.
My husband and I had a funeral for Jeremiah, and buried him close to where our home is, so we feel that he will always be there with us. Months pass by and it is the end of July and time for Ethan to be discharged. From February to almost August, Ethan improved in so much. He finally knew how to breathe on his own, he learned how to drink from a bottle and didn't need any more blood transfusions. He is now 10 months and he is starting to crawl and is very active. Very surprising for a premature baby. It is still tough because every week he needs therapy to catch up to what full-term babies should be doing at 10 months and so on. But I'm very thankful that he survived after everything he went through.
God knows best. But Jeremiah will never be forgotten. R.I.P Jeremiah. Mommy and Daddy love you!!
Read more birth stories or share YOUR birth story now!
So I'm in the hospital waiting to see what it is, and the doctor tells me that I was going to give birth that instant. They needed to give me gas so I would go to sleep, because unfortunately it was going to be an emergency C-section. They took me, and my husband couldn't go with me—they said it was too risky since the boys were going to be born so premature.
I just remember seeing a bunch of nurses and three doctors. They strapped me and put me to sleep. Who knows what happened then? When I woke up, I saw my kids. I got so upset, they were only 1 pound, 11 ounces. They had them incubated and they needed help to breathe, so they had an oxygen tank. The doctor told me that my first boy, Jeremiah, was not breathing when he was born. They had to do CPR right away to revive him. My second son, Ethan, was fine but still needed help to breathe. They needed to be transferred right away to a different hospital and I had to stay in the same hospital to recover. I didn't get to stay with my babies. My husband followed the ambulance, along with my mother and mother-in-law, through that heavy snowstorm. My husband stayed with them for two days and then came back to see me.
Finally, I was out. As soon as I got out, I went to the other hospital, Jersey City Medical Center, to see them. When I entered the NICU, I broke down crying. It was so sad how they had them. They were in this incubator with a blue light over them. They both had blindfolds, with so many wires around them and the oxygen tank that made so much noise. They stayed there for a whole month, and then the twins needed to be transferred to another hospital because they had too many difficulties and needed to be treated with more advanced technologies and doctors that have dealt with micro-preemies. Throughout the time there, they had two surgeries and apparently things were improving. It was tough for me to go there almost every day because it was a long trip from my house to Newark Beth Israel.
One day the doctors called me early in the morning saying that Baby A (Jeremiah) wasn't doing well. He wasn't breathing even when they put the oxygen tank to 100 percent. I tried to get there as fast as I could. When I got there, my son had passed away. He couldn't make it. Three months already, and I guess he just couldn't take it. My husband didn't talk for a whole week. It was very tough on all of us. But I still had to think of my other son, Ethan. For that same week, Ethan wasn't doing too well either, but I stayed at the hospital to be with him. They say that babies sense when their mothers are around. So I wanted him to feel safe and know that I was there for him to get better.
My husband and I had a funeral for Jeremiah, and buried him close to where our home is, so we feel that he will always be there with us. Months pass by and it is the end of July and time for Ethan to be discharged. From February to almost August, Ethan improved in so much. He finally knew how to breathe on his own, he learned how to drink from a bottle and didn't need any more blood transfusions. He is now 10 months and he is starting to crawl and is very active. Very surprising for a premature baby. It is still tough because every week he needs therapy to catch up to what full-term babies should be doing at 10 months and so on. But I'm very thankful that he survived after everything he went through.
God knows best. But Jeremiah will never be forgotten. R.I.P Jeremiah. Mommy and Daddy love you!!
Read more birth stories or share YOUR birth story now!
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