Support Nikky and Baby Luciano's NICU Journey

She sent me the text at 4:30am on Wednesday, July 24th. "Don't panic if you look at my location. My water broke at 11pm last night. I'm going to be in the hospital for a very long time I think."

I couldn't believe it. My best friend is the strongest person I know and she has had so many problems with her entire pregnancy. I was so excited about throwing her a baby shower on August 4th as her due date wasn't until October 4th. On the day her water broke, she was 29 weeks 4 days pregnant.

Turns out, earlier the day before she had her weekly ultrasound appointment at the perinatal office. She was already considered "high risk" because of her age, PCOS, and high blood pressure that doctors said was stressed induced. She had called me crying from the doctor offices parking lot telling me that the doctor told her she had a velamentous cord insertion.

A little medical lesson for you- Velamentous cord insertion is a complication of pregnancy where the umbilical cord is inserted in the fetal membranes. It is a major cause of antepartum hemorrhage that leads to loss of fetal blood and associated with high perinatal mortality. In normal pregnancies, the umbilical cord inserts into the middle of the placental mass and is completely encased by the amniotic sac. The vessels are hence normally protected by Wharton's jelly, which prevents rupture during pregnancy and labor. In velamentous cord insertion, the vessels of the umbilical cord are improperly inserted in the chorioamniotic membrane, and hence the vessels traverse between the amnion and the chorion towards the placenta. Without Wharton's jelly protecting the vessels, the exposed vessels are susceptible to compression and rupture.

The doctor told her that he was going to do his best to get her to 34 weeks pregnant and then she would most likely be induced. This is a very rare condition. So after being on the phone with her for 30 minutes, she was calming down and said she just had a lot more to do to prepare for her sons birth and instead of it being in 10 more weeks, she had 4. She needed to be strong for her son. 10 hours later, her water broke.

Her husband abandoned her when she was 3 months pregnant. Despite him wanting a family and they created her son out of love. Ultimately, he felt as though it was all too much and abandoned her to be pregnant alone and she quickly was forced to learn how to prepare to be a single mother. He has not supported her and their son at all, financially or emotionally. He just left and announced he didn't want to be married anymore and abandoned them. With that being said- she drove herself to the ER as she is alone. Never expecting from the doctors to tell her that yes, her water did break and they planned on trying to stop the labor from starting and keep her in the hospital for as long as possible to get her as close to 34 weeks pregnant as possible.

Her son had alternate plans. On Saturday July 27th Nikky had her daily ultrasound only to find out that she had no amniotic fluid left. Her son's heart rate was dropping due to the velamentous cord being so weak and no fluid. She then spiked a fever and within 15 minutes she called me and said they were prepping her for an emergency c-section. The baby was at risk of an infection and within minutes her phone was off and she was in the operating room.

Luciano Alessi Immeziano was born at 9:29pm on Saturday July 27th 2024. At just 30 weeks and 1 day gestation he weighed 2.08 lbs. Nikkys doctor came to see her the next day and told her that in her 39 years of delivering babies, she had never been so stressed during her surgery. When then went to retrieve Luciano, Nikky's fibroids (which had been giving her so much pain her whole pregnancy) had shifted her uterus completely to the front. The doctor couldn't even see the baby. She had to cut through Nikky's uterus and cut out the fibroids to get to Luciano. She said it is a miracle that Luciano survived.

That wouldn't be the last time Nikky heard the word miracle. Countless nurses and every doctor who was there for the labor or after with Luciano have said the same thing. Since Luciano has been born, he has had a blood transfusion, a picc line inserted into his arm. He has a feeding tube and multiple probes on him. He is breathing with the help of a CPAP machine. It is going to be a long road for the two of them. He gets daily labs, scans and x rays. He is currently the smallest baby in the NICU. The doctors won't even give Nikky a timeline on how long he will be there.

For those of you who know Nikky. You know she is the most loyal, giving and hard working person. She is always making sure everyone else is okay and putting her own needs aside. She is constantly trying to see the good in the situation and make everyone around her feel better. She feeds homeless kitties every night, She even offered to pay a neighbor to feed the homeless kitties while she was in the hospital. She never wants to let anyone down. She is self employed primarily as a hairstylist and she won't be working for as long as Luciano is in the NICU at the minimum. She was telling me on the phone how bad she felt for having to do this to her hair clients in Massachusetts, because they are like family to her. She didn't want to let anyone down. She has lived in Florida for 7 years and every 5 weeks has flown to Massachusetts to do her clients hair that she has had for the last 22 years. That's how loyal she is.

This means she currently has no income coming in and no maternity leave pay. Nikky never got her baby shower, I had to cancel it. The NICU where Luciano is, is 45 minutes from her home. She has been traveling back and forth twice daily to be at the hospital by her son's side for 16-18 hour days. Adding the 3-4 hour drive, leaves her with minimal sleep. She has not complained at all, she is just being her normal super hero self to be the best Mother for her innocent son. In fact, the day she was discharged from the hospital she was driving back to the hospital 2 hours later to see her son after just having a MAJOR surgery where she shouldn't have driven. Between basic living expenses and the cost for Lucianos medical bills, she needs help. She is alone in Florida and and I am asking you for your help for any donation big or small to help her and Luciano. They both deserve the world and I just want to help alleviate some stress from her plate with the help from you all. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your help and please keep Nikky and Luciano in your prayers!