June 25, 2024
Prompt postpartum care saves a baby’s life
When a newborn was diagnosed with meningitis, a life-threatening infection of the spinal cord, timely testing and care made all the difference.
Watch Kai’s story about how a standard postpartum visit helped prevent potential long-term brain damage.
First-time parents Qinwei “Vivi” Xie and Matt Kukla were ready to start enjoying their new life as a family with their baby, Kai.
But at a 3-day-postpartum checkup, nurses discovered Kai had a fever. Tests showed it was due to meningitis, an infection of the fluid surrounding the spinal cord or brain.
“Babies who get meningitis, if they’re not treated promptly, can get very sick very quickly,” explained Lois Chiu, MD, chief of neonatology for Kaiser Permanente in Hawaii.
“Babies can die from meningitis. Or if they don’t die, they can have long-term neurological problems that we may not ever be able to fix.”
‘They saved our baby’s life’
The doctors told Xie and Kukla that a delay of just 12 hours might have completely changed Kai’s outcome.
“Meningitis is a serious illness and the decisions they made and the treatment they gave were so fast and so right — it saved our baby’s life,” said Xie, who is a Kaiser Permanente employee. “We’re so thankful that they turned around this scary moment.”
Kai’s story illustrates the importance of timely maternity and pediatric care. Kaiser Permanente recommends a postpartum visit for all newborns within 3 to 5 days after birth. In fact, we’re a national leader in delivering prompt postpartum care, according to the National Committee for Quality Assurance 2023 HEDIS (Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set) ratings.
Today, Kai is nearly 6 years old and thriving in kindergarten.
“He's fluent in both Mandarin Chinese and English,” said Xie. “He loves munching on yummy food and going on adventures with his friends and family. Everywhere he goes, he spreads joy with his bubbly personality.”
“Sometimes I will wake up and look at Kai and the life that we now have, and it’s easy to forget just how severe his condition was,” said Kukla. “Had we not had some of the best, most highly trained physicians, Kai’s outcomes would have been very different.”
