Hello, my name is Benjamin James Keeth. I was born at 32 weeks gestation with a condition called non-immune hydrops. I spent a long 82 days in the NICU, and came home on Sunday, June 21, 2009 giving my family the best Father's Day present ever. Start by reading my story, then follow my journey in the journal, and see how far I've come by checking out my photos.
On Thursday, March 26, 2009, moments after Purdue lost to UConn in the NCAA tournament, we went to the hospital as a precautionary measure because Nancy was sick with the flu and having moderate contractions every few minutes. She was 31 weeks pregnant at the time. After receiving drugs to help her get over the flu and to help stop the contractions, we thought we would be going home on Friday afternoon. However, the doctors did not like what they were seeing on the fetal monitor and decided to do an ultrasound just in case. Friday night at 8:00, when we were antsy to get out of the hospital and go home and see our daughter, we got the news that would forever change our lives. They told us our son was very sick with a condition called hydrops. He had an excessive amount of fluid under his skin, but more importantly, a large amount of fluid in the right side of his chest, which was causing excessive pressure on his lungs and heart and pushing his organs to the left side of his chest. Nancy's pregnancy had been completely normal up until about week 29. She started noticing that she was getting a lot bigger than she was with Sophie at that point and also a lot more sore than she remembered. During her doctor's visit at week 30, besides the discomfort and measuring a bit larger than normal, her doctor said everything was going well with the pregnancy. The day after receiving the bad news, the Maternal Fetal Medicine doctors did another ultrasound and the news only got worse. We were told that Ben would not survive after delivery. The reason for Nancy's discomfort and large size was due to the fact that the amniotic fluid in her uterus was more than 1/3 of what is normal. For some reason, Ben's body was creating extra fluid that was collecting in his body and in Nancy's uterus. The doctor's decided to do an amniocentesis to try to determine the cause of the hydrops and also to remove some of the excess fluid and relieve pressure in Nancy's belly. On Monday, another riskier amniocentesis was performed. This time, not only were the doctors going to remove more fluid from Nancy's uterus, but they were also going to remove fluid from inside Ben's chest. Because of the amazing skill of the doctors and nurses, the procedure went perfectly. A follow-up ultrasound revealed that Ben's lungs and heart were functioning a lot better than before because the removal of some of the fluid meant less pressure on his heart and lungs. We believe this procedure is what helped save his life after he was born. It was decided by the doctors that the best of course of action would be to leave Ben in the womb as long as possible, and continue with the risky procedure of draining the fluid from his chest every few days, since the first time led to such a significant improvement, even though it meant more discomfort to Nancy...and more waiting. After a few days at the hospital, Nancy started noticing a lot of swelling in her body. Her legs and feet were becoming very swollen. She also found breathing to become difficult. The doctors seemed to think this was due to the fact that they were giving her a lot of fluids via an IV and because she had been in bed for the last several days. On Wednesday morning, April 1, the doctors decided to do a chest x-ray to make sure everything was okay with her lungs. That is when they found fluid collecting in her lungs. Although never an official diagnosis, it appeared Nancy's body was mirroring what Ben's body was doing, which is something called 'Mirror Syndrome'. Her body was swelling and retaining fluid just like Ben's body. At that point, the plan completely changed. A c-section was scheduled for early that afternoon. Ben was born at 2:19pm on April 1. It was the happiest and scariest moment of our lives. The neonatal doctor later confided to us that he was scared when he first saw Ben in the OR and he did not think it would turn out well. The wonderful doctors and nurses were able to keep him alive by quickly inserting a tube to drain the fluids and giving him chest compressions long enough to get him into the NICU and hooked up to sophisticated breathing equipment.
The Keeth family is Marching for Babies!!! Join Benjamin's Brigade!! Please join us as we walk in celebration of Ben's life in the 2010 March for Babies to benefit the March of Dimes. The event will take place on Saturday April 24, 2010 at 10 AM. If you live in the Grand Rapids Area and would like to join us in walking, please visit our team page here and click the "Join this Team" button.
If you are not able to walk with us, we would gratefully appreciate your donation to support this worthwhile cause. Remember, every little bit helps save more babies' lives! Click here to to visit our team's page and look for the "Sponsor this Team" box on the right-hand side of the page.
The March of Dimes is important to us for many reasons.Their mission, “One day all babies will be born healthy” is near and dear to our hearts, as we wish no one would have to endure the stress and suffering of having a pre-term or sick infant.
Nationally and Locally, March of Dimes...
•awarded over $70,000 to sustain the NICU Family Support Program at the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital
•awarded $1.1 million to local researchers trying to save babies in 2009
•invested nearly $3 million in the Prematurity Research Initiative
•allocated more than $24 million to national research to save babies
Because of programs and research funded by the March of Dimes, Ben is now a happy, healthy 1 year old little boy.He lives a normal life and at this point, doctors see no long-term effects from his illness at birth. He has come so far!!
We appreciate your support as we March for Babies.Please sign up to sponsor our team, “Benjamin’s Brigade”, and do your part to help save babies today!!!
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