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November 2012 Moms
MiahT
member
William is here!
MiahT
member
It's been a long few weeks, and I'll apologize in advance for rambling like a sleep deprived loon.
I was originally due on November 3rd, but for medical reasons I was scheduled for an induction on October 25th. I went to my normal BPP appointment on October 11th and ended up admitted to the hospital within the hour because my BP was elevated and my OB felt I was at risk for preeclampsia. Observation and testing revealed it was preeclampsia as feared and my induction was moved up to October 14th (at thirty-seven weeks). Forty hours of labor, two worn off epidurals, and necessary intervention during delivery later, my son was born. His poor little head had bruising from forceps and from the vacuum they eventually had to use to assist in the delivery because he'd gotten stuck on my pelvis and had been unable to drop into position correctly. I was so exhausted I couldn't even muster up the energy to cry and let them know my epi had worn off at some point when they started to stitch up the tear.
I was finally released from the hospital where I delivered a week after being admitted, and we were able to take William home on Thursday the 18th. On the 19th, he had his first pedi appointment at the military hospital on our base and the doctor noted that he'd lost over twelve percent of his birth weight, so she'd scheduled an appointment for the 20th with another pediatrician without having even seen my son at that point. When she did see him, she mentioned that William looked jaundiced (he'd been yellowish since birth, but it had gotten noticeably worse even though he had passed his bilirubin bloodwork at the hospital) and she was concerned, but she didn't bother ordering any blood work for him. On the whole, I got the feeling that she had already passed William on to another doctor as a patient and she'd mentally checked out on his care. She also seemed to be heavily medicated, trailing off in mid-sentence to stare into space, only to snap back and repeat herself after a moment, and other things that made me uneasy. I told her that my milk had only just come in that morning and that William had been having trouble latching properly. When I asked about pumping and supplementing breastfeeding with bottled breast milk, she told me to wait because pumping would hurt my milk supply.
On the 20th, the second pedi took one look at my son and ordered another bilirubin test, and we were admitted to a third hospital (this one had a dedicated children's building and had the equipment necessary to deal with the jaundice), this time with the offer of an ambulance to get us there quicker.
At the time of admittance, William's bilirubin level was 22.7, which is very bad. His level had risen dangerously high in the matter of two days. He had to stay under the lights until Sunday night, had an IV put in, and was under constant monitoring. They supplied me with bottles, formula to supplement with, and an electric pump to use while we were staying there. We were in the hospital for three days, but the doctors assured us that his jaundice was probably treated in time to avoid any permanent damage. However, we discovered yesterday at the follow-up visit that there is a chance that his fine motor skills will have been effected by the elevated bilirubin in his system, but we won't know for certain until he reaches the walking stage of his development unless he starts to miss other physical milestones before then.
Needless to say my husband and I have filed a complaint with the hospital regarding the first pedi, and have been advised by the patient advocate to request copies of William's files from all the hospitals involved in case we might need them in the future.
As far as my DH and I are concerned, William is perfect and is surely a super genius because he already discovered how to suck his thumb and roll over on his side and all those other things new babies learn how to do. He's also back up to his birth weight and starting to fill out again.
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Re: William is here!
Congrats on your little guy!
I hope you get some answers about that first pedi -- I'd be livid, and frightened that any other newborns could be entrusted to her care.
12/1/11 BFP, missed m/c diagnosed @ 9w2d
Scary! Glad everyone is ok!
Congrats!
It would take everything in me not to put the smack down on that first doctor.
First, congratulations on your new baby boy! Second, I'm so sorry you and your dh had to go through that, but I'm glad to hear that William is doing fine. I'm sure he will continue to do great and you just need to have faith that God will take care of him.
Enjoy your baby boy