Ebb and Flow 27 Oct 2014

(Late blog post out of order...)

32 weeks is long enough, right? A baby boy was born prematurely and his first 24 hours were rocky. 

I was called to the OR immediately after the morning worship service finished outside at the hospital. 

  The baby was in my OR because it's our "ICU" when there is trouble. He was a 32 week preemie born at 4am and now he wasn't breathing well and his pulse was too slow. Actually he was also cold and wet and apparently his cord wasn't clamped when they found him at 7am. Sometimes the night shift in Chad can be dangerous. 

He improved after receiving oxygen, CPR, and lots of warming. Score +1 pt for the good guys. 

  Unfortunately by noon he was back in the OR.  We were just finished with a surgery when the baby was rushed in.  This time he wasnt breathing and was pulseless. I wonder what our adult patient was thinking when we ignored him on the OR table and worked on this baby boy right next to him. 

-1pt for bad follow up care, but nothing is easy here. 

Despite the odds we resuscitated a 32week preemie again! After 10 minutes of CPR and manual ventilation he was alive! 

I even managed to get an IV started in a preemie neonate's femoral vein (no ultrasound available--just good old fashioned landmark technique). We warmed him up, gave him antibiotics, glucose and tiny fluid boluses. The mother was brought into the OR to witness the entire resuscitation and she was so grateful. That was really rewarding. She even attempted to breast feed the newly resuscitated baby before returning to maternity with him.  Strange timing but A for effort. Wow! +1 for the good guys. 

I was walking tall and feeling pretty proud of myself--- I even hurt my arm patting myself on the back.  I AM GOOD!

  That unnamed baby boy died later that night. No one saw what happened. No one called for help. No one woke anyone up. Gone. 

I don't usually keep score. We win many more than we lose but it always stings me a bit more when a baby dies. 

 So I named the baby Merci. I don't know if that's a reasonable first name in Chad but its a reminder to say "thank you" during the good times and the bad. 

Merci tout le monde. 

-Mason