- We found out that Emma was gonna have
congenital diaphragmatic hernia
at our 12 week diagnosis.
It was really early to be diagnosed,
so we knew immediately it
was gonna be really severe.
- We were kinda immediately
put into a situation
that I don't know if anybody
could be really prepared for.
A condition we never heard of.
We spent the next couple of
weeks before we went back
to just researching
everything we could about CDH.
We found out that Colorado's
Children's had one of the best
CDH operations in the country.
- We have a lot of experience dealing with
some of the sickest
patients in the hospital.
Matt and Kelly's baby Emma
is an example of that.
Her lungs were only 12 CC's,
that's way less than the fifth percentile.
- Obviously moving our
lives from Seattle to Denver
wasn't an easy decision
but from the moment that
we met with the team, we just knew.
They gave us a different
set of hope and confidence
that we could have never expected.
- We knew that our baby
was gonna have a chance
and we felt like we had
to do everything we could
to give her the best chance possible.
- [Woman] At the Colorado
Fetal Care Center
at Children's Hospital
Colorado we specialize
in the diagnosis and treatment of
congenital diaphragmatic
hernia and are at the forefront
of CDH research and innovation.
Physicians from all over the
country refer their patients
with the most complex
fetal diagnosis to us.
Because here the rare is common.
Our team manages and treats higher volumes
of these rare conditions.
Enabling us to deliver better care
and outcomes for our
patients and families.
From your very first visit
your care team will be here
for you and accessible
whenever you need them.
- Our first care team meeting
was at our 20 week appointment
and the team did a really
nice job of scheduling
all of our appointments
in one day to make it
as efficient and easy for us as possible.
We started the day at
eight A.M. with an MRI,
ultrasounds and then we finished the day
with a care team meeting.
- When we meet with these
families there are specialists
from neonatology, surgery,
maternal fetal medicine,
genetics, social work they're
all there to make sure
that these families are
supported and all their needs
are taken care of.
- I was so impressed with
how those guys showed up
as a cohesive team
because each of them plays
a very distinct, a different role,
but they work so well together.
- [Woman] The Colorado Fetal Care Center
is built to provide the
absolute best care possible
for your labor, delivery and
post natal and neonatal care.
Our team is available 24 hours
a day, seven days a week.
We have a fully dedicated
labor and delivery unit,
which is right down the hall
from our level four NICU.
So moms can deliver here and
most importantly mom and baby
stay together and are treated
just steps away from each other.
If your baby is transferred
here after delivery,
you can be transported
here as well to recover
in our maternal fetal care unit.
- At deliver we have a whole team of OB's
who are taking care of
mom but that means we have
a whole team from the NICU
that's taking care of the baby.
And when the baby's born
with a diaphragmatic hernia,
we have the possibility
of placing them on ECMO
or a bypass machine which
will basically do all the work
for the heart and lungs for
a period of time so that
the lungs can basically rest
and maybe grow a little bit.
Once we have the baby stabilized
then we do move the baby
down the hall to the NICU,
the fathers are often sort of
following us down the hall,
so they can kinda be aware of
everything that's going on.
- At 36 weeks they told me that we were
going to be delivering Emma.
I felt confident because
Doctor Gien had the entire team
prepared for the delivery and honestly,
it couldn't have gone better.
- She was placed on our lung bypass
in the delivery room for 30 minutes.
- The ability for her
to deliver at Children's
and have Emma be able to be
treated in the same hospital
gave her an infinitely
better chance to live.
- [Woman] Any procedure for
your baby is highly orchestrated
and our fully dedicated
CDH team is able to move
quickly and with precision.
- She was then moved over
to the NICU and then got her
surgery done right away the
next day after she was born.
And Emma recovered really
nicely from that surgery,
we were quite surprised by
day 10 that she was ready
to come off heart line bypass.
So she was a huge success story.
There's a team that follows all of the
diaphragmatic hernia babies
here and helps to make that
decision together about which baby
is ready to have surgery versus not.
Being able to make that
kind of decision it's key
to have a team of experienced people
who follow every single baby.
What was great about the
Shearer family is they
had to put their trust
in our knowledge knowing
that sever CDH is something
we see very very often,
something we're all very comfortable with.
- Children's has the highest
level NICU you could have
which is a level four NICU.
I think I work with
probably the best group
of neonatologists in the country.
Our nurses are outstanding.
- There was a level of
expertise and I told everybody
that I could, the quality
of individual that works
in that NICU was second to none.
- Well and the collaboration between us
and the team was exceptional.
I felt like every decision
was made as a team
between not only the surgeons
and the neonatologists
but they really consulted
with the nursing staff
and the parents as well.
- She means a lot to us.
- She's everything to us too
and you guys made it all come true.
- We have some of the best
outcomes of the country
for diaphragmatic hernia
and part of that is due
to the sheer number we see,
it may be rare in other
institutions but it's not rare
for us to see a really bad
diaphragm with very small lungs
that some institutions
would say is not compatible
with life and have them survive.
And part of that is due to
the expertise and experience
of our team members that
are based on our large
volumes of patients that
we see with this diagnosis.
- Children's is full service care.
So you can take a fetus during pregnancy
and we can get them through pregnancy,
through delivery, through the NICU stay
and to every sub-special
appointment they need
until they're going to college.
- A program should demonstrate
its commitment across
the time spectrum.
It's not just about the
neonatal resuscitation,
that's the way you get the best outcomes
and that's what's present here
at Children's Hospital Colorado.
- The best that they gave
us was the gift of hope.
From the very beginning
the initial consultation
there was always hope
that Emma would make it
and then throughout the
process it was not only
would she make it but she
would be developmentally sound,
and then now it's just
the hope for her future
and that the love that they
could give to us is endless.
And I know that that'll
continue as we visit them
in special care and even
just in my recent visits
since discharge, they've
given us a ton of hope.
- We always believed that we
were in the very best hands
and we always believed that
our baby had a good chance.
- Look at her now!
Emma are you happy you're
six months old today?
Are you so happy to be home love bug?
Yeah.
- [Woman] If you or your family
are facing a CDH diagnosis,
the Colorado Fetal Care
Center is here for you.
Please contact us to discuss
our process and procedures,
outcomes and research and
innovations as you determine
what's best for you and your child.
