HAPPY BIRTHDAY 

July 26, 2005 @ 1:12pm

It’s A Boy!!  5 pounds, 5 ounces, 18” long

Our precious baby was welcomed into this world at 1:12pm.  A weak cry filled the air.  The cord was clamped & cut and our baby’s life was handed over to Laura Sheriff, the admitting nurse.  The baby was dried and a 1 minute apgar of 5 was given by Dr. Lucena.  Our baby was dusky and limp.  The baby was intubated and given surfactant with a noted improvement and a 5 minute apgar of 7.  When asked to verify the sex, we were told that the baby had ambiguous genitalia, meaning it was unknown if the baby was a boy or girl by visual observation.  The baby was wrapped and placed in the transport isolette and taken briefly by mom, then off to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.  In the NICU, the baby was placed on a ventilator called an oscillator.  Lines called a UVC & UAC were placed into the umbilical cord for IV fluids.  Baseline labs were drawn and antibiotics were started prophylacticlly for infection.   A chest x-ray was done and confirmed small lung volume.  Afterwards, an abdominal ultrasound was done.  This showed an absent left kidney and a small right kidney with cystic appearances.  There was no visualization of a ureter or bladder.  At this time, the sex was confirmed a boy with a diagnosis of peno-scrotal transposition meaning the scrotum and penis were flipped.  His anus was also noted to be in a posterior position.  A head sonogram was also done which showed a small choroid plexus cyst which is a fluid filled space in the brain, which can be related to a chromosome disorder, or just disappear on its own.  Finally, an echocardiogram was done to view the baby’s heart.  This showed cardiac dextroposition meaning the heart was shifted to the right side of the chest and a small-moderate PDA which is a blood vessel that failed to close after birth.  With all of these abnormalities, it was not thought that he would survive dialysis.  The option to terminate his life at this point was suggested.  After long intense consideration, we chose to attempt the dialysis.  We chose the name Landyn Paul Brodeur just before he was transported to Children’s Medical Center of Dallas for dialysis treatment.

MOMMY’S THOUGHTS

You cried!!  God answered my prayers.  I did not know what was going on over at the warmer.  It seemed so chaotic.  When I heard ambiguous genitalia, I still thought you were a girl!  Dr. Jain and Dr. Lucena came over to update me.  They mentioned a penis and a scrotum and it wasn’t until this point I realized you could be a boy after all of this time!  They took you so quickly and I barely got to see your face.  It was the most beautiful face I had ever seen.  So perfect.  It didn’t make sense that you could have any abnormalities but it didn’t matter.  In the recovery room, I couldn’t stop thinking about you and the tests you were undergoing.  Daddy finally called and said….IT’S A BOY!  I couldn’t have been more excited.  It didn’t matter to us, the love was there!  When Dr. Lucena came back in, the news was not good.  He gave me a complete update.  He suggested not continuing on with life support.  I couldn’t hear that.  We had come so far.  I wasn’t ready to give up after another unknown.  I just wanted to see you.  They took me in the stretcher, you were so beautiful!  We created you!  What a gift!  You were upset and trying to cry.  It made me cry.  I wanted you to rest, so I went to my room.  After we decided to transport you, the nurses somehow put me in a wheelchair.  I went to see you again.  You were calm and resting so peacefully.  You look so much like daddy.  We decided to name you Landyn Paul.  I will miss you while we are apart, but will pray for you every moment.  I love you so much!

DADDY’S THOUGHTS

You came out, and it’s a … We don’t know!!!  It looks like you are a boy, but things didn’t form right and they are not for sure.   They said they were going to x-ray you and let us know.  We got to hear you briefly cry.  That was such a relief!! We both felt that was a very encouraging sign of things to come.  I immediately left mommy to take pictures of you and watch them prep you for your admission into the NICU.  I watched nervously as they got you on the ventilator and stabilized you.  Everything seemed to be going just fine.  We later got the news that you would need to go to Children’s.  We expected this but were hoping we would not have to do this.  They will be coming shortly to take you.  I get to ride with you to the hospital with mommy staying behind.  We hope everything is going to be ok.  We got mommy in a wheelchair to see you before you left.  She was very upset that you would be leaving but she had to stay for the next 3 days.  It was for the better.  We wanted to give you every chance to live and we are going to do it!  You are going to see very good doctors.  They will take good care of you.  So far so good the first night we believe.  Everything seems stable and you don’t seem to be in any distress.  I love you!!!