Monday, September 7, 2015

I promised more pictures...



This is Whinny's little baby boy. He still doesn't have a name but that is normal and he will probably get his name after he meets his grandparents and extended family. Both mother and baby are doing fine and I expect them to head home tomorrow.

(I love that he is bundled up like it is 50 degrees. I would like to point out that is is easily 90 degrees in the hospital when I took these pictures and warmer outside in the sun.)
Sarah and her baby boy (possibly to be named Steven, it is still under discussion) are struggling a bit more. Sarah is discovering how hard it is to take care of a baby with her handicaps (on top of the pain of c-section) and expressed a lot of frustration today. She is also trying to hand express her milk into a cup and that is not too easy to do. I'm trying to get her a breast pump but this is rural africa...
Her little baby is also still struggling. His breathing is much improved and he can maintain O2 sats above 88% on 2L which is much better than initially. His work of breathing is still significant though. He also has lost almost 200g of weight which isn't completely unexpected but is more than 10% of his initial weight in two days so we have to get that to turn around. He weights almost exactly 1kg right now. 


This is Dr. Elisabeth, a pediatrician and I'm extremely grateful that she works in Soroti now. We were having a discussion today about how many weeks we actually think this little guy is. I've been using the date that Sarah thinks she became pregnant but Elisabeth pointed out that people rarely know the actual date and to prove her point she asked Sarah what day today is and Sarah was pretty sure it was September but wasn't positive. Elisabeth thinks the baby is actually nearer to full term but is so small due to IUGR because of the mother's extreme handicaps. She pointed out that his lack of lanugo and descended testicles means he is full term. I tried to argue that his hypoglycemia, inability to maintain his body temp, abnormal breathing and decreased oxygen levels all indicated he was several weeks early She said these were related to his low birth weight, not his age. Anyone want to weigh in? 

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