Smith, Rhiannon Lea

[left:4f6713a336]http://www.cherubs-cdh.org/Album/new/smith-rhiannon3.jpg[/left:4f6713a336]It started as a normal pregnancy everything was perfect (being my second I knew what to expect). I was going to see the midwifes for my check ups and they said everything looked normal, then 4 weeks before I was due they said that my stomach was smaller this week than last week. They said nothing to worry about but if there was they would get a doctor to see me. Sure enough later on Thursday afternoon after the appointment they rang and said to make an appointment to see a Gynecologist. I went to him and he said that I am a bit small and to have an Ultrasound to check that the baby is alright. The appointment wasn't until Tuesday and when I was in there the radiologist took a long time looking at one part of my baby. I got worried but they would tell me if anything was wrong. She left for 10 minutes, which seemed like an eternity came back with someone else and they both had a look then left. At this stage I was very worried as something must have been wrong but they didn't say anything to me. I was then told to get dressed and the films would be ready in an hour and the Radiologist wanted to see me. I wasn't sure but I kept my hopes up. An hour went by and we went back to pick up the films and he told me that there was some abnormalities with the baby and I would have to see the Gyno again. I rang and couldn't see him until the week after but I wanted to know what was wrong with my baby. I went back to the hospital and saw one of the midwives looking after me and she had a look at the report and said that she would ring the Dr and make an appointment. I went and saw him and he said that the baby has a large mass in its chest and I would have to have the baby at Sydney Childrens hospital or John Hunter Hospital. I chose John Hunter as it was a lot closer.

The appointment was made to see on the Thursday a neonatologist and an obstetrician and they said that the baby had CDH. I had never heard of it and I was very worried as my baby didn't have a very good chance of living. We were told that they wouldn't know until I had the baby but they wanted to run some tests like an amniocentesis to see if the baby had a chromosome disorder (lucky she didn't). They also gave me 2 shots of a steroid to help the lung growth.

It happened to be Father's Day that weekend as I was to be induced on the Tuesday so I hoped that I wouldn't go into labour over the weekend as we have nearly an hour to the hospital and I have only short labours. We had planned that weekend to have a big Father's Day at our house. We still did but the atmosphere wasn't really good. It was still good to know that our families were around.

It was really hard for me to leave my eldest daughter as she didn't know what was going on but she knew that mummy was going to have a baby and the baby was very sick.

I stayed at the hospital on the Monday night and had some gel to ripen my cervix, that is when we were asked if we wanted to know the sex and yes another girl. My husband Jason stayed at his relatives place so he wouldn't have far to go the next morning. We both didn't sleep very well that night knowing that I was going to have her and she was better off inside me. The next morning the nurse woke me and said to get dressed and to go to the delivery suite. The doctor who would be delivering my baby checked on me and said she will have to put more gel in to ripen my cervix more. After that was done Jason my husband came and we were told I was allowed to walk around the hospital but not to go to far as I could go into labour anytime. The neonatologists were hoping that I was going to deliver Rhiannon while they were still there but sure enough they had gone home and got called back in to tend to her. My labour was only 3 and a half hours which was good for me. I only had 1 shot of pethadine. The second shot went in just as I was about to push and 3 pushes she was out. A beautiful baby girl. I was able to hold her for about 10 seconds then they rushed her over to the warmed bed and started bagging her. I didn't see her for another 1 and a half hours. When they left the doctor fixed me up and asked if I wanted to have a shower. Of course I did. After the shower I was able to relax as the pethadine kicked in and made me relax. I started to get real fidgety about 1 hour later and wanted to see if we could go and see her but Jason said just wait. When the nurse said we could go and see her. I was relieved but I was shocked to see my baby have tubes and wires hanging off her. It broke my heart. It was 9 minutes to 7 that night when I delivered her. She was 5lb 6oz and she looked beautiful but to see her like this I hated it. I wanted to pick her up and take her with me. When we saw her we were told that she was on morphine and a relaxing drug to keep her from moving. To us she looked like a little doll not moving or her eyes opening and her limbs were all floppy.

That night was the hardest not knowing that she would survive but she was doing extremely well. They had seen that she was doing so well they told us the next morning that they were going to operate on her that morning around 11:30. She went into theatre and I thought that it may have been the last time we would see her alive. Her diaphragm defect was left posterolateral. She went really well in theater so they dropped her oxygen down from 90% to 25% and later the next day she was extubated and just on CPAP. We never saw her eyes open for 3 days and it was the best moment of my life to see her look at me and I told her that I was her mummy and daddy would be here soon but she soon dropped off to sleep again. She was doing so well they took her off CPAP the next day and she was on just room air and had excellent blood gases so she was doing really well.

They started feeding her when she was 6 days old and she tolerated them well. Everything went well apart from a wound dehiscence and so she was kept in for another 5 days and we were allowed to take her home and dress the wound at home.

We were really confident with how she was going and her checkups with the neonatologist were good. She went for her last check up with the doctor 10th December and had a chest X-ray done. Everything was fine so we didn't have to see them until she was a year old. Then on the Sunday she went very quiet, vomited up everything we gave her and hadn't done a poo for a day or two. We went back into hospital again the Monday morning. She had a bowel obstruction she went into theater that night and they found adhesions and an obstruction so they fixed it.2 days went by and she hadn't opened her bowels but they said don't worry. By day 4 she still hadn't and her stomach was distended so the surgeon said that she will have to take her back in. Sure enough they found a perforation and an obstruction so they cut out the small piece of the bowel and stitched her together. She was taken to IC to give her body a rest for 2 days. And the best thing happened to her she opened her bowels and it was everywhere. Everyone was so pleased with this and she was brought back down to the ward. It was getting very close to Christmas at this stage and I was hoping that she would be home. As I wanted to be home for my eldest daughter Chloe. She was discharged on the 23rd and I was happy being able to have both of my kids at home. Her wound started leaking and I got worried so I took her back to hospital and the muscle under the skin hadn't healed and the only thing that was keeping her bowels in was her skin (which is a terrible thought).So back into theatre again the next morning (Christmas eve) they found that her bowel had stuck to her muscle and pulled it apart. They fixed the problem and she was out to spend another 4 days in hospital.

She is now nearly 9 months old and doing really well.


Written by Rhiannon's mum, Nicole Anna Smith (Australia)
1999