Ryder

Ryder on ECMO after his surgery

Ryders scar's going to be big

All these machines kept him alive

Mommy and Ryder after birth

Ryder today!


Daddy and Mommy with Ryder 1 dayold



Going home! That sounds so good!



Our little grandson was born with a left diaphragmatic hernia. He is a special little baby, he's come so far. Subsequent letters followed with more updates.

Below is a copy of the letter I sent out to everyone about his birth I will also include a link for those that would like to learn more about ECMO (Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation), http://www.ich.ucl.ac.uk/factsheets/families/F030174/index.html


Dear Family and friends,

We just wanted to update you all on our family. Matthew and Saundra had their baby on Sunday at 35 weeks gestation.

Ryder Matthew Ramos was born on September 9, 2007 at 9:51 am. He weighed 6 lbs 9 oz and was 20 Inches long. Ryder needs all your prayers. He was born with a Left Diaphragmatic Hernia, which means that he has a hole in the left side of his diaphragm. His stomach and his intestines are up in his chest cavity where his heart should be. His heart is on the right side. Ryder is at Primary Children's Medical Center in the NICU in Salt Lake City. Sunday afternoon Ryder took a turn for the worse and had to be put on a machine called ECMO, this machine is a heart/lung by pass machine, what it does is pulls blood out of his body oxygenates it and then returns healthy blood into his body. He has responded perfect to this treatment, and so far is stable, though still very critical. If Ryder continues to do well he will have surgery the end of this week first part of next week to repair his hernia (hole in his diaphragm). This surgery the doctors will use muscle to repair the hole and the wonderful thing about that is that muscle expands with the body so he won't have to go back for more surgery.

Mom is holding up well, though she had her 4th C-section and has been in a wheelchair between the University of Utah hospital and Primary Children's so this is tough on her healing.

Saundra and Matthew found out in June during a routine ultrasound the condition of Ryder so this was not a surprise though, nobody is totally prepared. Ryder is perfect in every way, if you didn't know he had anything wrong you'd never be able to tell.

Please pray for Ryders speedy recovery, he will be in the hospital at least of 6-8 weeks. Attached is a picture of Ryder after he was put on ECMO in the picture he is puffed up with fluid so he's bigger than he really is. You can also see the two lines of blood coming from his neck. I will send more pictures as I can make it to a computer. Thanks to everyone in advance for you prayers.

Love,

Sandie