Talbot, Frankie Pearl

[left:d9947aa88a]http://www.cdhsupport.org/graphics/Talbot-Frankie.jpg[/left:d9947aa88a]We first found out we were pregnant with our first baby boxing day 2006, from that day I was really excited but also scared and worried all the time, I just felt like something wasn't right. I had an uncomplicated pregnancy and our 9 and 18-week scans were fine, so I began to worry less and look forward to our baby more and more.

At 32 weeks we decided to finish all of our baby shopping to make sure we were organised and also decided to have a 3d scan just to see a more detailed picture of our baby. Well we sure got a lot more than that!! Throughout the scan the sonographer looked concerned but I didn't worry to much about that. We were told to wait in the waiting room for our pictures to be printed. After about 5 minutes we were asked to come back into the room and told not to be alarmed but to head straight to the womens and childrens hospital as it appeared as though part of the babies stomach was near its heart. Of course we went straight there, both crying our eyes out the whole way. This wasn’t supposed to happen to people like us, we were meant to have a perfect baby in 8 weeks. The second ultrasound confirmed our baby had CDH. After speaking to a surgeon we decided to have an amnio to rule out any other problems, thank god that came back clear. There were no other issues with kidneys, heart or brain and we were given an 80% survival rate and told to be "cautiously optimistic". Then the waiting game began, which was terrible and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

At 39 weeks our ob decided I should be induced so the staff of the PICU were all ready for our baby. On Wednesday the 15th of August our Frankie Pearl arrived, only to be taken straight to the resus room, followed by her daddy. 3 hours later I was taken to see her. She was, like a CDH babies, hooked up to what seemed like a thousand tubes and wires but only on minimum ventilation, and quiet stable. She remained that way, which surprised the doctors and nurses, until Saturday when she was scheduled for surgery. Surgery was a success, they were able to close her diaphragm with sutures only, although her liver, stomach, bowel and spleen were in her chest. For 2 days she was fine, and then her stomach became really distended. The surgeons wanted to do investigative surgery, they feared bowel malrotation. Then at the last minute a sonographer was brought in, and he discovered a blood clot in her femoral artery, which was causing lack of blood return from her stomach, therefore the swelling. We were glad that meant no more surgery, I suppose it was the lesser of 2 evils. She was started on blood thinning injections twice daily.

On day 9 Frankie was extubated, On day 12 she was moved from intensive care to the ward where she started feeding through her NG tube. She took that so well they decided to start her on breastfeeds, she took that so well she lost all tubes and monitoring by day 16 and we were discharged on day 20.

We do know that we are incredibly lucky to have such a healthy daughter, we feel blessed to have her here with us. I have learnt more in the time I've had with Frankie than I have ever known, and I will never stop appreciating every moment I have with her.

Written by Frankie’s mom, Carly Mansell (Great Britain)