Amber Lynn
Canada

Gavyn’s Story

I found out I was pregnant August 3rd 2007, at this time I wasn’t exactly thrilled seeing as I was only 19 and on my second child, it took me a few months to actually be ok with having another baby. Yes I know there are options but those options were not for me.

At 20 week my doctor noticed something strange, I was measuring in at 30 weeks. I was sent for a scan to determine if I was further along then we thought, turns out we were right on track Gavyn was just a little bigger then the average little bean. The OBGYN decided even though it was early to test for Gestational Diabetes. I went for a 12 hour glucose test needled every hour for 3 hours after not eating for 12 hours…Not the highlight of my pregnancy! Test came back 2 days later positive, I in fact had diabetes which we treated with insulin 4 times a day and a very strict diet. Everything seemed to be going very well from there on out. I had weekly ultrasounds to keep and eye out on his growth. Not once did anyone notice anything out of the ordinary on the scans.

At 30 weeks he was already weighing 5lbs. at 33 weeks the doctor had decided she was going to induce me at 38 weeks so that I could have a vaginal delivery which is what I wanted. She had said if I went to full term he would have been around 14.5 lbs. Which would be near impossible for me to deliver naturally. At 34 weeks the OBGYN decided that he had already gotten too big for my body to handle so she had scheduled me for a C-section for April 3rd 2008 which would be 4 weeks before my due date. But I guess Gavyn had other plans.

On the morning of March 26th 2008 I woke up in my bed with light cramps and my older son wanting some juice. As I went to roll out of bed my water broke. I was only 35 weeks.. When I got to the hospital the nurse told me I was going for a C-section. I refused because it wasn’t my plan and I thought because I wasn’t full term he would be small enough for me to deliver. We went ahead with the natural delivery…The labour was rough, very very painful…No drugs nothing. My labour was very much a normal labour nothing that caused concern. At 4:01pm a little boy came into the world with out a peep. I laid there crying because in my heart I just knew something was wrong. I tried to get up to look at him to find out if he was ok, I had a nurse and my mother holding me down telling me not look…and that he was ok. I knew different, he wasn’t crying…eventually I managed to get up and look at him, and there he was. Lifeless on a table with doctors trying to give him oxygen to breath. They rushed him away to the NICU.

No one told me anything…for HOURS and then as I was laying there helpless on my bed, someone finally came in to break the NEWS. They said he is bleeding in his brain, and they can’t stop the bleed because his platelets are so low, they said to go down to see him and say goodbye, they didn’t expect him to make it though the next 72 hours. They said they can try a few things but not to expect anything. So at 12 hours old they did some test, they couldn’t figure it out one Doctor who was in London on chance because he usually works in Toronto Sick kids Hospital said I just learned about this disease called NAIT lets test for this. So my fiancé and I had our blood drawn and sure enough…There it was, the incompatible antibodies that cause NAIT. They tested the count he was at 17k right away they started

Gavyn on platelet transfusions and haemoglobin transfusions. The first transfusion worked for all of 24 hours and then his platelets dropped to 2k and the second he jumped up to 300k and then dropped again to 14k…The third try they also gave haemoglobin which worked because he stayed up in the 200k mark. After 2 long weeks in the NICU my baby survived…they told me that he could have brain damage and learning delays….But now at age 2 he is healthy and is perfectly on track. Happy healthy 2 year old 🙂 I have learned that everyday is a blessing with him, we almost didn’t even get the chance to bring out little boy home.

He is my miracle.

Amber