I debated whether I really wanted to post or not but I think I need to get it off my chest so I can have closure. This is a sad story... I am just letting you know that ahead of time before you read any further.
I work in a neonatal intensive care unit and last night started off like any other night. At about 9pm we got a call from labor and delivery and they tell us they had a 25 week pregnant woman walk in who was complete and ready to deliver.
Without getting real graphic and using medical jargin..... the water bag was bulging and they could see a little foot in it. So, they had to do an emergency c section. The baby wasn't making any effort to live. They coded it for nearly 9 minutes with no heart rate. Luckily they were successful in the rescuscitation efforts. They got the baby intubated and had a heart rate and the baby even started to pink up.
The baby comes to my unit and within 1 and 1/2 hours we put him on a ventilator and had to give life saving drugs, we put in an umbilical artery line.
His lung blew out and we had to put a chest tube in. There was sooooo much going on at once it was complete chaos. I was so stressed but kept it together and prayed for the ability to do my job effectively. Did I forget to mention that as all this started to happen that song "had a bad day" came on the radio and I thought "geez.... I am having a bad day" But not half as bad as this family.
The baby actually at one point had a fighting chance. His heart rate was good, he had a good oxygen saturation, his color looked fairly good, he had good chest expansion at one point and was moving air great. His breath sounds were clear at that point. His anterior fontanelle (soft spot) was soft and flat as it should be.
But I guess that was the calm before the storm... because he crashed real bad and no matter what we did nothing was working. He was dying right before my eyes. His fontantelle was no longer soft and flat... it was full. Premies are prone for head bleeds and he suffered a massive one. I felt so helpless and had all I could do to keep my composure. I wanted to cry and just scream "WHY??"
He weighed just over a pound and a half and was only 13 inches long. He was fully formed. His heart stopped despite all the measures we took to keep him alive. And just as he left this world as quick as he came in.... the song "I can only Imagine" came on the radio at the exact moment the doctor pronounced the baby deceased and as I reached to shut the monitors off. It sent chills down my spine. And I found out afterward that just as this baby's life was slipping away.... we had another baby born at the same EXACT time.
I then had to bring this poor parents baby to them so they could see him and hold him and say goodbye before the funeral home came to get him. That was a moment I will NEVER forget. To see the look on their face.... it was so sad. I had to bathe this baby and I got his foot prints and hand prints and got a lock of his hair and put it in a memory box for the parents. This was their first baby... how sad.
I work in a neonatal intensive care unit and last night started off like any other night. At about 9pm we got a call from labor and delivery and they tell us they had a 25 week pregnant woman walk in who was complete and ready to deliver.
Without getting real graphic and using medical jargin..... the water bag was bulging and they could see a little foot in it. So, they had to do an emergency c section. The baby wasn't making any effort to live. They coded it for nearly 9 minutes with no heart rate. Luckily they were successful in the rescuscitation efforts. They got the baby intubated and had a heart rate and the baby even started to pink up.
The baby comes to my unit and within 1 and 1/2 hours we put him on a ventilator and had to give life saving drugs, we put in an umbilical artery line.
His lung blew out and we had to put a chest tube in. There was sooooo much going on at once it was complete chaos. I was so stressed but kept it together and prayed for the ability to do my job effectively. Did I forget to mention that as all this started to happen that song "had a bad day" came on the radio and I thought "geez.... I am having a bad day" But not half as bad as this family.
The baby actually at one point had a fighting chance. His heart rate was good, he had a good oxygen saturation, his color looked fairly good, he had good chest expansion at one point and was moving air great. His breath sounds were clear at that point. His anterior fontanelle (soft spot) was soft and flat as it should be.
But I guess that was the calm before the storm... because he crashed real bad and no matter what we did nothing was working. He was dying right before my eyes. His fontantelle was no longer soft and flat... it was full. Premies are prone for head bleeds and he suffered a massive one. I felt so helpless and had all I could do to keep my composure. I wanted to cry and just scream "WHY??"
He weighed just over a pound and a half and was only 13 inches long. He was fully formed. His heart stopped despite all the measures we took to keep him alive. And just as he left this world as quick as he came in.... the song "I can only Imagine" came on the radio at the exact moment the doctor pronounced the baby deceased and as I reached to shut the monitors off. It sent chills down my spine. And I found out afterward that just as this baby's life was slipping away.... we had another baby born at the same EXACT time.
I then had to bring this poor parents baby to them so they could see him and hold him and say goodbye before the funeral home came to get him. That was a moment I will NEVER forget. To see the look on their face.... it was so sad. I had to bathe this baby and I got his foot prints and hand prints and got a lock of his hair and put it in a memory box for the parents. This was their first baby... how sad.