“I was born normal with Apgar score 10/10 at 1 and 5 mins but my normal life lasted less than 5 days...”
Sharing the story of our dearest son who became profoundly disabled as he didn't receive a simple treatment in time as a baby but always accepts the very many pains that he endures in his everyday life with big charming smiles, the smiles that give his parents the vital strength to keep going. We hope that these information serve to:
- Providing information to to-be parents
- Reminding the many health professionals the serious danger posed by Jaundice
- Sharing our experiences with those unfortunate parents out there
Chapters of Life
- Pregnancy - A period of dedication
- Birth - A special day for the parents
- Home - The moment of pride and jubilation for the family
- Hospital: Stage I - ICU, the moment the world turned upside down
- Hospital: Stage II - SCU, hope and prayer
- Home - A Second chance of life with a curtailed Splendour!
- Chief Executive's response, we just hope the hospital doesn't break any more hearts!
- What went wrong! - Parents please beware!
- Life! - Has to move on!
Pregnancy - A period of dedication
During the pregnancy mum was noted to have traces of antibodies E and little-c in the blood for which necessary monitoring was done. Though we were advised that the levels were low, we were still concerned as both our elder boys developed jaundice after birth and were treated with Phototherapy. We still thought Jaundice was very common for new born babies and was just normal illness, never knew the 'monster' in it!
On August 9, 2010 we had a doctor appointment and then a midwife at the Obstetrics Department of the Hospital. During the meeting with the doctor we discussed the presence of antibodies in the blood test results followed by our concerns about the possibility of having jaundice developed requiring treatment etc, with reference to our two elder children. The doctor noted our concerns and subsequently mentioned the same in the letter addressed to our GP and copied to us.
As per the gestation age of the baby the delivery date should have been on December 25th 2010. But during the meeting with the midwife we were offered Dec 16 for delivery as the 'named experienced' surgeon was scheduled to be going away on Christmas holiday after that day. We were reluctant of the early delivery proposal due to the history of jaundice for the elder children but accepted as we were told about possible issues during the holiday period in case of emergency situations after that date. Nevertheless, we let our concerns known and we did whatever we could for a healthy 'perfect' baby in the meantime!
We had the pre-op assessment on Dec 9, 2010 at the Hospital. Again we reminded our concerns about the high risk of the baby to jaundice as his brothers were. So we requested the midwife to allow mum and baby stay at the hospital for at least three days which she agreed and noted down the discharge date as Sunday, December 19, 2010. We came home thinking that the jaundice risk was taken cared of as he would be monitored and treated, if necessary, during those three days. Well this was a wishful thinking and remained only on paper!