Later that evening, after visiting the Miller's, a cardiologist came by Kinley's bedside to take a look at her heart. The cardiologist, Dr. K, brought a portable ultrasound machine and was able to do the entire process without moving Kinley. (CDH babies are very sensitive and their stats can begin to drop if they receive too much stimulation, whether it be physical, noise or light) After a lengthy analysis, Dr. K said that Kinley heart looks very healthy and he cannot see any defects. Another reason Dr. K was checking her heart was because Kinley is having a hard time keeping her blood pressure (BP) up. He was looking to see that her arteries were completely full and they were. He was also measuring the pressure produced by the left ventricle - this is the ventricle that sends blood to the entire body. The reason they need to know the pressure produced is because CDH babies have a difficult time with pulmonary hypertension.
Pulmonary hypertension has to do with the pressure in the babies lungs. When the baby is in the womb it does not use its lungs to oxygenate its blood, the mother handles that through the placenta. And since the baby does not need to use its lungs the baby's body increases the BP in the lungs so that all of the blood stays away from the lungs. Remember, blood travels from high pressure to low pressure. Now, when babies are born they need to lower the BP in their lungs (so that blood flows to the lungs) since they are now responsible for oxygenating their own blood. CDH babies have a problem with lowering the pressure in their lungs (due to their inhibited growth) and therefore have a problem with getting their blood to their lungs to be oxygenated. One way to try and correct pulmonary hypertension is to raise the baby's BP in its peripheral arteries above the pressure in the lungs so that the blood will move to the lower pressure of the lungs. This is why it has been such a concern to keep Kinley's blood pressure up.
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