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Pamela McLoughlin, Register Staff
04/29/2006
When Lisa Fiscella went into labor 22½ weeks into her pregnancy, the daughter she had long waited for wouldn’t stop pushing her way into the world.
Since there was little chance of a baby surviving at that gestational age — a typical pregnancy is 40 weeks — doctors at Bridgeport Hospital advised Fiscella to give birth naturally, rather than by Caesarean section, which would put her at higher risk, but improve the baby’s survival chances.
But that was not advice that sat well with a woman who had three boys, a six-year struggle to get pregnant, a lifelong wish for a daughter and a closet full of baby dresses at home. Not only did Fiscella insist on a Caesarean, she felt in her heart that her daughter, already named Isabella, would survive and lead a normal life.
As doctors wheeled her into the operating room, "against their better judgment," as her husband, Tony Fiscella, said, he went to the waiting room.
"I hit my knees and started praying to the Lord that he save my wife and baby girl," said Tony Fiscella, a Greenwich police
officer. "At one point, a doctor came out of the delivery room at Bridgeport Hospital and came up behind me, put his hand on my shoulder and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ It felt like his hand weighed 1,000 pounds and I didn’t know then who this man was, but it made me feel better and I thought it was the Lord."
Next thing Tony Fiscella knew, Isabella Faith, weighing 1 pound, 6 ounces and 16 inches long, was wheeled by in an incubator. "She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen," he said. "But she was very sick."
Isabella was so premature she hadn’t yet formed a third layer of skin, her lungs were not developmentally mature, her eyes had problems and there was bleeding in her brain. She was about the size of a hand, dwarfed by the Beanie Baby in her hospital bassinet. She was born not breathing and it took 10 minutes of CPR to get her lungs going.
It’s hard to believe she’s the same little girl now: alert, mobile, blowing raspberries at her dad and giggling as she maneuvers around the living room in her bouncing seat.
At 13 months, Isabella is petite, she just made it onto the height/weight chart for her age, but appears to be developing without major handicaps such as the cerebral palsy doctors indicated was likely. She’s a few months behind developmentally, normal for a preemie, but appears like she’ll catch up. Her first birthday party, held in a hall in Greenwich, was attended by Lisa Fiscella’s obstetrician, friend and neighbor, Mark Laser, to whom she attributes much of Isabella’s success.
At 23 weeks gestation there is a 25 percent survival rate and extremely high risk for lifelong developmental problems. Dr. Robert Herzlinger, director of neonatology at Bridgeport Hospital, said Isabella is likely the youngest gestational age baby to
survive at the hospital — and the Fiscellas likely had a lot to do with it.
"They were so devoted to her, regardless of how things were going," Herzlinger said. "The family was very committed and inspiring to all of us."
But not without a lot of reality in the mix: Isabella spent her first month on life support and things were touch and go; after the first few days she developed a serious level of brain bleeding.
When Lisa Fiscella first awoke after the Caesarean she felt somewhat detached, then she went to see her daughter for the first time and the feeling of love was all she had imagined.
"I just focused on her; she was my girl," Lisa Fiscella said. "I always had this faith that everything would be OK."
Isabella stayed in the hospital for three months. While it now appears all will be well with Isabella, the Fiscellas aren’t forgetting others who might experience feelings of bleakness over a child’s condition. They want to share Isabella’s story to give others hope.
They also are trying to raise money and awareness through the March of Dimes WalkAmerica, which will be held across the
state Sunday. As the March of Dimes biggest fund-raiser, WalkAmerica supports research and programs to help babies nationwide get a healthy start, according to the March of Dimes Web site. WalkAmerica participants have raised more than $1.5 billion since 1970 to bring the March of Dimes closer to saving all babies from premature birth and other serious infant health problems, the site said.
As part of a more than 30-member Team Isabella, the Fiscellas will join the cause at Sherwood Island State Park in Westport. They have more than $800 in pledges. To donate in her name, log on to www.walkamerica.org.
Tony Fiscella eventually solved the mystery of the man who touched his shoulder: It was the doctor who managed, beyond the odds, to get a life-saving breathing tube into Isabella’s tiny throat. It turns out the doctor had lost his own preemie child.
"He said he was happy for us, and it wasn’t him (who saved her), but a higher power," Tony Fiscella said.
Since there was little chance of a baby surviving at that gestational age — a typical pregnancy is 40 weeks — doctors at Bridgeport Hospital advised Fiscella to give birth naturally, rather than by Caesarean section, which would put her at higher risk, but improve the baby’s survival chances.
But that was not advice that sat well with a woman who had three boys, a six-year struggle to get pregnant, a lifelong wish for a daughter and a closet full of baby dresses at home. Not only did Fiscella insist on a Caesarean, she felt in her heart that her daughter, already named Isabella, would survive and lead a normal life.
As doctors wheeled her into the operating room, "against their better judgment," as her husband, Tony Fiscella, said, he went to the waiting room.
"I hit my knees and started praying to the Lord that he save my wife and baby girl," said Tony Fiscella, a Greenwich police
officer. "At one point, a doctor came out of the delivery room at Bridgeport Hospital and came up behind me, put his hand on my shoulder and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ It felt like his hand weighed 1,000 pounds and I didn’t know then who this man was, but it made me feel better and I thought it was the Lord."Next thing Tony Fiscella knew, Isabella Faith, weighing 1 pound, 6 ounces and 16 inches long, was wheeled by in an incubator. "She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen," he said. "But she was very sick."
Isabella was so premature she hadn’t yet formed a third layer of skin, her lungs were not developmentally mature, her eyes had problems and there was bleeding in her brain. She was about the size of a hand, dwarfed by the Beanie Baby in her hospital bassinet. She was born not breathing and it took 10 minutes of CPR to get her lungs going.
It’s hard to believe she’s the same little girl now: alert, mobile, blowing raspberries at her dad and giggling as she maneuvers around the living room in her bouncing seat.
At 13 months, Isabella is petite, she just made it onto the height/weight chart for her age, but appears to be developing without major handicaps such as the cerebral palsy doctors indicated was likely. She’s a few months behind developmentally, normal for a preemie, but appears like she’ll catch up. Her first birthday party, held in a hall in Greenwich, was attended by Lisa Fiscella’s obstetrician, friend and neighbor, Mark Laser, to whom she attributes much of Isabella’s success.
At 23 weeks gestation there is a 25 percent survival rate and extremely high risk for lifelong developmental problems. Dr. Robert Herzlinger, director of neonatology at Bridgeport Hospital, said Isabella is likely the youngest gestational age baby to
survive at the hospital — and the Fiscellas likely had a lot to do with it."They were so devoted to her, regardless of how things were going," Herzlinger said. "The family was very committed and inspiring to all of us."
But not without a lot of reality in the mix: Isabella spent her first month on life support and things were touch and go; after the first few days she developed a serious level of brain bleeding.
When Lisa Fiscella first awoke after the Caesarean she felt somewhat detached, then she went to see her daughter for the first time and the feeling of love was all she had imagined.
"I just focused on her; she was my girl," Lisa Fiscella said. "I always had this faith that everything would be OK."
Isabella stayed in the hospital for three months. While it now appears all will be well with Isabella, the Fiscellas aren’t forgetting others who might experience feelings of bleakness over a child’s condition. They want to share Isabella’s story to give others hope.
They also are trying to raise money and awareness through the March of Dimes WalkAmerica, which will be held across the
state Sunday. As the March of Dimes biggest fund-raiser, WalkAmerica supports research and programs to help babies nationwide get a healthy start, according to the March of Dimes Web site. WalkAmerica participants have raised more than $1.5 billion since 1970 to bring the March of Dimes closer to saving all babies from premature birth and other serious infant health problems, the site said. As part of a more than 30-member Team Isabella, the Fiscellas will join the cause at Sherwood Island State Park in Westport. They have more than $800 in pledges. To donate in her name, log on to www.walkamerica.org.
Tony Fiscella eventually solved the mystery of the man who touched his shoulder: It was the doctor who managed, beyond the odds, to get a life-saving breathing tube into Isabella’s tiny throat. It turns out the doctor had lost his own preemie child.
"He said he was happy for us, and it wasn’t him (who saved her), but a higher power," Tony Fiscella said.