Gabriel Earle Swope was born yesterday at
6:19 pm pacific time, 8 lb. 4 oz. and 20" long! This was Mom's view of him as they halted for about 5 seconds on their way to the NICU. I was able to follow and observe the team in action. These people do their job well! Beth is pretty beat up but recovering, trying to let her rest.
It was 1230am before she was finally able to see and touch her little guy. I'm so proud of both of them! He's received a lot of attention in less than 24 hours; 2 echocardiograms, an ultrasound of his head and abdomen, x-rays, blood tests, lactic acid tests and more. The Cardiologists have confirmed that he still has HLHS and will need surgery. We knew there would be a lot of highs and lows and we're already dealing with them. He was born and looked good and cried well. Today though he's struggling; respiratory rates bouncing from the high 30's to 140's and oxygen saturations dipping to 78%. He's been placed on a CPAP (ventilator) and is receiving a blood transfusion. I spoke with a cardiologist fellow this afternoon, she said they're trying to determine if this is due to pulmonary reasons (which the CPAP could help) or cardiac. If cardiac it is due to the foramen oval closing (good for SCUBA divers bad for broken hearted babies, OMG I just wrote the next platinum country song!) This means they would have to perform a procedure to keep the atrial septum open. We're rooting for no atrial septal problems.
Gabriel sporting his fancy CPAP headgear and IV's and EKG and other stuff. The kid's already a gear geek.
2 comments:
Thanks for the pictures, Earle. And for that beginning to the country song that will become famous enough to go platinum and pay the bills!
He surely looks like a Swope--good looking boy. And he even looks good in all that gear.
Hugs to you all.
Congratulations Earl and Beth, we are continuing to pray for Gabriel (you know his name means God is my strength - don't you?). We will continue praying for all of you and for Beth's quick recovery as well. Thanks for keeping us posted!
Tracy & Russ Mattox
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