Monday, April 27, 2009

Please Pray

One of my best girlfriends gave birth two her third baby boy on Friday. There have been complications for little Samuel Connor and I wanted to let you all know so you could be lifting their family up in prayer. Below is a note Whitney has posted on facebook about what is going on. Please pray that little Samuel can be strong, and that God will give their family peace. Samuel is such a beautiful little gift and I just hate that he will have to face this disease. This is such a scary time. 




Dear Friends,

On Friday, April 24th, at 3:51 p.m., I gave birth to Samuel Connor Paddock. He was 8 pounds 11 ounces at birth and was 19 1/2 inches long. After he was born the nurses noticed that he had a purplish discoloration, mainly on his back and lower body. His right hand and arm was also significantly larger than his left one. His right thigh and calf were much larger than his right one, and his left foot was larger than his right.The second toe on his left foot was also much longer than the rest of the toes on that foot. He was taken to Cardinal Glennon Children's hospital by ambulance a few hours after his birth and admitted into the neonatal intensive care unit. The preliminary diagnosis is Klippel Trenaunay Weber syndrome, a rare congenital condition that affects the blood vessels. Symptoms can include the "port-wine" staining, limb hypertrophy (which can affect the soft tissue and bones), and complications of the lymphatic system. The liver and brain can also be affecteddue to abnormal capillary growth in those areas.

The good news is that Samuel does not have any of the markings on his face. The doctor said that typically children with the marks on their face have developmental difficulties. On Monday, he will have an abdominal sonogram to check his liver and kidneys, as well as a brain sonogram. My guess is that he'll be covered with a lot of goo by the time he is done with that. They will also perform a bone scan due to the increased size of his toe and foot. This will probably be repeated in the future as limbs can continue to grow at an increased rate. I helped the dermatologist take pictures of the discoloration on his body, and we will talk with the head dermatologist tomorrow along with a geneticist. There is no known cause of Klippel Trenaunay Weber syndrome, and no way to detect it in utero. His heart rate, blood oxygen level and breathing are all normal, and other than the physical things noted above he is a healthy, happy baby. We will update further as we find out more

Thanks for your prayers, 
Kara

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kevin and I are praying for this little man and his loving family.

Anonymous said...

Little Samuel Connor, his mother, his father, and his family friends are in my prayers. KTG

Anonymous said...

Praying!!

Julia Goolia said...

my thoughts are with your friend, and I hope everything turns out well!

Nancy Hood said...

praying :) I had to google this and pray that he will be healed. thank you for coming to us with this prayer request~

elventryst said...

Oh, poor little fella! Yes, I will definitely pray for him and his family. Please keep us updated as to his progress!

Katy said...

Oh, gosh. I'm so sorry to hear this for your friend. I will pray for them.

Liz Harrell said...

I'll say a prayer for him today!

Trina said...

Sorry I am so behind in my blog reading. Is there an update on baby Samuel?

Anonymous said...

Hi there! I just happened upon your blog by way of another blog. I will definitely be praying for this little guy! I wanted to let you know that I was born with Klippel-Trenuanay 31 years ago. I'm now a healthy, happy mom of 2 little ones (also very healthy!). I'll be praying for you!