April 5, 2009

Today has been a long day. Come to think of it, the last two days have been exhausting. Forgive me if my thoughts and/or typing tonight is sub-par.

Sometime Saturday, Rayna went into labor. She didn’t recognize it as such until she was taking a bath and noticed a certain rhythm to the aching in her hips, aching about a minute in length and at 2.5 minute intervals. At 8pm that evening, the midwives said she was almost 2 cm dilated. By midnight she was 6 cm. Sometime after 3am, she was fully dilated and actively pushing Peyton out. However, after an hour and a half of pushing, Peyton failed to progress. Therefore a decision was made to transport Rayna and Peyton to St. David’s Hospital.

At 5:58am, Peyton Ann Hanschen was born 8lbs 5 oz, 20.5 inches long with red hair and blue eyes. Her APGAR scores were 8 then 9. Rayna suffered a third-degree tear, which is larger than normal, but not the most traumatic. The OB on call reassembled Rayna so that she and Peyton could get started on breastfeeding. Peyton looked to only take a gulp or two. We assumed it was because she was tried after a long night of labor.

Peyton slept then for over 4 hours before the decision was made to try and wake her again for a feeding. No luck getting her to take any food. The pediatrician on call summoned the baby for evaluation, and that’s when things really hit the fan.

The pediatrician reported back to us that Peyton had been transferred to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for 4 reasons:
1) Graying of the skin around Peyton’s mouth
2) An elevated level of white blood cells in her blood
3) A significant heart murmur, and
4) A repeated, unusual rolling of Peyton’s eyes

The discoloration around Peyton’s mouth resolved itself in short order and now looks pink and fleshy.

The white blood cells suggest that her body is fighting an infection, so they put her on intravenous antibiotics. The NICU is running cultures to determine what exactly she’s fighting with, and we should know more in 72 hours.

The heart murmur is being caused by a heart defect. Peyton has an artery stemming off her aorta and connecting directly to her right ventricle. While most of Peyton’s veins are 2 to 3mm in diameter, this extra plumbing appears to be 6 or 7mm. So this is a large pipe. Right now, the pressure differential in a newborn baby’s heart works in Peyton’s favor; however, as the pressure normalizes over the next 4 to 6 weeks, this will become a major problem.

As a result, Peyton will undergo a cardiac catheterization in the next 7 to 10 days at the Dell Children’s Hospital here in Austin. In this procedure, the doctor will insert a long, skinny tube into a vein in Peyton’s leg. He will then snake it up to her heart where he will release a non-toxic fluid that shows up on x-rays so that the medical team can see more precisely how the unusual plumbing is attached and determine how to close it up. Ideally they will use the catheter to insert some type of block so that the blood no longer moves through it. Should that not be a viable option, Peyton will need to undergo open heart surgery to solve the problem.

While that sounds serious (and it most certainly is), what concerns me most is the last one. Reason being the murmur is fixable. The eyes rolling could be symptomatic of a less tangible and more irresolvable problem. Right now they don’t know what is causing the eye motion. It could be seizures. It could be lack of oxygen/blood flow during labor and delivery. Unclear the cause is. So they are running all types of tests—an EEG to measure brainwaves…liver, kidney, and bowl tests…either a CAT scan or an MRI of her brain tomorrow. If other organs show damage or poor function symptomatic of a shortage of oxygen, well, the good news is that they’ll likely recover. The brain, on the other hand, would likely not. If they find evidence of seizure activity, then there’s a host of other tests to run. On top of that, Peyton seems lethargic and disinterested now compared to her hyperactivity in utero.

So we expect Rayna to be released tomorrow. Peyton’s timeline is much less clear.

As you’re probably well aware, Rayna’s and my life has not been short of drama and need for prayer for some time now, so once again I plead for your prayers, support, and encouragement. Specifically speaking, for…
For Rayna’s body to heal well
For Peyton’s doctors to discern clearly the problems and skillfully solve the problems
For emotional strength for Rayna and I (It is unbelievably hard to see Peyton covered with electrodes, wires, and tubes, like some bionic baby, not to mention watch our own child start life with such a hard road)
For God to provide a means to pay for all this care (I don’t know what, if any, our health insurance will cover, and I don’t know where the rest will come from either)
For Rayna and I to walk down this path one step at a time, trusting God with the outcomes.

I’ve attached a couple photos of Peyton, et all, for your enjoyment.

Thanks in advance for the prayers!

Karl