Without the work of the March of Dimes, Sydney might not be here today.
Sydney Lynn Thompson made her entrance into the world at 1:25 AM on February 28, 2000. At 32 weeks, she weighed 5 lbs, 5 oz. and was 18 inches long. After delivery, Sydney spent 11 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Unstable for 3 days due to Respiratory Distress Syndrome that required 2 doses of artificial surfactant treatment, a chest tube, and other very specific monitoring; she was on a ventilator for the first week of her life. With the help of the NICU nursing staff, we were able to hold Sydney for the first time when she was 6 days old. Normally those first few days as a new family are filled with changing diapers and round-the-clock feedings. For our family, however, this was a time when we learned what to do when Sydney′s alarms were going off and measured her gains by the precious grams she gained or lost and if she was on room air or not.
After her time in the NICU, Sydney had progressed enough to be transferred to Copley Hospital. This additional time in the hospital allowed Sydney to learn how to breastfeed, breathe normally, and regulate her body temperature. 2 days after being transferred she was able to shed the last remnant of her NICU stay – her NG tube. Sydney was 19 days old and still nearly a month away from her original due date when she was discharged.
Thankfully, the only real complication our family faced was a slow, but steady, growth curve and now asthma. Sydney′s weight gains were a matter of ounces at times, and it wasn′t until she was 9 months old that her weight gains increased dramatically. We are thankful to the March of Dimes research that led to the development of the surfactant treatments that helped save Sydney′s young life, as well as the critical role that the March of Dimes played in setting up NICU′s like the one at Fletcher Allen & DHMC.
At 8 years old, she is a happy & healthy young girl who only infrequently asked about the scars left by the chest tube. She is a wonderful big sister to brothers Connor (11-17-02) and Zachary (6-28-05), both of whom were born near full term. Sydney participated in her first March of Dimes WalkAmerica in April 2000, and has continued to do so with our family several times since then. Won′t you join us this year?
The mission of March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.
