An update on Ben

As I wrote previously, Benjamin Paul Larson was born 3/24/11 at 12:29pm at Jordan Valley Hospital. He weighed 8lb 7oz and was 20" long.  He spent the first few minutes with his mom, dad, grandma and papa and then was taken to the nursery for his first bath with daddy.

(Grammy LeAnn and Ben)

Shortly after entering the nursery, Ben began having a lot of trouble breathing. He was quickly whisked away to the NICU to meet with a wonderful team of nurses and doctors that would help him out. 

Ben had Hemorrhagic  Pulmonary Hypertension (which means the blood pressure in his lungs was too high, causing him to bleed into his lungs). He quickly developed pneumonia, and then the infection went systemic. After a few hours in the NICU, the doctor decided Ben was too sick for their level of expertise, and arrangements were made to LIFEFLIGHT him to Primary Children's Hospital.

The NICU doctor (left) with two members of LIFEFLIGHT working on Ben.

NICU staff and LIFEFLIGHT staff working on Ben.

Transferring Ben into the mobile incubator.

The LIFEFLIGHT pilot, Paul, happened to be LDS, and assisted me in giving Ben a priesthood blessing before his flight. Then they buttoned everything up, and headed for the helipad.

Ben is now in the NICU at Primary Children's Hospital. His lungs aren't working well enough, and so they are using a surgical procedure where they are removing Ben's blood in a catheter to go through a machine that then oxygenates the blood for him, and then returns the blood. This is called Extracorporeal Mechanical Oxygenation or ECMO.

The procedure was started this morning about 3am, and so far he has stabilized.

I am so grateful for the excellent care Ben has been given so far, and I pray that he will be ok.

-Papa Bear