| As we have fielded multiple requests for information on the status of varying individuals, we thought that it was past time to post some details (along with some photos) to calm others natural curiosity. I know that Terra wanted to compose this narrative, but due to circumstances she has not found the time to do so, so I have taken it upon myself to compose it, but will allow Terra the opportunity to edit this report. Terra is (and always has been) a “high risk” patient when it comes to pregnancy. It was for this reason (and past history) that we decided it prudent for her to be under the care of her previous doctor. |
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This way she would be working with someone who knows more of what to expect as she nears the end. During the last 2 months of pregnancy Terra has to go in for “non-stress tests” (nst). These are basically where they strap monitors to her to determine the “stress” of the baby. They are looking for stressors to happen and then measure the baby’s reaction to them. These could be contractions (although small ones) or any other sudden acceleration in heartbeat from the baby. Terra has to sit there until three of these events happen, and if none present themself, then the trained medical professional takes a cattle prod and electrifies her stomach to cause the desired result. |
| Terra had been staying with varying family members visiting and then traveling to Tucson for doctor appointments while performing nst’s biweekly one in Tucson and the other in Show low. On Friday 7-16-10, Terra went in for her traditional nst in Show low, and after being there for about 10 minutes she found herself surrounded by about 10 people all asking different questions and poking and prodding here and there. She figured that something must be wrong for this kind of attention and made the phone call for me to head out her direction |
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The baby was responding to the stimulus, but in a negative way, instead of accelerated heartbeats, they were decelerated heartbeats. The baby was in stress for some reason and was getting worse the longer she sat there. Soon these decelerated heartbeats were caused by “no reason at all” and it was determined that the environment of the uturus was no longer a friendly place for the child, so out it came. Within two hours of entering the hospital for the nst she had delivered a 7 lb, 15 oz, 19” long boy by c-section (she is getting good at those). Upon delivery, the baby was blue in color (not sufficient supply of oxygen) and wasn’t breathing. |
| He was given treatments to mitigate these circumstances and then rushed off to the intensive care nursery for further attention. He ended up receiving an iv, oxygen tube, and multiple monitors/sensors. Upon birth tests showed that among other things, his pH was 6.99 (with normal being 7.35-7.45 and typically unable to support life below 7.0). He was put on lots of fluids to help bring this number up and in the process ended up flushing his body of sodium, potassium, and other elements that I don’t remember. |
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This did fix the pH problem, but required another tube to be inserted through the umbilical cord and through the liver to deliver higher concentrations of chemicals at a slower rate. This tube seemed to do the trick. It was removed about 24 hours after it was inserted and was put in about 12 hours after birth (birth time around 11:16 am). On Monday the iv site on the baby’s foot broke down and another site was sought. Both hands were attempted and failed, then the head was selected and an unsuspecting vein was coerced into submission. |
| Once the umbilical tube (for lack of a technical term) was removed, the child started a gradual recovery with medicines being weaned from this point forward. Monday night the vein on his head gave way, and the iv was abandoned with the child being able to regulate most of his own body chemistry. The oxygen was also removed late that night while his saturation of peripheral oxygen was continually monitored thorough out the night. These numbers seemed to hold so now the kid has no plastic tubing of any kind infiltrating his body. According to the doctor, he should be able to go home later today if his biliruben tests are good. |
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Due to the elevation of Show low (6,700 feet) oxygen is not exactly in abundance and in Flagstaff (elevation 7,000 feet) oxygen is administered to babies upon birth regardless of their need for it. Karren came up for a quick visit (and to make sure that she agreed with the doctors and nurses opinion of his status – you know doctors make the worst patients) and seemed happy with his progress. |
| From conversations with her, I learned that her hospital will not allow any child to go home until its weight reaches a minimum of 5 pounds. She cited varying reasons backed up by statistics, which I found interesting. It is interesting that as we learn more and more about medicine, the level of care changes, as do expectations from everyone involved. |
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She also made a comment which I whole heartily agreed with – babies seem to survive in spite of us – meaning that all of the prodding and poking done to them (though different depending upon which institution you happen to frequent) doesn’t usually kill them (and probably helps them when looked at the net results). It is also interesting to know that Terra’s oldest sister was born at full term (without doctor initiated birth) and weighed in at a whopping 4 lbs. 2.5 oz and was allowed to go home later in a shoe box. Now they keep you for days and make you strap the kid into some plastic molded contraption before they let you depart and only after they cant think of any other chemical to shoot into your body. Although the childbirth process has probably yielded more live kids and less small corpses over time, it sure hasn’t led to an easy or desirable experience. |
| There are those who continue to say yea for modern medicine, and although there is some truth to it, it sure seems simpler when years ago you had a kid and if you died – you died, and if you lived – you lived... at least it would be cheaper. |
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