Enough hospitals already....

So yesterday afternoon the midwife came to see Helen and Molly and weighed Molly.

Helen was already concerned that Molly was simply not getting enough from her breasts and seemed permanently hungry leading to no sleep for anyone - least of all for Helen and Molly. The scales revealed that Molly had lost a whopping 650 grammes equating to some 16% of her bodyweight at birth. We all knew that this was not good. Helen was utterly distraught. On instructions from the midwife we hurriedly bundled a bag of clothes together for Helen and Molly and scooted off in the car to Wycombe. On arrival at the children's ward, they took blood samples from Molly and weighed her again. The blood sugars test showed that her blood sugar was at 2.7 when it should have been somewhere north of 3.5. The other blood tests also subsequently showed that she was quite badly dehydrated.

A plan was quickly formulated to give Molly some intensive feeding of formula to supplement Helen's breast milk and for this to be administered every three hours. She needed to consume at least 6oml at each feed. To kickstart it all we administered a couple of small cupfuls of formula right away. At the 8pm feed she managed about 55ml before becoming 'milk drunk' she then slept solidly through until the 11pm feed when she managed the required 60 ml. However, by this time, Helen who had been feeling unwell all day had become really nauseous and was suffering quite unpleasant chest pains. She had also gone a rather ghostly shade of pale yellow. The nurse took one look at her and ordered up a wheelchair and whisked her off to the maternity ward. This was the point at which it became apparent that we should have packed more clothes for me. Suddenly I was faced with a very unwell baby and a very unwell wife in two different wards in the hospital. To say that I was torn as to where I should be is an understatement.

Thankfully our dear friend Claire came to the rescue. She had been out babysitting and when finished drove down to the hospital and she and I alternated between sitting with Helen and Molly.

Just before the 2am feed, Molly's blood sugars were found to have climbed to a very respectable 4.1 and the 2am feed was quite a triumph too. Molly managed a whopping 90ml of formula which earned her the opportunity of a feed after 4 hours not 3. In fact she woke up at 5.30 and and managed a further 75ml of formula - yey, Go Molly! The effect on her was astonishingly quick, she immediately became both more placid and more alert which may sound like a contradiction in terms, but very accurately reflects the effect.

The 9.30 am feed was not quite so good - her system must have been absolutely full by then and she only managed about 45 ml but by then her blood sugars were up to 4.4 and everyone was v happy. When they weighed her just before her 9.30 feed, it transpired that she had already put on a massive 150 grammes overnight. A truly stupendous achievement.

Helen was still v unwell however, her blood results had shown that her haemaglobin was at a level described as "very low" in a tone that was intended to convey a considerable level of concern on the part of the medics without quite spelling out the severity of their concern.

Anyway, to cut a short story long, Molly's Olympic standard formula consumption has allowed her to come home, but Helen has had to stay in. They offered her a blood transfusion today or an iron infusion tomorrow. Helen was dead set against the blood transfusion and went for the iron infusion tomorrow. However, because of an admitted fear that she might have something really nasty like a pulmonary embolism, they strongly advised her to remain in hospital. They conducted an ECG which was normal, but are still very concerned about her chest pain.

Helen at least has Alicia from our NCT class to keep her company. We met Andy & Alicia's new son, Harrison, on the ward this evening and all seemed very well with them, although she had obviously had a fairly tough time in labour too. It is rumoured that Lesley-Anne is also in the process of delivering her baby and may be on the ward
later. Could be quite a party !

Molly has to go back to the hospital for another blood test and to be weighed again tomorrow afternoon and hopefully, by the time that is done, Helen will be free to come home.

I thought I had seen enough hopsitals for one lifetime when Christine was ill.

Still, you have to laugh eh ?