Don't Retract Pack

My Newborn Daughter's Hospital Stay

By Reyka Smith © 2012

I am sharing our story with the hope that someone will be empowered to investigate their choices and make their own health decisions and those on behalf of their baby. Having hospital staff tell a parent to do something (especially a mother immediately postpartum) does not necessarily mean it is always in the best interest of the patient.

Mayzie today ~ healthy and happy.

A mother spends months dreaming of the day her child will be born. From the moment those two little lines appear, she knows her life will be forever changed. She waits in anticipation for the glorious day when she gets to meet the little being that she has nourished and grown inside herself. It is a relationship only a mother can understand. We dream of the day our baby is born; the hugs, kisses, smiles and happy tears. 

However, not everyone’s life can begin the way we dream of, and when the hardships stem from hospital staff, people need to know. This is only one story but in telling my own I have realized it is more common than many people realize. If more stories are shared, maybe our babies can deliver their own babies with safer, less invasive hospital treatment.

Mayzie was born on January 30, 2012 at 7:49 am. She was perfect and her Apgar scores proved it. With a score of 10, I was a proud mommy. After all, my baby had just passed her first test with flying colors! We spent the day staring at her in awe and overflowed with happiness when her older sister got to come to the hospital and meet her. We were all in love. It was the start of a whole new life for all four of us. As the saying goes, our family had just “grown by two feet.” We couldn’t have been happier.

Throughout the day there were a few times when I looked at Mayzie that I noticed a purplish tint to her skin. I told my husband and we decided it was bruising from birth. Our oldest had been born with quite a bit of bruising so discoloration was nothing new to us.

About 5:30 that evening the nurse came in to give me medicine. Mayzie was a bit purple at the time so I pointed it out to the nurse, just to get some reassurance that everything really was okay. She picked her up and carried her to the incubator where she checked her oxygen levels; they were in the 70s. She let us know that she was going to have to go to the nursery as this was not normal.

Upon going into the nursery they started Mayzie on two days of antibiotics. They told us that it was standard protocol -- any baby who came through those nursery doors was put on antibiotics, no questions asked. We still had complete faith in this hospital staff and waited patiently as they put an IV in our brand new bundle of joy and took blood to run tests for infection. They told us that they needed to rule out sepsis as well as any possible cardiology or neurology problems.

That night, around 8:00, Mayzie had another apnea spell. The nurse came over and gently lifted her and put her into her incubator. She watched as her oxygen levels dropped from the 80s down to the 70s and eventually to the 20s. She did nothing to try to make her breathe again. No light foot tap, no touching her face, nothing. When she hit the 20s the nurse finally began to work on starting her breathing again. She was unresponsive for about 15 seconds and the nurse had a hard time getting her back after she had dropped so low. It was a very scary moment as both my mother and I just sat back watching, putting all of our trust in this nurse. The day ended with no more episodes.

The next day, January 31, while my husband was gone, they came to me and told me they needed to do a lumbar puncture as meningitis was a possibility. After calling to discuss with my husband we decided to deny the procedure unless further reason arose. Upon telling them we were going to decline the doctor let me know that if it wasn’t done that day the test would be skewed as the antibiotics she’d already been on for 24 hours could hide what they were looking for. She explained to me that meningitis can quickly kill a baby her age and that we were risking a lot by not doing the procedure.

Scared of making the wrong decision and something happening, we allowed the lumbar puncture. I was told to leave the room and they would be in to get me once they were finished. About 45 minutes later the doctor came to my hospital room where my husband and I were waiting. She let us know that both she and her colleague had attempted the puncture but they were unable to get enough fluid to run for testing. She told us that they would try again tomorrow. We refused to let them do the testing the next day as they had already told us that any tests ran after that time would be too skewed to determine results.

We decided that if we wanted to get anything done we needed to have a sit down with the doctor and figure out the plan so we were all on the same page. We went to the nursery and had our heart to heart with her doctor and the nurse on duty who told us that they wanted to run a head ultrasound and echocardiogram the next day. They told us that if there were no issues before then and if everything looked okay during the procedures, that we would be going home on apnea monitor on February 2nd.

The next day, February 1st, we went into the nursery to find a new doctor. She immediately told us that her opinion was for us to transfer to a neonatal ICU at a nearby hospital as her “inexperience limits [her] ability to treat [our] daughter.” There had been no episodes since 8:00 p.m. on January 30th and she didn’t seem to be getting worse, so we declined. The doctors came in to run the previously agreed upon head ultrasound and echocardiogram and everything came back perfect. At this point we thought we would be heading home the next day as that was the original plan -- we weren’t.

That afternoon the doctor called us to the nursery for another sit down. She let us know that she needed to run a herpes culture on Mayzie and start her on more antibiotics. She said that the herpes culture would take up to three days to come back and that she would be on the antibiotics until it came back negative. Both my husband and I were certain that herpes was out of the question. I had never had an outbreak and he is checked often just for being in the military. We let them know that they were welcome to do the culture but we were not allowing them to start her on more precautionary antibiotics. They never ran the culture.

During this sit down we decided that there would be no more invasive testing unless Mayzie took a turn for the worse and it was absolutely necessary. She told us that she did not feel comfortable releasing us the next day as originally planned and that she wanted to start a 24-hour EEG the next morning to rule out possible seizures being the culprit. She assured us that it was noninvasive and reluctantly we agreed.

The next morning, February 2nd, I woke up and walked down to the nursery to find Mayzie’s head completely wrapped in gauze with numerous leads hooked up to her. The first thing the doctor said when I walked into the room was that we were going to need to put a tube down her throat for feeding. She let me know that there were no techs working in the hospital that could reattach any leads if they were to come off and that without all leads attached the testing would be invalid. I was furious and went back to the room to tell my husband what was happening. We decided to refuse the 24-hour EEG as we had originally agreed on, and wanted no more invasive procedures. They agreed and took off the leads after an hour, telling us that they had the information that they needed.

That afternoon, while relaxing in my room, I had a knock on my door. Once again, my husband was gone; it seemed to be their ideal time to talk to me. The door opened and a lady walked in that I’d never met before. She introduced herself to me as the hospital social worker and said that our case had been referred to her. She let me know that if we signed an Against Medical Advice form to leave the hospital that we would be turned over to Child Protective Services. She warned me that they could take our daughter as she had been told that we could be putting Mayzie’s life in danger by leaving and refusing treatment.

Her visit was the last straw. We started pulling every card we could to get ourselves released from that hospital. It was clear that they were planning on holding her there and running every test that they possibly could. She was turning into a human lab rat. After talking to many very high hospital staff members they let us know that we would finally be released the next day. We were very thankful to finally have a plan.

February 3rd we finally got to take our brand new, healthy baby girl home. She was on an apnea monitor to assure there were no more episodes like the ones on her first day here. We were happy to get her home with her older sister and start our lives as a family. Mayzie is now 10 weeks old and has never had another episode. She is a perfectly healthy little girl and a beautiful addition to our family. You would never know by looking at her just what she had to endure her first week of life. ♥

~~~~

37 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing, we put too much trust in hospitals.... we research hotels, vacations, restaurants... not often hospitals/doctors/nurses, medical treatments & procedures. Everything needs to be questioned in a hospital... and they aren't always right! It breaks my heart what your little babe had to go through those first few days, just spending that much time away from you is so very wrong. Shame on them! So glad you are all together, healthy & happy now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You're such a devoted and awesome mom. Too often stories like these end with the CPS taking the child. Right now in Ontario, there is a pregnant mom who will have her child taken from her at birth, simply because she cancelled a prenatal appointment, so they are afraid that she might neglect the child. I think CPS looks down on parents, especially if the parents are young, poor, or have different ideas than mainstream. There are probably similar stories in the area where you live. I'm grateful that nothing worse happened, and I'm glad you're sharing your story.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, really!! Heck, here in Australia I canceled most of my appointments, all appointments after 40 weeks I called because I didn't want to hear any scare tactics or plan a c/s or induction (i went to 42+2).
      Seriously, can they do that??? Is the mother still in ontario? I would be long gone. What a threat to hang over a mother's head! I am disgusted. Is there a link to newspaper article or something?

      Delete
  3. As a hospital social worker, I can see both sides of this. I absolutely agree with you that we tend to blindly agree with medical professionals. And, because of that, those same medical professionals don't take it well when they are questioned. I am so sorry for what you and your daughter went thought and appreciate the perspective you've given me today. Know that the next time I have to talk to a family, I will be much more compassionate (though I would never walk in and threaten anyone with child protective serrvices!).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I basically agree with the social worker who saw both sides, but want to add a but more. I'm a critic of lots of things, including the medical delivery business, but as a person with a medical background, I must say you are unduly criticizing hospital staff who had your childs best interest in mind. If her oxygen dropped to the 20s there was something wring with her, if only temporary. Sounds like you feel like you were entitled to have a perfect birth experience and I'm sorry you didn't, but your money is best spent on some support groups for new parents, not attorneys. Mistakes may even have been made, but overall this was a reasonable treatment plan. And just to let you know, my twins were subjected to many tests and one terrible error, from which my son recovered, took place -- they are happy and healthy now, and I never felt traumatized, only grateful that after 6 pregnancy losses, these two lived and I could even breastfeed them (which might have been an issue for you, in whih case you have even more of my empathy). Do yourselves a favor and get to a support group. At least half of all women I know were disappointed with some aspect of birth or post birth, but working to constructively change the system rather than misplaced anger against it is a better use of your energy as a new parent. Good luck and ciongratulations.

      Delete
  4. You go to a hospital hoping they know what they are doing and the truth be told I don't trust a one of them. You have no idea what this perfect stranger is all about. We are taught for childhood NOT to trust strangers and yet we go to a hospital or dr's office and let them do whatever they want to us and most times it is NOT necessary. It makes me sick.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I sincerely wish I had signed my son out ama. 3 rounds of antibiotics, 1 lumbar puncture, oxygen, no answers. 16 months (today) later he is perfect and as healthy as ever.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This so reminds me of our hospital stay just twelve weeks ago, after my son was born. He was (unfortunately) my third c-section, and swallowed fluid during delivery. I got to hold him for 5 seconds after his birth and then he was whisked away to a Special Care nursery, where they kept him for three days, despite my being told the fluid was gone after 12 hours. We repeatedly questioned nurses about when he would be returned to us so we could establish breastfeeding and bond with him, and were told so many different things. I was recovering so it was very difficult for me to go up to visit him. I sent up pumped colostrum (it was quite a bit despite my first time pumping), and we found out the following morning they hadn't given it to him, and the nurse on duty had given him a bottle of formula. I was livid. My stomach is in knots just typing this. After the three days he was finally released to us and we now have a healthy, happy baby. I would give anything to go back and refuse treatment beyond that first twelve hours and demand he be brought down to me.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Exactly what Tracie said!! This story sickens me. I am gladshe is okay and that you followed your intuition!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm so sorry this happened to your family! Thank you for sharing your story so others may learn from it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Did you discuss this with risk management of that hospital? They need to do better in the future.

    ReplyDelete
  10. We also had to speak to a social worker before leaving the hospital with our third son. Our pediatrician is in a different town than I delivered in (we live in a rural area) so he didn't visit the hospital to release our baby and we had to have the doctor on call. When our son was 24 hrs. old, the very young doctor on call yelled at us about risks for refusing the newborn Hep. B vaccination, and decided (based on our decision) that he wanted to monitor our perfectly healthy, apgar 10, 9 lb. newborn for FOUR days. Even the nurses thought it was ridiculous. I asked what the monitoring would consist of as our baby was rooming in, and I had been released to leave, and the doctor responded "Taking his temperature twice a day". I told him I was a mother of 3 and was perfectly capable of taking his temperature every hour at home if he thought it prudent, and that I could immediately get him checked by our regular pediatrician should anything deviate from normal. He was not satisfied with that, and insisted we stay, so I asked for the AMA forms to fill out to leave. As we were walking out a CPS worker chased us down the hall, and said she had to interview us immediately, or follow us and come do the interview at our home. When I explained the situation, and that the baby's risk of infection is actually higher the longer we stayed in the hospital she was very receptive, and seemed confused at the doctor's actions. She turned to the nurse and said "She sounds like she knows what she is doing, right? This makes sense? I dont' understand why I was called?" and the nurse said "She needs to take her healthy baby home". Thank goodness for good, supportive nurses. I still felt violated and anxious about being reported for months after, but that was the end of any intrusion into our lives.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So did you report the doctor who put you and your baby through this? If this Dr did this to you, he/she will probably do it to others. Unless you are hepb positive or there are family members with hep B, there is no problem in delaying hep B vaccination.

      Delete
  11. So sorry you had to go through any of that.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thank you for sharing, I too use to put all my trust in to the hospitals DR.'s and Nurses that is up until our 3rd baby boy. I won't go into all of it, just a small example but it was still enough for me to speak up, after giving birth to our son, I was left to lay in my birth drench bed for several hours hooked up to IV's and a urine bag, no body came in to give me clean bedding, finally a good 6 hours later or so a nurse came in to say she needed to take our son to give him a bath, i started having panick attacks as she took my son from me and didn't return for some time, when she finally did, she was bouncing him to calm him and inform me that she was going to have to put him in a warming bed in the nursery for his temp was low" for some reason" her words, with quick thinking I said before you take him i want a chance to hold him and give him kisses she said umm fine, I'll be back in a bit to get him, that gave me enough time to collect my thoughts and say to myself " oh no, I am not letting her separate me from my son, if he is cold, it will be momma warming him up, the nurse came in to take him from me and with a nervous shaky voice i said " i'm not comfortable with you taking my son from me, my other sons were never separated from me and I'm not going to let you separate me from my newbie" she did not like that but I stood firm and said that she did not have a viable reason to do something that naturally a momma can do, skin to skin, <3..
    I've learned that just because they're in scrubs does not make them smarted than myself..

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ugh, I'm so angry for you!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. That is a case for an attorney, this hospital needs to know that they cannot treat people this way! Poor baby! Thankfully everything is okay now, but sounds like they wanted to torture your baby and you, probably for profit I'm sure.

    ReplyDelete
  15. It is helpful to read situations like this. I know most nurses and doctors are really trying to do what is best but I think we can forget that WE as parents are the ones in charge. Even while giving birth in the hospital you are out of your environment and things can escalate so fast. At a time when you are vulnerable and scared decisions can be made more out of fear than out of need. I know that this isn't always going to happen but it is good to try to have a perspective that a 2nd or even third opinion is not a ridiculous request when it comes to your child.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I am a nursing student, and we are drilled on "evidence-based practice" and that treatment should be based on research. However, I have read many studies lately looking at hospital protocols, ACOG practice guidelines, etc. Depending on the institution being studied, findings show that between 40-75% of protocol and guidelines (what MDs and nurses MUST follow in order to practice) are not based on good, solid research. Too many MDs and nurses are operating under protocols that they assume are evidence based, but are not, because the hospital (their employer) tells them to do XYZ in such and such situation, and they assume XYZ is good practice. When nurses do bring new evidence to their hospitals, policies and procedures are supposed to be reviewed. There are committees and protocols for submitting new research. But the hospitals and units I've worked on (and labor and delivery seems to be the worst) almost dissuade nurses from actively pursuing this and "stirring up trouble". It is SO frustrating, and why I am determined to spend as little time as possible as a floor nurse before pursuing high education and getting myself in a position to try to change actual policies. THIS is the reason there are so many burnt out nurses. They are forced to follow policies that they know are not correct, they face ethical dilemmas all the time, and they get to the point where they no longer care, or care to fight,because the resistance is huge.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Why antibotics for a possible herpes infection??

    ReplyDelete
  18. THANK YOU for you sharing. My newborn, now 6 weeks, had some health issues when she was born and I was similarly steam rolled by the hospital and child services called. I too insisted on no more invasive tests and I felt the doctors were etremely aggressive/going overboard. I think what happened to our kids and us is far too common.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Nowhere near what you experienced, but my wonderful healthy first child who scored high on Apgar started grunting a bit after birth so they took her for 3 HOURS. THREE!! And even though we we rooming in, they seemed to come in every hour to try to take her from me after I FINALLY got her back! Get off my kid people! She needs her mommy!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I am very sorry that you had to go through this. I work as a nurse on a mother baby unit and take care of level 2 babies as well. It is unfair to say that we are all bad or dont know what we are doing. There are alot of us that really do care what happens to babies and there families. I always want what is best for every baby I take care of. There are definatly things that should have been handeled differently with this baby. Just remember that in some of there cases the baby really is sick and we save their lives!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I completely understood that there could have been something wrong with her, that is why I consented to as many tests as I did. I only intervened when things were unnecessary. Had she stayed the same as she was on the first day or gotten worse I would've been all over the tests to figure out what was wrong. However, she didn't. Other people didn't see anything wrong with her after day one, it was ONE doctor that was jumping to extremes. You don't make plans to send someone home and then change them (with nothing happening to give reason) to needing large invasive tests. I don't want to change the system, I want people to become educated and advocate for their children in the off chance that they end up with a doctor like we did.

      Delete
  21. Reyka, I have been working on my daughter's birth story slowly over the past couple of weeks. She is now six weeks old and I wish I had already finished it. Your story is EXACTLY why I chose to give birth to my first child at home with just my husband and my sister.

    I saw a midwife for pre-natal care but because she works under an OB, she is unable to attend home births. I called every other midwife in our town and got the same answer for all of them - "insurance will not permit me to attend home births." Sweet. So then I emailed every midwife I could find an email address for in the entire state of Arizona and only two responded that they would be willing to drive the 3 hours to our town (I don't think 3 hours is that far but I grew up in Texas, what do I know?). So, then we talked about driving the 3 hours to Phoenix or Tucson to go to a birthing center but decided that that would be horrible during labor and who knows how long labor would be?

    The entire point of me wanting to share my story is because my gut, my instincts, my "mothering" kept telling me to stay home and avoid the hospital. I had already heard horror stories from our hospital and have many, many friends who had otherwise healthy pregnancies and healthy babies but due to "failure to progress" in their labor, they ended up with cesareans. I knew this hospital had the highest C-section rate in AZ and I didn't want to go down that road.

    At 36 weeks, when I tested positive for Group B Strep and they told me they wanted to do IV penicillin requiring electonic fetal monitoring every hour, I had had enough. I wanted a water birth - they told me no. I had to sign all kinds of paperwork beforehand to decline the IV penicillin. The list goes on and on. My husband suggested we attend the childbirth class at the hospital and ask all my questions and maybe that would alleviate my building fear of that place. Well, it turns out, I just felt worse. I cried THREE times thoughout the class, the third time being when we took the tour of labor and delivery. I just KNEW if I wanted things to go my way and give my baby the best start, this was not the place to do so. THEN, the pediatrician I thought I was going to use (turns out I didn't) told me that if I refused the IV penicillin in labor, that they would require me to stay for 48 hours instead of 24 or less as well as monitor my baby in the NICU. I was told if I tried to leave before then, CPS would be involved.

    Yep, that did it. I told my husband I was birthing this baby in our bathtub and that's exactly what we did! I couldn't be happier with my decision to trust my gut. My midwife was NOT happy - I called her two days afterwards - nor were my parents (my dad is a doctor btw) or in-laws but I knew I was doing what my instincts and my baby were telling me to do.

    So, that's my story. I have received responses from "you're crazy" to "wow, you're brave" and my favorite was from my 'friend' who is a NICU nurse at this very hospital who said to my face "you put your baby at risk". I haven't spoken to her since.

    I am so glad you have a happy, healthy baby girl!!! Congrats!! My daughter was born March 1st and I'm totally in love with her. It just gets better every day. Thank you for sharing your story and I hope if you are blessed with another baby, you have a much different and more positive story to tell then. Thank you for posting this story. Maternal care in America needs to drastically change big time.

    Lindsay

    ReplyDelete
  22. I hate hearing these stories but I am so glad everyone gets a chance to vent. I wont even get into the injustice done to my two sons in the hospital they were born but now pregnant with baby three I will be doing it at home to protect this baby from hospital staff.

    ReplyDelete
  23. It was an incident somewhat similar to this (no cps threat) that lead me choose a homebirth for our second child. Having now experienced birth is a respectful setting, our third will be born at home. If we have a hospital birth for some unforeseen reason, our attorney is the only person on the visitors list. I advise all persons giving birth in a hospital to have a qualified, medically focused attorney, on speed dial, as well a a private pediatrician for immediate review of your child situation should the need arise. The medical system and CPS are completely out of control. Better safe than sorry.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I'm so proud of you for being an advocate for your child; it sounds like getting out of the hospital was the right decision for your baby. I know that hospital professionals (doctors, nurses, social workers, etc.) all have good intentions, but they don't have the same concern for your baby that you do. Good job you on listening to your momma and daddy intuition!

    ReplyDelete
  25. So glad everything turned out ok in the end but what drama! We are opting for a home birth for this very reason. I think the OB we are concurrently working with would do everything in my best interest but it is my understanding the hospital she is working out of is very strict on their policies.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I am glad you posted this story. Believe it or not the same thing just happened to my daughter. It's eerie how similar our stories are. My daughter was observed turning blue in the nursery and then sent to the NICU. There they did an MRI, a lung x-ray, a heart echo, blood tests, and put her on antibiotics the first day. Everything came back normal but they kept observing her. On day 2 and 3 they attempted 2 lumbar punctures, which failed. On day 5 of our stay, she started having seizures and they did an EEG and put her on phenobarb. She was also on oxygen and a feeding tube at this point. We didn't feel right about any of this either. Finally, they consulted a pediatric neurologists on day 6, and did another lumbar puncture, this time with success. The results came back normal. After that they took her off everything!! They kept her there 4 more days just waiting for all the meds to clear her system and see if she had any more episodes. She didn't. After 9 days in the NICU, we are now, thankfully, home on a breathing monitor. Both my husband and I feel like we don't know what just happened to us and that so much was out of our control. I know the doctors want what's best for my daughter, but it did feel like all this was just thrust upon us and we didn't have much say in the matter. I hope our baby turns out to be healthy just like yours.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Sadly this seems to be a case of "follow the money Lebowski"
    more tests, more treatment, equals what??? yep.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Thank you for sharing your family's story and being so strong for your little one. We had an amazing and empowering homebirth 8 months ago with our first child but took her into the hospital the next day for meconium asperation. My husband and I were terrified of taking her but knew that it was what needed to happen since she was sick and that's where you go when you're sick. Throughout the week stay (for IV antibiotics) we were met day in and day out with opposition from the hospital staff for everything from breastfeeding (they told me it wasn't safe to do), us refusing the HepB shot, and the looks I got for letting her sleep on our chests. After reading this story and another one about a family who refused the HebB shot and had CPS called on them, I'm so surprised we didn't have it happen to us. It's startling how hospitals push their weight around (even illegally at times) to get what they want done done. Thank you for being strong and well-informed for your child. I know your story will help other families out there. Blessing to you and your family!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Thank you for sharing this. I was GBS positive and didn’t make it to the hospital in time to get antibiotics during labor, so after my daughter was born they gave her a blood test which showed an elevated white blood cell count. The plan of action was to do a 72 hr blood culture and while they waited for the results they gave her several different antibiotics. I was raised with the believe that you only took antibiotics if you knew you had an infection that that antibiotic could fight, so it didn’t make sense to me that they were treating her before they were even sure she was sick, but when someone tells you that your baby might die, and quickly if you don’t do what they say it’s hard to listed to the voice inside. We almost left several time AMA and had visits from the hospital social workers. She didn’t have an infection, and we are planning a home birth next time.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Hi- I am new to reading this blog. Really good subject. I have had similar experiences in different situations with hospital staff. When my father was dying, the hospital social worker was enraged that I arranged not only the specific hospice treatment, but I called the ambulance of our choice to transport him to hospice.
    But back to the subject of childbirth. When our son and first child was born, they took the blood samples from his heel. As the neurotic woman was taking the samples, which drops of blood go onto a card (I think it's for the billirubin test) she dropped the card BLOOD SIDE FACE DOWN on the floor, picked it up and was going to place it onto his needle prick again. I have a medical background, and knew all too well what was on a hospital floor! They were angry at US because we cancelled the test and wanted to proceed out the door home (we were just being checked out). They threatened not to release us. We explained we would have him tested by his pediatrician the next day. They were still highly disturbed that we didn't want this card placed onto his open wound. Absurd. I know of no physician would would think that was acceptable, yet when they feel threatened, they become quite hostile.
    Your story is such a good example of how our privacy is invaded and our rights are dissolving. Also, just the manner in which doctors speak to their patients. They overlook the basics and jump straight to the worse case. This is when errors are made and panic is stricken.
    I spent 15 years working on an ambulance and have learned to cover the basics first, then move on as you gather information. And always, always, have compassion. There is a tremendous amount of information now on the childbirth statistics in the US compared to the rest of the world. We rank very low and our c-secton and stillbirth rates are SO high. It's alarming and concerning.
    Again, I think this is all a reflection on the direction of our culture.
    Sorry to get so philosophical!

    ReplyDelete
  31. I just read this story and I am shocked and horrified at what she was put through! It is so wrong that parents are forced to allow such things for fear of having their baby taken away! And yet, circumcision are not only allowed, but done there, in that very same place?? I am glad Mayzie made it through all of those awful, apparently unnecessary procedures. That poor little girl! I had my babies in a hospital and it burned me up everytime they took my baby away from me. With my last one, I was more assertive, but was met with much resistance at times. I was not "allowed" to go with MY baby for her first bath! I would be in jail right now if they i had woken up to my newborn gone, only to find the hospital staff had kidnapped her and was doing some traumatic tests on her in the nursery!! Why don't people understand that a newborn just spent all of its life in the womb, cuddled up inside mom, and its rightful place it cuddled up on her now, relaxing and gently getting acquainted with the world? Unless there is some life or death need for the baby to be away, atleast they could do their tests while baby is in mom's arms. But heaven forbid the nurses and doctors be inconvenienced to do what is best for baby/mom! Sorry for the rant but that story made me emotional!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Scary! For our second baby we chose a birthing center. Dd turned purple twice after birth.due to.some fluid. The nurse there massaged her back and gave her some oxygen right there on My legs and we went home when she was 5h old. We had orders to watch her for 2 days for purple tinges but she never had another spell. The nurse told us that in the hospital they would have taken her to the nicu. I can only have nightmares about what they would've done to her. I realize doctors do Good things mostly, but i have no good experiences.
    Ds had a minor fever once and was given tests galore and a lumbar puncture (i stayed for it and held him). It was very evident he had a minor viral infection (blood showed it), yet they wanted 3 days antibiotics, even after blood, urine, spinal cultures came back clean. What a crock. We refused, the nurses were immediately hostile. Ds was fine and I was a first time mom, post partum, scared.

    ReplyDelete