interesting babies

RN2B2005 · Mar 7, 2003

You guys sure know how to make a girl cry before breakfast! I went and hugged my son after reading about CHARGE syndrome and ichythyosis.

It's not astonishing that these babies are born with these syndromes; it's amazing that so many babies are born without them. Every 'normal' birth is a miracle, IMHO.

dawngloves, BSN, RN · Mar 7, 2003

You guys, did they know before delivery that these babies had Halequins? What a blow for everyone if not!

KRVRN, BSN, RN · Mar 7, 2003

With mine they did not. Apparently not diagnosable without an in utero skin biopsy. But there is no reason to biopsy unless you suspect it, which they had no reason to. I'm told it's a little more common in the Middle East, at least partly due to arranged cousin marriages. That's what I was told anyway. We had a nurse that had worked as a traveler in Saudi Arabia and she said they saw it often enough that it was at least as recognized as Down's is here.

prmenrs, RN · Mar 7, 2003

Had a baby w/Ondine's syndrome once. I think she's a teenager now.

NicuGal, MSN, RN · Mar 8, 2003

No, the mom didn't know...she said that the baby was not really active. This was about 6 years ago, before everyone rec'd level 2 ultrasounds...I don't know if it would show up, but they might notice something odd.

I just remember having to put xeroform and telfa dressing over the whole baby so it looked like a mummy and it made these little mewing noises ....it was awful.

The ones we had with scalded skin were awful too...they shed their skin at an amazing rate...we had to consult burns on how to care for them. They both died of overwhelming sepsis.

You're right, it is amazing that people have normal kids, isn't it!

kids · Mar 8, 2003

I have a really weird facination with birth defects...I actually READ both of my copies of Smith's...with all of the things that *could* go wrong in a pregnancy it makes me grateful for a simple heart defect.

kids · Mar 8, 2003

OK...that came out in a way that could be taken really wrong...my facination with birth defects is the disruption at a cellular level that leads to the defect.

AHRN · Mar 8, 2003

Baby born with triploidy. "She" had 69 chromosomes instead of 46. Lived a few hours. I was surprised how normal she looked.

cyclops

"Mermaid"- lower exremeties fused and no rectum or urinary outlet.

I call Smith's the "funny baby book" and will read it in my spare time too. Genetics is fascinating and sometimes wonder how any of us end up normal.

kids · Mar 8, 2003

Originally posted by prmenrs
Had a baby w/Ondine's syndrome once. I think she's a teenager now.

At my last job another branch had an older teenage boy on caseload with Odines, trached, plugged while awake on a vent when asleep...living a pretty normal life attending high school.

NICU_Nurse, BSN, RN · Mar 8, 2003

What is Smith's? Sounds like something I'd like to read. The most interesting I've seen had to be Cornelia de Lange (sp?) syndrome- fused hands, whole package of defects with that one. Also a baby with Osteogenesis Imperfecta- 53 fractures at birth alone. Had one who had microcephaly and a large portion of the brain extending out though a misshapen eye socket. Saddest thing I ever saw...when they finally covered it with a dressing, the baby looked perfect, cried, ate, etc. Otherwise beautiful baby, just completely incompatible with life (died a few days later). Oh, and one baby who came from parents who were related to each other- looked like a little elf. I kid you not, every picture you've ever seen of a pixie or elf- this is exactly what this baby looked like. Had hypoplastic lungs, no collar bones, pixie-like facies, pointy ears, pointy chin, and these long curly eyelashes and curly hair down to the shoulders. Unreal.

cindyln · Mar 8, 2003

Originally posted by KRVRN
Horrible case of harlequin ichthyosis. Very horrible.

When I worked peds I took care of a baby with this. Just terrible. Afraid to touch her but just wanted to love and comfort her. I felt so useless.

NicuGal, MSN, RN · Mar 8, 2003

I like to look in Smith's too...it amazes me that one little glitch in the chromosomes can do so much damage. Makes one think how fragile life really is.

We had a baby with Crouzons....hers was so severe that her eyes were protruding from her head, like Arnold Swartzenegger in that movie where they were on Mars and they fell thru the window and their eyes bugged out. It was really freaky! They were like on stalks and moved...we had to fashion little eye gear for her. She had 3 surgeries and was fine until the 4th one and died from anesthesia complications It was so sad.

I've seen amniotic bands too...those are incredibly sad. I've also seen an open enchalocele...that was really horrible. That baby lived for 2 days. We had one kid with a huge teratoma on her bottom, she had to have an emergency colostomy and then they removed it. It was horribly deep. It was like her back just connected to her legs...they couldn't even salvage enough to make her a butt.