| Show OFTEN NEAR BRINK OF DEATH 0 o DURING EARLY LIFE DAFOE REVEALS This Tills is the tho third of four articles ar sr- ar- ar ticks b by Dr Dafoe Dafo tho DIonno Dionne quintuplets' quintuplets physician telling new and fascinating facts about tho the famous babies By ALLAN B. B DAFOE ORE OJJE MD M.D. When I make my early morning call at the Dionne DIonno nursery these days and see the laughing robust little girls running and playing about the nursery floor it is hard to realize that their first four mo months were one ono long crisis a continual continual continual con con- state of alarm lest they die Being born is about the most dangerous dangerous dangerous dan dan- and ticklish event of ot ones one's life There is always danger of death danger of injury to brain or body that may persist through life Ilee Prenatal care minimizes these dangers and also gives the child a better chance to be born well well- equipped to live With the Dionne babies the risks that go with birth in all cases wore were doubled tripled quintupled There had been no prenatal care though the mother had been under my treatment for tor some eight days before the birth Nowadays we regard prenatal care that is care of the tho mother from the very time of conception or before as essential to the childs child's being well born Ailments Appear When tho the smoke of battle had cleared and tho the babies showed that they had a chance to live certain handicaps even beyond their multiple multiple mul mul- tiple birth and premature term sev seven n months began to be seen Because of ot the lack of prenatal care and the condition of the I 4 I k I 4 s n 4 Y 5 1 I 2 C cY c Y I r 4 r 7 y k 4 t L I A rl 4 c i v vI I I 4 I Wi 4 oy cl i 4 1 1 4 1 4 I H 1936 EA Service Inc mother all babies showed definite signs of a toxic condition condition- of ot rickets rickets rick rick- ets and of anemia Marie had Iad the beginnings of a 0 tumor on the hip which had to tobe tobe tobe be treated later and Annette had bad hada bada a slight but definite case of hip hip- joint disease All these conditions have been eliminated without leaving any injurious after effects The first four months of ot their lives were one continual crisis We Vc could never be sure when we went to bed at night that all five babies would be alive in tho the morning For the first three months we I p 1 4 Y Ys A s t m i V 4 4 A r 4 V t 9 c iI I V. V 4 cy 7 c I 4 SI i 4 9 p I yc 2 4 y 4 h. h y t L 4 j I 4 2 i ff f f i p Z I 4 I y c 1 2 1 1 4 4 cJ t 2 i A Y Service Ine I- I S The sc scales les have all ll along long been writing the most important story of the quins but Annette In the above p picture made last summer appeared to view the weighing as S a romp Today left she is more interested In the mech mechanism of the scales They are re exactly the s same me scales in both pictures which shows you how much the little girls have grown up since sincel l last st midsummer often otten had to use usa oxygen and carbon dioxide gas It saved their lives over and over again How often otten we resorted to this is shown by the fact that we wo used 14 cylinders containing containing con con- taming 80 gallons of gas each This gas Is not universally used as yet but it should be made available available avail avail- able to all nU children everywhere Yandell Henderson of ot Yale originated originated mated this very effective process of stimulating infants and its successful successful suc sue use here has helped extend its use to many communities Near Death Re Revived ved The Tho babies had the appearance which all two premature babies have Bluish-black Bluish or brown brownin in color bulging foreheads wrinkled wrinkled wrinkled wrin wrin- kled skin enlarged tummies and spider-like spider legs Frequent attacks of cyanosis and dyspnoea came when their breathIng breathing breath breath- ing tag would almost stop their functions functions tunc almost cease Application of the gas would instantly revive them and produce appetite and life lite Inthe in inthe inthe the torpid and listless little bodies But there were times of ot plenty of excitement entirely aside from tho the actual physical condition of the babies For instance when the babies were only a few days old the house came very near burning over their heads An extra stove had been installed to keep temperatures nearer to the point of the tho babies' babies needs A temporary temporary tem tern pipe carried off oft the smoke One night this stovepipe grew red hot and the th surrounding wood began to smolder The stove draft was wa immediately shut off and preparations made mado to fight fire Fortunately the peril had been discovered in time and there was little damage Fires Peril Lives Li Fire again menaced the babies before before before be be- fore they were a week old Almost every very season around Callander large areas of tha scrubby second-growth second trees and brush are burned off oft One of these brush rush fires had to come along just when the babies were at atthe atthe atthe the ticklish point of the tho end of their first week The fire wept swept to within a a. mile mUe and a half bait of the Dionne home and everybody about the place turned out to fight it The smoke was becoming thicker and thicker and of ot co courte r e closing windows and doors did no nu good Fortunately again the fire was halted and a breeze came along which carri carried d away the smoke Yet a a. third time fire menaced the children They were about three months old when Nurse Di knocked an alcohol lamp to the floor It broke and a burning blanket blanket blanket blan blan- ket of flaming alcohol rolled across the floor toward the cribs where the babies were sleeping Nurse Di quickly threw herself hersel to tho the floor and with her own body blocked off oft the advancing alcohol flames and smothered them She suffered bad second degree burns and was unable to work for about 10 days but again the babies had been saved That is only one of the many examples of Madame I IDi Di devotion to the babies Fight Off Disease With the these e external crises were others no less grave incidental to the babies' babies physical condition In Inthe Inthe Inthe the early fall faU all five developed one after the other in quick succession bad attacks of intestinal toxemia High temperatures rapid pulses ab abdominal dIstension and diarrhoea combined to give us probably the most anxious moments we we- had had since the first weeks after the babies' babies birth Anemia always more or less of ofa ofa a menace to the children became more pronounced Slowly the disease disease dis die ease yielded to treatment but not before we ve had bad made all preparations preparations preparations for blood transfusions typing ing their blood and looking up donors donors' of ot the p proper oper type if they should be needed One of those who was ready to donate blood was Dr Robertson whose life was saved so dramatically in tho the recent Nova Scotia mine Fortunately no transfusions were necessary It Itis Itis is 15 interesting to note that all the babies registered the same type of blood Jansky No 1 The most critical single event Inthe Inthe in inthe the lives of the babies In my opinion opinion opinion ion was the moving into the new hospital in September of ot their first year It was then that Vo wo we breathed easily for tor th the first time It is no re reflection reflection reflection re- re on the Dionne home to say that tha proper isolation and protection were Impossible there The same thing would have been true In any farm tarm home homo In this section Ready access to sunshine and pure air were made possible for the first time in the hospital now turned into a complete child nursery and home NEXT Putting 3 a baby to bed 71 in one evening Dr Dafoe's Da- Da foos foo's tribute to the tho nurses and methods now directing tho the quins' quins Uc |
