Any 22 weekers out there?

Specialties NICU

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last night in our level 3 unit, out team with over to l&d for a code. it was for a 22 and 3/7 weeker! they coded that poor kid for 50 mins:mad:. has anyone ever heard of this? has any one taken care of an infant under 23 weeks and it lived even an few days. after 26 years somedays i just wounder what is next. how low can we go?!:confused:

Specializes in ED, Pedi Vasc access, Paramedic serving 6 towns.

At what point are they born without their eyes fused?

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Specializes in Neonatal ICU (Cardiothoracic).

eyes are usually fused until 25-26 weeks

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Specializes in NICU.

we have several 22 weekers live a few months, but we had one a few years back that made it. now you would never guess the kid was a 22 weeker. i think that's why a lot of doctors/nurses resuscitate such little babies because they never know which one will make it. i'm not saying what we put these little ones through is wrong or right.

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Specializes in pediatrics.

Has anyone visited thepreemieexperiment blog? It is interesting reading - parents of former micropreemies discussing life after the NICU. One thing that I see as a huge issue in parents wanting "everything done" as a few have alluded to here, is that parents perception of the NICU has been through the rose-colored glasses of the media - every preemie is called a miracle, and rarely are future disabilities ever discussed. Also, The Baby Doe laws of the 1980s have impacted how these tiny ones are treated. And I agree - torture is an apt term for this experience.

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We have had a few 22 weeker's make it. Only one that I know of has a quality of life, and he has cancer now. For me personally... 28 weeks at least. You?

28 weeks? My son was a 27 week preemie with IUGR, born 1lb. 12 oz. He had relatively few complications, only was the ventilator for 18 hours at which point he needed a nasocanula for 40 days. He is now a healthy 8 year old with old mild emotional/sensory issues that are just as likely to be related to genetics as to prematurity.

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Specializes in pediatrics.

The ques was about 22 weekers, not 28 weekers. There's a HUGE difference betw outcomes of preemies that have 5 or so extra weeks of development inutero. .

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Specializes in CDI Supervisor; Formerly NICU.

We've had 1 22 weeker (sold to us as a 24-25 weeker when it was being transported in...) this past week or so. 550ish grams, only lived a few days. A couple days ago we admitted a 23 weeker that could as easily have been called a 22. Was still alive but unstable when I left work yesterday (a bit under 600 g).

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I know that this isn't about 22 weekers or any type of micropreemie, but wanted to weigh in on ethical issues related to NICU. As someone said, the mainstream media doesn't help as far as what can be done and what can't when it comes to NICU.

I recently read a book about a t18 baby. I was hoping it would be an inspirational book, how a family coped or attempted to get through a tragedy of losing a child. Instead, I ended up literally fairly nauseated about 3/4 of the way through and put it down. Although I've never seen a t18 live beyond 2 months tops, mostly a few days or maybe a few weeks if the baby wasn't stillborn, this family somehow read about a kiddo who survived until it's late teens with t18 (on wikipedia, no less) and thought (literally), By God their kid was going to survive several years with t18. They had a list of things they were going to do with this poor little girl and they weren't going to let her go without completing everything on their precious list. They learned to do CPR and every time she stopped breathing, they described how they pulled her through despite bruises, broken ribs, and the baby "returning" while attempting to emit an agonized, twisted, silent scream. It got to the point that I just couldn't read it anymore. I was feeling so badly for this baby, and angry with these parents for flogging their daughter so they could do everything on their precious list, including putting her through the agony of parading her around Texas Right to Life banquet as well as church with this baby "telling" her parents that she just wanted the quiet atmosphere of home, or better yet, letting her go.

Please keep in mind that I consider myself pro-life and church is very important to me, but the part about the Right to Life banquet got my blood boiling. They were forcing this baby to stay alive, so they could specifically bring her to this event just to say, "This child shouldn't alive today, but here she is!" Nevermind her prognosis for long term was nil. However, with things such as mainstream media (the Duggars latest baby, the NICU programs, etc.) give an unreal sense that EVERY baby makes it, despite horrible prognoses.

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Specializes in NICU.

babern2be - i'm a little nauseated by your description of that book.

try reading "i will carry you". it was kind of a tough read for me, but i think it gives an honest account of the grieving process while holding on to an amazing amount of faith.

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NICU Girl - Seriously, didn't mean to make anyone nauseated... I think I was nauseated for everyone after I read it. It took a really strong heart and stomach to read what I did. For example: here's their "bucket list" for their daughter, Darcy.

Darcy's List - Darcy Anne

The first several on the list were fairly mild, and probably couldn't hurt at all (the warm TX sun on her face, riding a motorcycle with daddy - but granted, that may be pushing it slightly) but when you got to the description of what happened when they took her to the park, that's when it started getting heartbreaking. The last three were the most heartbreaking, starting with the TX RtL banquet where she "got fussy and turned blue several times, so we had to leave early." Couldn't that kid say any louder, "TAKE ME HOME!"

The one where they went to Burger King was one of the sadder ones because that's when her final battle started.

However, when they described how they wanted to take her to church, that was the most sad part of the book. They KNEW this kiddo wasn't strong enough to make a church service. In fact, the night before the church service, she had to be resuscitated three times, in which the dad said, "You can't leave yet, you haven't been to church!" despite the baby was actively dying That's what made me mad, along with taking her to TX RtL.

Reiterating: I'm a born-again Christian who is strongly pro-life, but flogging this kidd, OHHHHH, there hasn't been a better term to describe this kid's life.

Anyway, the book is called "Letters To Darcy" and let me warn you, so some CC nurses, it may be intense.

NICU Girl - Thanks for the book suggestion. That's what I was looking for originally..

One more thing, thanks for the title "I Will Carry You"... that sounds like what I wanted to read in the first place.

Back to the Morrison's in MN. It's sad that they lost 5 kiddos, but it did my heart good to see that they did go on to have a healthy singleton.

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Specializes in pediatrics.

"Baby At Risk" is a must-read for anyone caring for NICU kiddos, especially micropreemies. This book is all about neonatal ethics, with good info on Baby Doe Laws. Also, it follows some very high-profile preemie cases - Sidney Miller (whose parents have been on 60 Minutes), among others. Anyone wondering about what life is like for families years down the road will find this book very fascinating, as the parents interviewed for the book were brutally honest.

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We had a set of twins born in the Ultrasound dept on the table. We responded to the code. We din't know the gestation of the babies at the time. They were very little, but we did everything to save them, per the parents. The first one pasted away within 24 hours. The second one lived for 3 days. They looked gelatinous! If we knew they were 22 weekers, we would not have attempted resusitation efferts. In our facility, we aren't invovled until 23 weeks.

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