Baby D

I really enjoyed this young couple during prenatal visits. The mother always had a sweet smile on her face, and the father was always a little nervous like most Dads-to-be. It would be their second baby. As we approached her due date, I examined her and found that her baby was in the transverse position. (It is impossible for a baby to be born in this position). We attempted to move the baby into the head-down position, but with only limited success, and she ended up with a c-section. The surgery went well, and Mother and Baby D both went home without any difficulties. I saw Baby D in follow-up a couple of times, and she was growing and developing perfectly.

Just a few days ago, the father came to me frantically and said that Baby D was in the public hospital and that she had almost died. He said that he would like to bring her to our hospital for us to evaluate. For about a day, she seemed okay. She apparently had had a fever, so we performed a couple of tests to try to rule out big infections. Nevertheless, she was eating like a champ and looked like a pretty normal one-month-old. Then I received a frantic call from the nurses. “Come in now, because the patient in room 10 is bad”. Without further questions, I raced in. Baby D did not look good today. Her tongue and her eyes were moving in a way that made me believe that she was seizing. She was no longer awake, no longer eating. A lumbar puncture showed blood in her spinal fluid—she appeared to be bleeding around her brain. We managed to send her out for a CT scan, and this diagnosis was confirmed. Three medicines were needed to stop her seizing, and by that time we were breathing for her with the mechanical ventilator. Mission Aviation Fellowship flew her to the main pediatric hospital in Quito, where a pediatric ICU and a neurosurgeon will be available.

We haven’t heard yet how Baby D is doing. I think we will know within the next couple of days. In the meantime, we all (including our kids at the supper table) have been praying hard for this little baby and her neat family. We don’t know why she was bleeding around her brain, and it’s likely that we never will. I feel helpless as the doctor in these cases, but I was honored to be able to provide the spiritual and emotional support that this family readily accepted. Though I tend to try to fix everything on my own, I am doing my best to live my life knowing that we have a good God who is in control of everything.