Roberts, Logan James

Logan James Roberts was born 3 weeks early on 5 February 1999, at Timory Hospital here in New Zealand, at 6 lbs 1 oz after a short 5-hour labour. A healthy, perfect baby, so everyone thought. He needed oxygen, but so do many newborn babies. I had had two scans during my pregnancy, one at 20 weeks, which was normal, and another at 28 weeks, as my doctor was concerned the baby was not growing properly as I was not very big, (I am only a small frame person), but everything went normally.

It was not until mid-afternoon the next day that the doctors thought something may be wrong. Logan was not feeding. Whatever we tried, he would not suck. So he was taken down to ICU, where he remained until 10:30 p.m. where he was then loaded on to the rescue helicopter, which had been sent down for him from Christchurch, a major city in the South Island, New Zealand, a 2-hour drive north of Timory. We were told what Logan had, but what the heck was that? Why, how?-- millions of questions, and as usual, no answers until we reached Christchurch Women’s Hospital at 12:30 a.m. Logan was comfortable; we said goodnight to our little boy. I was just a wreck; I did not know what to think or do.

Sunday we met with the top surgeon in Australia who was going to operate or Logan that afternoon. An hour and a half later, Logan was back in ICU. He did really well through the surgery, all of his stomach contents back in the correct place. I could not believe our little baby boy, who was 2 days old, had just had major surgery. He had wires and tubes and a couple of machines all hooked to him.

Then days later we were able to be transferred back down to Timory Children’s Hospital, where we spent another 4 days until was feeding properly. With the feeding tube removed, we came home. Finally we were able to be a family.

Logan was gaining every week, but he was a fussy feeder. I was feeding him all the time. He was also very unsettled and unhappy. He would not sleep, just scream all the time. It was not until nearly 3 months later that it all made sense. Logan was in so much pain because the scar tissue from his wound had come away, and it was blocking up his bowel.

So we took another trip up to Christchurch Hospital, where the same surgeon performed the same operation. The second time around did not make it any easier on me. But nine days later we were coming home again, hoping never to return, as the same thing happening again is very uncertain.

Well, Logan is now 28 months old. A very active, bright, happy child, not to mention head-strong and determined, but that is why he is here today. A big boy, he often gets mistaken for a 3– 3 ½ year old. He has not looked back since that second operation.

We have had the usual problems with food, but he is not underweight. I know that James and I were very fortunate with Logan, and I feel that we had a very small diaphragmatic hernia experience, compared to most of the other stories I read through CHERUBS. Not that it felt that way all the time. My heart goes out to all the parents who have to live through this terrible experience.


Written by Logan's mom, Sharyn Roberts (New Zealand)
2001