We arrived home from the hospital on Sunday 8th February
2004 at 4pm. Mummy & daddy were excited but a little scared.
Mummy was feeding me with her milk, but I was having trouble with this and was very
sleepy. It didn't help that I had jaundice which made me even sleepier and because I wasn't drinking much the jaundice
was not going away.
The midwife came to see us on the Monday and said everything was fine, mummy and
daddy were not convinced. I didn't seem to be feeding for long and getting much to drink. By eleven o'clock that
night I had made mummy bleed where I was trying to feed but having no luck, I was starving hungry and trying to fit
both hands in my mouth. Mummy was very upset too, so daddy made a trip to Tesco o get some bottles, formula and a sterilizer,
so that I would at least get some food.
When the new midwife came on Tuesday she was worried that I still was no taking enough
from the bottle and that I was getting dehydrated. She phoned back when I was due for my next feed, and because I was
too tired to drink, told us to go to the Special Care Unit at the hospital.
Once there, they decided I was quite badly dehydrated and tried to take some of my blood.
Because I was sooo poorly they could'nt get any blood from my veins so I ended up with bruises and holes all over my arms.
They eventually got blood from my foot (ouch).
My jaundice was also bad, but I didn't need to go under the special lamps. I went round
to the antenatal ward with mummy to spend the night.
Poor mummy had to force feed me every 3 hours, otherwise I would have had to have a
drip in my head. She was very tired, upset and worried and poor daddy didn't want to leave us.
What mummy didn't know at the time was that because of my tongue tie (which was noticed
on day 2), I was not latching on properly, so I hadn't really had a proper drink since I was born.
The midwives kept telling mummy to breast feed me again and were adamant that this
was nothing to do with my tongue.( Mummy has since found out that although it doesn't affect all babies feeding, it certainly
can sometimes. There are even special positions that would have helped, but they didn't seem to know this at the
hospital).
I soon started to perk up now I was eating properly, but the midwives made
mummy feel very guilty, even though she was expressing some milk for me. She couldn't wait to leave, but that didn't
happen until Thursday evening when my sodium levels had come down and the jaundice was a lot better.
Since I came home properly, I have gone from strength to strength, I am putting on roughly
500g a week and have got lovely chubby legs.
Mummy & daddy are angry with how we were treated
and are fighting for me to have my tongue released (otherwise I won't be able to lick an ice cream or french kiss girls!!!).
Hopefully it will be sorted shortly, I will keep you posted.
