happened.
The placenta grows in the uterus alongside a fetus. It takes blood
from mother and transfers nourishment to fetus. It also takes waste
from the fetus. For some unknown reason Lachlan bled out through the
placenta into Juliet.
This was the initial 'insult' that seems to have caused so much damage
to Lachlan, and lead to the symptoms that eventually convinced the
hospital staff to remove him.
His body went without blood for some time. Under such conditions the
body prioritizes the brain then heart. Organs such as kidney, liver go
first.
We have now learned that an estimated 40ml of Lachlan's blood was
present in Juliet's bloodstream based on just one sample. This is
already a significant amount and there was possibly even more. Lachlan
was born pale white.
So far no one knows why this happened. Perhaps some kind of pressure
difference. Genetics seems unlikely and the cord seemed to be working.
Juliet's placenta did not abrupt and a standard 20 ultrasound showed
the cord in the correct place on the placenta. We have been told that
we did not cause this to happen and also that it is very rare: one
doctor said she had seen it only 6 times in her long career at Alta
Bates.
On one hand what's happened has happened. But we would like to better
understand why. It's possible that we never will.
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