On Peyton’s fourth day of life, Dr. Liechty performed surgery to put her organs back where they should be and close the hole in her diaphragm with a gortex patch. Surgery went well, however the next day she took a turn for the worst. Her oxygen levels were extremely low and her heart was beating much too fast. She lost all of the color in her face and lips. In short, she was dying. Dr. Liechty had no choice but to hook her up to the ECMO machine.
Although this machine is designed to save the baby’s life, it comes with many risks and much uncertainty. The number of machines and tubes hooked into our little girl was so unbelievable, that it was hard to explain. We could not get them all into this picture (You can see her little head under the Peyton sign).