this is an article about me..I may have posted it in the past but ran a search and couldnt find it..


Specialists called it "a miracle that he survived."

Bobby K was born April 15 - four months premature - and he weighed a mere pound and 9 ounces. Now, after nearly five months in the hospital, Bobby came home last week. He was born one day short of Frank and Mary Beth K's first wedding anniversary. "The only problem was that he came about four months premature. Mary Beth came home from her position as a cocktail waitress at Showboat Hotel Casino," Frank said.

By the time Frank, 32, arrived at their Absecon home from his position as a floorperson at Resorts International Hotel Casino, Mary Beth, 26, was in labor. When the doctors could not stop her labor contractions at the Atlantic City Medical Center Mainland Division in Galloway Township, she was transported to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden.

For two days, doctors tried to stop the contractions without success. When Mary Beth gave birth to the baby, he was given a less than 5 percent chance of survival. To worsen matters, Bobby's weight dropped to 1 pound, 2 ounces. But miraculously, he began to improve. Now, after enduring a series of struggles with problems that premature babies have - especially lung and breathing complications - he now weighs 6 pounds 12 ounces.

Dr. Margaret Fernandes of Our Lady of Lourdes said he was so sick "there were times we didn't think he was going to make it." During the hospital stay, Frank said he had to be revived numerous times after he stopped breathing. "They (lungs) are the last thing to develop, so he had problems. He stopped breathing and they had to resuscitate him. "They said it was a miracle that he pulled through," he said. "There was also initial bleeding in the brain and the eyes may be still be a problem."

He still requires oxygen through a tube and is hooked up to a monitor that the parents carry with the baby. He's also on numerous medications. They said he may have to wear the oxygen mask for another year, and they have a portable oxygen unit as well as a larger one at home. Unfortunately, the young couple's insurance doesn't cover the cost of outpatient treatment and they must pay for the life-sustaining oxygen tank and monitor.

Mary Beth said every six hours she has to attach a nebulizer to the baby's face. It's a device that expands the lungs. "Then we suction him. We put a tube down his nose and suction him to remove mucous," she said.

Meanwhile, Mary Beth has quit her job at Showboat to devote full-time attention to her son.

"Her co-workers were very supportive," Frank said. "They brought her all kinds of gifts. Everyone at work asks me every day how he's doing. They call him the 'miracle child.'"