It gets better, premature baby’s mother says
Little Radson Van de Bor thriving after coming home from hospital 102 days after being born 26 weeks into pregnancy
Meghan Van de Bor had no idea babies could weigh as little as 1.5 pounds or be delivered three months early — until her son was born.
Radson Van de Bor was born a micro-preemie at 26 weeks gestation. Micro-preemies are under 28 weeks gestation and under two pounds.
Van de Bor had a C-section at Mount Sinai Hospital Aug. 31, 2017.
Up until about two weeks before that, she’d experienced a normal pregnancy.
It wasn’t until she went for an ultrasound at 24 weeks that she found out her son was measuring small.
“I knew something was wrong,” said Van de Bor, who lives in Omemee.
Her doctor told her to come back in a few weeks for another ultrasound to see how the baby was progressing.
But by that weekend, Van de Bor started feeling unwell and went to Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC).
She said she was told her blood pressure was high, but not high enough to cause concern, so she was released.
Trusting her instincts, Van de Bor returned to the hospital a few more times that weekend. She had chest pain, a severe headache and a spike in her blood pressure.
Van de Bor was admitted to PRHC on Monday and after some tests, the doctor told her she had pre-eclampsia, an issue with the placenta, and HELLP, a lifethreatening condition affecting organs.
The expectant mother was in disbelief.
“I thought someone was going to say, ‘We got it wrong. Actually, everything is OK, go home.’”
That afternoon, she was sent by ambulance to Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.
Doctors told her they wanted to leave the baby in utero for as long as possible, but Van de Bor knew it wouldn’t be much longer.
By then, she was 26 weeks preg-
nant, but Radson was the size of a 24-week-old because the preeclampsia was restricting his growth.
Two days after being admitted, both mother and son’s health were deteriorating. It was time for a C-section. The doctors spoke to Van de Bor and her husband Cory about the complications that could arise from having a baby at 26 weeks.
“It felt like we’d just got hit by a bus — we just weren’t ready, and we couldn’t do anything about it. You feel helpless,” said Meghan.
The C-section was a success and Radson was transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
Doctors couldn’t tell the Van be Bors that everything would be OK. There were no guarantees.
“I was just grateful that he was alive, and we just took it day by day, sometimes hour by hour, because it was really touch and go for a long time.”
A week after her son was born, Meghan was finally able to hold her baby. It was both a happy and sad moment for the first-time mother.
“I was happy that I finally got to hold him, but sad because it wasn’t the way it was supposed to be.”
Radson didn’t breathe on his own for nearly three months and spent 84 days in the NICU.
Meghan took up residence at the Ronald McDonald House (RMH) and Cory travelled back and forth so he could continue to run his business.
The new mother spent up to 16 hours a day in the NICU before she’d head to RMH to pump and sleep.
“I don’t know what we would have done without it,” Meghan said of RMH.
After Radson was released from Mount Sinai, he spent three weeks at PRHC. The city hospital isn’t equipped to deliver babies under 32 weeks.
One-hundred-and-two days after Radson was born, he was finally on his way home. He weighed 6 lbs 5 oz.
The preemie is now 15 months old, or 11 months adjusted. He’s hitting his milestones and weighs nearly 20 lbs.
But the worry never goes away, Meghan said. There was never a time when she took a sigh of relief, knowing everything would be OK.
“I feel like I can never live life like that again — you never know what’s going to happen. Things can just change in an instant.”
With World Prematurity Day taking place Sunday, Meghan said she wanted to share Radson’s story to help raise awareness about preemies.
She said people often think premature babies are just small and need to spend time in the hospital until they get bigger.
“They don’t realize it’s a lot more complicated than that and how lonely that kind of thing is.”
While Radson was in Mount Sinai, there was another preemie in the room next to him who was a few weeks ahead him, also born at 26 weeks.
The parents told the Van de Bors that everything would get better. The couple clung to those words.
Soon enough, they were sharing that wisdom with parents of preemies who came after Radson. And now, Megan wants to share that sentiment with all mothers of preemies.
“In that moment, you can’t see tomorrow but you have to know that it does get better.”