They took him right away, I only saw his foot. A miniature foot, the size of a five zloty. Only in the evening did I go to see Kacper. He was in an incubator, so tiny, under oxygen but no respiration, he was breathing himself! Tears ran down my face, my head turned. My son was almost as small as a chocolate bar.
Next Sunday, January 8, the jubilee XX Final of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity. The orchestra will once again play for the youngest patients and their mothers. The collected money will allow the purchase of the most modern devices to save the lives of premature babies and insulin pumps for pregnant women with diabetes. Onet – as every year – plays together with the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity! See how Jurek Owsiak invites TvoiLokony users to the XNUMXth final.
– Nine months? It’s not for me. If the pregnancy lasted three … – I used to say when I was asked when the baby was. Sometimes I think that fate has cruelly mocked me for these words. 2009 was going to be a good year. Marta was promoted, her husband, Paweł, received subsidies for his own business, and the online store he launched from month to month brought specific money. They didn’t have to save. They decided to spend their holidays in Kenya. All September.
– I came back from this Africa with a thousand photos, but not in the best shape. Weeks passed, and I had some diarrhea, I was feeling irritable or asleep – recalls Marta. She suspected some kind of bacteria, so finally decided to test herself. The result of the morphology and the first shock: pregnancy. She experienced even more during the ultrasound examination a few days later, when she heard: 13 or 14 weeks. She had no reason to suspect that she was going to be a mom. She was menstruating. Admittedly irregular, but she believed that it was because of this trip that the body went crazy. Of the two of them, Paweł was probably more of a parent. He looked at prams in the street, stopped in front of toy stores. It was strange to Marta. – How will I survive 9 months with nausea, heartburn, a big belly? She panicked exaggeratedly. Now she thinks that fate has cruelly mocked her. – My pregnancy was so short that I didn’t even have time to get used to it …
She feverishly remembered what she had been doing during the last few weeks: drugs, sometimes wine, a wedding until dawn at her cousin’s, aerobics. She was not laughing. – I decided to speed up my work before my big belly grows. I thought – in six months I will give birth and I will not let anyone in the company take advantage of it and jump into my place – she was convincing herself and Paweł, and he kept saying “woman, slow down”. She felt tired, irritable, the skin on her stomach itched. Stretch marks, she thought in horror. She persuaded her husband to go to the mountains. Just in case, she asked the doctor for permission. – In the morning I went for routine blood tests, in the afternoon we were already in Wisła. They came back in a better mood, she forgot to receive the results. – Maybe if then … – Marta thinks.
In the 26th week, another routine examination and another shock. Diabetes. “Impossible, I don’t eat sweets,” she defended herself as the doctor enumerated: strict diet, count calories, more exercise. She cried all the way home. On the way, she managed to buy a blood glucose meter. During the night she was awakened by the thought: Let it finally end. – Many times later, when I repeatedly analyzed what I did wrong, I remembered that sentence. It was like an evil spell, the worst prophecy. It was dawn as painful contractions woke her. And a quick decision: go to the hospital.
It was February 7, their wedding anniversary. And the 27th week of pregnancy! Marta must lie flat, everything lying down – food, toilet. Amniotic fluid is oozing. 27 weeks is not enough for a child – says the doctor, and I have the thought that I was in fact shorter in this pregnancy. After all, I know about it for less than 3 months. Ironically, just as much as I used to miss …
February 14, 2009. Test results – anhydrous, internal contamination. You have to give birth, only caesarean section is at stake. Afraid for a baby. He doesn’t remember much from the operating room. Calm faces of doctors and strange smell. It is hard for her to breathe, but the anesthesiologist says it is meant to be.
Finally – cry! The nurse says they have a son. He is whole and very handsome. – They take him right away, I only saw his foot. A miniature foot, the size of a five zloty. Only in the evening I see Kacper. He’s in an incubator, so tiny, under oxygen, but without respiration, he is breathing himself! Tears are running down Marta’s face, she is dizzy. It is like that every time it comes. Her son is almost as small as a chocolate bar.
During the following days, he hardly sleeps because he fights for food. After a week, I give up. After 8 days, they discharge her – just her. – It was hard for me to believe that I was a mother. There was no cot or pram at home yet, we still had a lot of time … They are in the hospital every day. Take turns. Marta in the morning, Paweł in the evenings. On the weekend together. I stared for hours at the beeping devices, covered with red hearts. Somehow these hearts were soothing. He has a lot of time to think. He recalls their last stay in Wisła. First Sunday of January, concerts everywhere, fireworks – the final of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity. At every step, young people with cans, who glued them with their hearts, repeating “thank you on behalf of sick children” – then she did not think about it at all.
Kacper has problems with breathing, his saturation is falling. On the way, premature pneumonia (on the eighth day), anemia, a little refusing to cooperate, the tiny liver becomes entangled. He has to get blood, he has to sign a consent, there are further fears. Both he and Paweł are rummaging through the internet: retinopathy, intracranial haemorrhages, cerebral palsy, deafness. – They begin to understand what threats may arise. – It’s a hard time, constant thinking, wondering.
Subsequent studies do not show any threats. Thyroid ultrasound shows a small cyst in the brain, but after a few months there is no trace of it. No strokes. Hearing tests are normal. The echo of the heart is normal. Neurological examinations show nothing dangerous apart from slightly increased muscle tone.
They bring in kangarooing. First time on your hands … Kacper is amazing. Although routine examinations are repeated daily, it is difficult to bear the sight of constantly punctured feet, hands and head.
From the incubator, Kacper goes to his crib. He is breathing better and better. In the end, only oxygen therapy is limited. They both learn care. – The physiotherapist taught us how to arrange Kacper in a “croissant” – a special pillow for premature babies, in which the movements and position of the body are similar to those in the abdomen. We bought the same one for home. – recalls Marta. They are home at the end of April! In addition to frills and bottles, they buy two important devices that will make them feel more confident and safer: a breathing monitor and a scale to check how Kacper grows.
Another tiring medical check-ups. Doctors exclude strokes and confirm the correct structure and function of the heart. A small episode of anemia, Kacper gets blood in the hematology ward. After two months, the level of hemoglobin and red blood cells stabilizes. The neurologist offers individual rehabilitation plus home exercises. Re-test your hearing.
They sleep awake by retinopathy. Kacper has its beginnings (1st degree in one spot, 2nd in the other), but thank God it does not deepen. When Kacper ends six months, for two days they go to the hospital for an elective treatment of an inguinal hernia and a testicular hydrocele – this is a common condition of a premature baby. The operation takes an hour, everything is going smoothly.
Today Kacper is 25 months old. There was no trace left of prematurity. Thanks to rehabilitation, she develops properly, from rolling over to sitting down, standing up, crawling, and finally walking – all on time. Keeps weight and height in the full-term percentile grid, tiny but not lagging behind! She starts talking, she is a wonderful, cheerful and joyful child.
– We want Kacper to have siblings. Now, however, I will prepare well for it. I know that my son did not have to be born in such dramatic circumstances – says his mother.
Text: Joanna Zielewska