034/365-2013 – Transitional Care
After coming home from hospital on the Friday things hadn’t been going so well with Jelly Bean. Labour had been really quick (more about that in a post to come) and as a result he was full of mucus. Despite having skin to skin contact immediately and trying to get him to nurse he wasn’t really interested and spent the majority of his first 24 hours fast asleep. I tried time and time again to wake him up to feed but he wasn’t having any of it. In the end the midwives encouraged me to hand express my milk so that I could feed him with a syringe.
When we came home from hospital feeding still wasn’t going well, Jelly Bean still just wanted to sleep, he was lethargic, not latching on well and was gradually developing quite a tan to his skin. On the Sunday when I couldn’t take the pain of breastfeeding any longer I expressed some my milk and began bottle feeding him but this brought with it new challenges as he then began projectile vomiting. As a Mum I have always said that I will follow my instincts and mine were telling me that I needed to get him back to hospital so I tried numerous times to get through on the phone but didn’t get an answer so Hubby and I decided to take him to the hospital and ask to be seen.
Upon arrival the midwife took one look at Jelly Bean and took us straight to transitional care where we were told that he would be re-admitted. He was seen by a Paediatrician who said that he was showing signs of jaundice and dehydration and she was worried about his lack of feeding. She planned to put a tube up his nose, down into his tummy to feed him and a canula in his arm to take blood and administer medicine if necessary. Thankfully they decided that a tube up his nose might not be necessary but they still had to go ahead with the canula which was very upsetting to watch. Jelly Bean isn’t keen on taking his clothes off so he got very upset when the Paediatrician stripped him off to examine him and cried so much he wore himself out. In hindsight this was actually a blessing because he was asleep when she set up the canula and only gave a little squeak when the needle went in. It was going to be a long night as we awaited the results of his blood tests . . .
7 Comments
Debbie
February 10 at 10:50 pm
Can’t imagine how you were feeling. Tom had a canula at 10wks and I was in pieces. So good that you followed your instincts. x
IamMummyMatters
February 12 at 11:10 pm
It was horrible, you never want to see your children ill or hurting but when they are just a few days old it’s heartbreaking. You know that they need the treatment but it’s horrible to see someone putting a needle in such a tiny little hand. Regardless of how I felt though, we knew we had made the right decision to take him back to hospital xx
mummyslittlemonkey
February 10 at 11:54 pm
Sabina!!! That makes me want to cry 🙁 Poor little Jelly Bean. Cannulas are bloody horrible things and he’s soooooooooo tiny!!!! Give him a big cuddle for me! xxxx
mummymatters
February 12 at 8:41 pm
I know, I did cry, LOTS! But I made it up to him with oh-so-many cuddles whilst we were in hospital. The Doctor who inserted his cannula was absolutely brilliant though, she was so gentle – thank goodness. Hopefully I will catch up with you soon so you can give him a cuddle yourself xxx
MumtoC
February 11 at 12:43 pm
Awwww – you feel so helpless at times like that eh. But you did EXACTLY the right thing, because no matter what age your children are I’ve always said that your instinct is worth its weight in gold! xxx
mummymatters
February 12 at 8:40 pm
I’m with you, I always go with my instincts and I’m so pleased that I did on this occasion xxx
Older Single Mum
February 13 at 10:20 pm
Hello! Congratulations – lovely news about Jelly Bean How fantastic he is here. My little one had a canula too and you’ve seen him – healthy and happy as can be, so no worries on that score. It’s heartbreaking at the time, though, I know. Hope the feeding is going well – I found using vaseline a tremendous help – no matter what anyone else says – I fed both mine for over a year with no problems because of it . Hope all continues to go well X