Weird??????? It comes in threes????

Originally posted by CallaRN

OK...So i'm finding out this funny thing that when you get a kid with a certain dx, you're gonna get a few more with the same dx... We have gone from no Trisomy 21 to 6 kids with Trisomy 21. Then now we've been getting a lot of placental abruptions and terrible deliveries=asphyxiated kids = seizures = potential CP kids...such sad cases...=G tubes and fundos!!!! Seems that every kid I've had has a date with the OR for a G tube... To top off everything... We put 9 kids on ECMO in a matter of 1 week!!!!! And we've gone months without even the threat of any kid going on... It seems weird how these things happen???? Or is it just me getting off my three 12s????? Just thought it would be interesting if these things happen in your units too.... It comes in threes?????

Ya it is strange, but it seems to happen all the time: three heart defects, three GI problems,.....

We notice that that at our unit mostly with trisomies, "gut kids" (anything from gastroschisis, omphalocele, congenital obstructions), spina bifida, cardiac defects and so on. We even had 2 kids within 6 weeks of each other (one had just gone home when the next was born) with Beckwith Wiedemann Syndrome which is rather rare. It's strange. When I worked med-surg there were many nurses who believed we had deaths in 3's but I didn't see it.

Just curious Calla, how many ECMO circuits do you guys have? I assume you always keep one on standby. When we have four kids on, staffing becomes a nightmare! Nine kids on ECMO in one week, Wow! When we get a CDH baby, we always think we will get two more....and it seems like it happens! Also, we have a certain Attending who, when on service, attracts major Congenital heart defects like a magnet.

My NICU is just a small unit with only about 400 admids a year but we also have the all things on threes.

Gastroscisis is the theme this fall with 2 down and one to go!

We also always have 3 nurses pregnant at a time.