Hospital Rant!!!

[abigailsmom]

Hi everyone! I need to rant about my DD 2 month appointment! I took her (by myself... DH had to work) to her appointment yesterday. As a first time mom I had sort of prepared myself for her shots, but we had a surprise waiting for us. Her appointment went well and my ped. left to get the stuff for her vacc. A nurse popped her head in and asked, "This is the baby that needs a PKU done, right?" I quickly told her no... Abigail had that done at the hosptial before we left. She left only to return with another nurse and they had her vacc. plus stuff to do a heel prick!!!!! OH NO!!!! I was not prepared to deal with that without DH!!!!
They quickly apologized and explained that the hosptial had screwed up DD's PKU. So DD and I had to endure an hour of being VERY upset. They had to prick both heals twice and I can't even begin to tell you the horrible things I wanted to say to these people that were hurting my angel. DD has recovered quite nicely from her ordeal, but I am still pissed!
So anyone out there that can make me feel better about all the nasty things I wanted (and still want?) to say about this screw-up that my DD's feet and tears had to pay for I'd appreciate it!!!! I'm the only mom out of my pool of friends... so no one I talk to about it understands...

Thanks,
Overprotective-first-time-mom to Abigail 8-14-02
Robyn

[Rachels]

I absolutely sympathize! My Abigail was jaundiced for 4 weeks (and we had an alarmist pediatrician at the time), so she had probably 15 heel-sticks. During one of the later ones, I caught sight of her OTHER heel. The combination of a bleeding right foot and a litle left foot completely covered with slash marks did me in, and I just passed out. Having someone cause pain to your baby is just terrible. Also, I think there are a fair number of inept lab techs out there, which makes a bad thing worse. The whole experience was so terrible that it left me a little traumatized. Now I find myself feeling tearful two weeks before she has to have a shot, and I absoluely hate the nurse.

Go ahead and think mean thoughts. You're not overprotective-- you're a loving mama. All your instincts and biology are geared to protecting this little one, so it's natural that you should be upset when something or someone causes her pain. I'd worry more if it DIDN'T bother you. I don't feel quite as thin-skinned as I did when Abigail was newborn, but there is a vulnerability to having a baby that there is just no preparation for. As I learned, you can literally lose consciousness watching the struggles of an eight-pound little being. I have a quote on my wall: "To have a baby is to accept that your heart will forever go walking around outside your body." When somebody takes a swing at your "heart," it's pretty much unbearable.

Hang in there! I UNDERSTAND HOW YOU'RE FEELING.

-Rachel
Mommy to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[Rachels]

Also, rubbing her little feet with some apricot oil will soothe her and also will help her skin heal. Burt's Bees sells it, and you can find other apricot oil at health food stores. Olive oil also works well.

Oils are also great for removing band-aids from baby skin. Just saturate the bandage and let it sit for a while, and it will slip right off.

-Rachel
Mommy to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[jojo2324]

Ooh, thanks for the tip! DS was also jaundiced (but not for 4 weeks, poor thing!) and I was always worried that I was causing more pain than the needles trying to get those dang band-aids off! We have to go in two weeks for our 4-month shots and I am not looking forward to it. I honestly schedule appointments on my days off so that he (and I) can recover under my watch. One thing I found with both heel pricks and with shots is that if I am nursing him while they do it, he doesn't seem to react as strongly. I suppose it soothes them and helps relax their breathing.

Oh, and I just caught some of the CNN crawl (I can't tear my eyes away from it sometime!) about some state passing a law stating that a pregnant woman can use deadly force to protect her unborn baby. So obviously there is an understanding that we protect our children no matter what. (Not suggesting that you use deadly force against your ped/nurse...but I'm sure that we've all had those thoughts at one point :) Hope you're both feeling better!

[cara1]

You have every right to be angry at the hospital, but if I were you, I'd kiss the pediatrician and thank them for picking up on the error!

[nitaghei]

From above:
Oh, and I just caught some of the CNN crawl (I can't tear my eyes away from it sometime!) about some state passing a law stating that a pregnant woman can use deadly force to protect her unborn baby...
SNIP

FWIW
Here's the story - there's been some impact on some of the law blogs of this:

The Michigan Court of Appeals upheld the intermediate appellate court's ruling that a pregnant woman can use "defense of others" as a justification for homicide, in protecting her unborn baby. The reasoning is really interesting, a combination of public policy as reflected in statute, and the common law. (Can you tell I just got out of law school?:)) The facts are the woman (who was 16 weeks pregnant) stabbed her boyfriend after he'd punched her in the stomach twice).

If anyone's interested, I have the link to the intermediate appellate court's opinion.

Nita
(expecting our first 01/03)

[abigailsmom]

Thanks for the support and the advice about the oil for band aides... dh pulled the last one off and I thought I was going to strangle him! I'm so glad I found an outlet for chatting and picking up advice... thanks!!!
Robyn
Mommy to Abigail 8-14-02

[raynjen]

I sooo know what you are going through. My DD's thyroid levels kept coming back high. Suprise, suprise, I was on extra thyroid medication throughout my pregnancy so no wonder! I told my pediatrician about the thyroid medication, I told the nurse, I told the techs, I even told the specialist they called about her elevated thyroid everyone nodded and smiled and requested more blood.

I guess DD is a fast coagulator (which should be good later on when she starts scraping knees) because they would prick each heel several times. When that no longer worked they had two nurses hold her down while another one searched each arm for veins to draw blood from. Finally someone hit on drawing it from her finger - on prick and they were able to get two vials worth.

All in all it was a HORRIBLE 4 months. Luckily our kids get over this much faster than we do. Its no wonder that the pediatricians leave the room when they do these procedures - they certainly don't want the negative associations sticking to them!

I hope you, and your daughter, are recovering well and that they never have to do this again!

Jen in the Heartland

[mamahill]

>>"To have a baby is to accept that your heart will forever go walking around outside your body."

Oh my gosh - I almost started crying! How true. The tech at the hospital came to our room first the morning of the heel-pricks (5:30 am no less!) and spent the next 30 minutes trying to squeeze the blood out of dd's poor little heels. I began crying when I saw that little mouth open, the little lip quiver, and the look of sheer pain on her face. I was clutching my 5 and a half-pounder saying, "Isn't that enough? Maybe she doesn't HAVE anymore blood!" and the tech putting her hands on her hips saying, "If we don't get enough now, they'll send me back to get more later and we'll start this whole process over again."

By the time she was done, dd's heels were swollen and bruised and I couldn't stop sobbing and apologizing to her (dd). The tech acted all irritated because she had gone through all 8 prickers on my girl and she'd have to go back down to the lab to get enough for the 7 other babies. Well sorrrrrrrrryyyyyyyy. I know getting tested is a good thing, but I couldn't even talk about it for the next couple days without bursting into tears. I let dd sleep on my chest the rest of the day. Her heels were scabbed for over a week!

Guess I'll count myself fortunate we didn't have a do-over. I totally feel for you though. If something really upsets me, I write a nasty letter and have dh "put it in the mail." He never does, but it makes me feel a little better - like I've just told someone off. haha.

[Gagesmom]

Letting an infant nurse while being stuck or getting shots helps them deal with the pain better. My DS's ped let him nurse while getting his PKU, all his heel pricks (every day for 10 days cuz of jaundice) and getting shots. It didn't keep him from crying completely but it helped. You can offer a bottle or pacifier if your baby isn't breastfed. They've actually done studies that show nursing while getting these procedures causes the little one to release less stress hormones into his or her bloodstream.