#sciencesaves

[mjfajardo]

#sciencesaves #marchforsciencedc #protestphotography (at Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6Qy3ZmDGUf/?igshid=zfvu7edcbilw

[jameseroche]

I wrote this a while back. Just thought i'd share.

Today is August 17th, 2012, the day my daughter Gianna was supposed to be born.

Instead, she was born on June 5th, about 11 weeks early for a total age of 29 weeks gestation. We are extremely fortunate that she is doing great now, at the ripe age of 3 months; or 3 hours if you prefer to go by her adjusted age.

The adjusted age is the baby’s age counting from her original, full term expected due date. So since that is the case, all of Gianna’s milestones, ie. lifting her head up, smiling, rolling over, etc., will all be pushed back roughly 3 months from the average full term baby. Although, she is already cracking little smiles to herself and lifting her head up and tossing it around extremely well, so she may have super strength. I’ll have to get her into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as soon as possible to utilize that strength of hers, this way she can choke out any asshole guys who mess with her in the future.

Lately, several people close to us have said things like, “Oh my god, she’s a miracle” and“Someone’s watching over her, you know that right?”, to which my girlfriend and I just politely respond, “Thanks. We’re very fortunate”.

Now I know these folks mean well and are simply trying to say the nicest thing possible to compliment our daughters progress, and believe me when I say that we appreciate all of the well wishes and positive thoughts sent our way, but I can’t help but feel that they are putting all of their thanks and praise into some type of divine intervention when it should be going elsewhere.

Here’s to the unsung heroes…

I want to thank the incredible NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) Nurses, Doctors and Specialists at Monmouth Medical Hospital in New Jersey, as well as all over the world, who have all dedicated their lives to a job that truly matters. They have spent countless hours studying and researching, burying themselves into the information and practices in order to care for premature babies like Gianna, whose incredibly fragile lives need their professional help more than anything. Their love and care for every one of these babies helped ease our petrified minds through what was easily the scariest time in our lives.

I want to thank the inventors, scientists and engineers behind the technology which paved the way from the first incubator invented in the late 1800’s (whose inventor had to display them at fairs, expos and in storefronts, charging admission to see them at work with the tiny babies inside of them), at a time when Doctors saw premature babies as too weak to survive, giving them little or no care at all resulting in upwards of 85% death rates. Today that number is roughly still the same number, except for now it is the survival rate.

Now, the numbers certainly vary the more premature the baby is and every extra week they can get in the womb counts dramatically. We were lucky enough that my girlfriend went into preterm labor, but the magnesium sulfate she received had done it's job and postponed her contractions, pushing the labor back a mere 2.5 days. Those 2.5 days that the medicine had given us were enough to let the Doctors administer two separate doses of steroids, which play a gigantic role in developing a premature baby's lungs, strengthening them in case they are born early. Because of these medicines, Gianna came out of the womb screaming crying and thanks to the roids her lungs were jacked-diesel and she spent zero time on oxygen her entire stay.

So, I’d also like to thank whatever scientist or doctor figured that shit out!

Unfortunately, this is not the case with every premature baby. We had to experience that the hard way when a neighboring baby in the hospital had lost his life. It was incredibly sad and frightening when we found out it had happened. Though we do not know them, our thoughts will always be with that family and the child they lost.

Gianna spent a total of 6 weeks in the hospital, about 4.5 in the incubator and the last 1.5 in a crib. Their main focus for her was of course getting her weight up, developing the suck, breath and swallow mechanisms to feed, and thermoregulation, regulating her own body temperature without help from the incubator.

I can’t deny the strength and resilience of our little girl! As we now see from her fiestiness and loud mouth, our baby is a fighter. The nursers and doctors have also said that girls have much better recovery rates than boys when it comes to preemies. Go figure. You girls really come out swinging!

I also wanna thank the Ronald McDonald House charity organization because there was one around the corner from the hospital that we stayed at the entire time to be closer to Gianna practically for free. The McDonald’s motto should be, “Our food is shit, but our charity's legit”, because that place and all the volunteers were amazing. Thank you all!

I’d also like to say F*** You to my former employer who laid me off due to “lack of work flow” a week after Gianna was born. Ah, the lord works in mysterious ways, does he not?

In closing, even though they mean well, people should think more before they throw the word “miracle” around. They should think of all the other factors that came into play and all of the non-miracles that happen every second. One of the many things that science and technology have done over the last 100 years is the miracle of turning around the staggeringly low survival rate for premature babies.

I’ll end this with a major contradiction… My daughter IS a miracle! A miracle of human innovation and care… A miracle of technology… A miracle of Science!

[under-your-ribs]

the GazettE

Pairing: Aoi/Uruha

Author: sciencesaves

Rating: R

Genre: tragedy, angst, romance, character death

Warning: sickness, character death, triggering content, angst all over the place.

Summary: It had started with a pencil. An unassuming mechanical pencil that you just couldn't seem to keep between your fingers.

-Note: Beautiful but heart-breaking fic, don't read if you're not planning to cry forever. 

All sciencesaves’ old fics are f-locked. You can get in contact with her by leaving a message here and there probably won’t be any issue to add her as a friend in order to read her fics. 

[under-your-ribs]

the GazettE

Pairing: Aoi/Uruha

Author: sciencesaves

Rating: NC-17

 Genre: drama, (slight) romance

Summary: We malfunction like machines. Slamfire from a scattergun.

-Note: All sciencesaves' old fics are f-locked. You can get in contact with her by leaving a message here and there probably won't be any issue to add her as a friend in order to read her fics.